hucklebuck Posted February 7, 2010 Posted February 7, 2010 Out of the blue I started getting this problem... Waiting for buffers to recover... Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level... I searched the forums for the answer and tried many things and I still get the same problem. I then tried to tweak a setting. I went to settings.. I/O.. clicked enable buffer recovery and changed it from the default of 20MB to 250MB and it fixed the problem. My question is ... Is this okay to do? Will my burns be good? Or is there another buffer option I should try?
LIGHTNING UK! Posted February 7, 2010 Posted February 7, 2010 Instead of just increasing the buffer size, you should figure out why yours is just slow to fill itself. Defragging and not using the hdd for anything else whilst burning would be a good start (random access kills the transfer rate).
hucklebuck Posted February 7, 2010 Author Posted February 7, 2010 Instead of just increasing the buffer size, you should figure out why yours is just slow to fill itself. Defragging and not using the hdd for anything else whilst burning would be a good start (random access kills the transfer rate). I have used windows defragger and Perfect Disk. I have prevented all items from start up except my antivirus protection. I have formated my hard drive and installed a fresh copy of Windows XP and updated it to SP3. I have made sure DMA is enabled. I have changed DVD Writers. I have used Spin Rite. I have used chkdsk. I don't do anything when it burns. HDD and DVD Writer are SATA I used a IDE DVD writer also. I will run Memtest overnight and see if there are any errors with that. Is there anything else I can do? Is there any harm in raising the buffer? Thanks Lightning
LIGHTNING UK! Posted February 7, 2010 Posted February 7, 2010 So you did all that stuff (excluding making the buffer bigger) and you're STILL getting buffer issues? Is the buffer level all over the place or is it pretty solid (up in the 90%+ region) throughout the burn? Do you really need it on 250mb or does putting it on 40mb fix the issue? Giving extra ram to ImgBurn (that it doesn't need) is just a waste, let the system keep hold of as much as possible.
hucklebuck Posted February 8, 2010 Author Posted February 8, 2010 So you did all that stuff (excluding making the buffer bigger) and you're STILL getting buffer issues? Is the buffer level all over the place or is it pretty solid (up in the 90%+ region) throughout the burn? Do you really need it on 250mb or does putting it on 40mb fix the issue? Giving extra ram to ImgBurn (that it doesn't need) is just a waste, let the system keep hold of as much as possible. 1. yes 2. all over the place 3. i did a test burn on 40MB buffer and didn't get Waiting for buffers to recover... Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level... But the buffers were still all over the place and the burn speed would go up and down like every minute. Is that good? I'm gonna try a 60 MB buffer now.
LIGHTNING UK! Posted February 8, 2010 Posted February 8, 2010 Just to be clear... it's the main buffer that's going up and down all the time yeah, not (just) the 'Device Buffer' ? Are you burning an image file (in Write mode) or just a bunch of normal files in Build mode? When you say you checked DMA, did you actually remove the ide/ata controller entry from within Device Manager or did you simply look at the DMA values reported under the 'channel' entries? You need to make sure you remove the controller and then reboot. The 'Reading - Always use buffered I/O' option in Tools -> Settings -> I/O might help.
hucklebuck Posted February 8, 2010 Author Posted February 8, 2010 Just to be clear... it's the main buffer that's going up and down all the time yeah, not (just) the 'Device Buffer' ? Are you burning an image file (in Write mode) or just a bunch of normal files in Build mode? When you say you checked DMA, did you actually remove the ide/ata controller entry from within Device Manager or did you simply look at the DMA values reported under the 'channel' entries? You need to make sure you remove the controller and then reboot. The 'Reading - Always use buffered I/O' option in Tools -> Settings -> I/O might help. 1. Yes. The main buffer drops then the device buffer goes crazy. And after both buffers recover it does it again about every 30 seconds throughout the entire burn. 2.Yes. 3.Yes I actually uninstalled the ide/ata controller entry from within Device Manager. Then rebooted twice. And checked them after that was done also. 4.I got just one instance of: Waiting for buffers to recover... Waiting for hard disk activity to reach threshold level... Buffers still all over the place.
LIGHTNING UK! Posted February 8, 2010 Posted February 8, 2010 If you fancy wasting a disc, try burning a disc in discovery mode. There's no 'source' file involved with that mode so it rules out the hdd. In theory, the buffer levels should be perfect the whole time.
hucklebuck Posted February 8, 2010 Author Posted February 8, 2010 If you fancy wasting a disc, try burning a disc in discovery mode. There's no 'source' file involved with that mode so it rules out the hdd. In theory, the buffer levels should be perfect the whole time. Here's the log. I 15:03:41 ImgBurn Version 2.5.0.0 started! I 15:03:41 Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 3) I 15:03:42 Total Physical Memory: 981,480 KB - Available: 573,452 KB W 15:03:42 Drive D:\ (FAT32) does not support single files > 4 GB in size. I 15:03:42 Initialising SPTI... I 15:03:42 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices... I 15:03:42 Found 1 DVD±RW/RAM! I 15:03:56 Operation Started! I 15:03:56 Source File: -==/\/[DISCOVERY IMAGE]\/\==- I 15:03:56 Source File Sectors: 2,298,496 (MODE1/2048) I 15:03:56 Source File Size: 4,707,319,808 bytes I 15:03:56 Source File Volume Identifier: DISCOVERY_IMAGE I 15:03:56 Source File File System(s): None I 15:03:56 Destination Device: [0:0:0] ATAPI DVD A DH24AAS BP5N (E:) (ATA) I 15:03:56 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Disc ID: TYG02) (Speeds: 6x, 8x) I 15:03:56 Destination Media Sectors: 2,298,496 I 15:03:56 Write Mode: DVD I 15:03:56 Write Type: DAO I 15:03:57 Write Speed: 6x I 15:03:57 Link Size: Auto I 15:03:57 Lock Volume: Yes I 15:03:57 Test Mode: No I 15:03:57 OPC: No I 15:03:57 BURN-Proof: Enabled I 15:03:58 Advanced Settings - Force HT: No, Online HT: No, OverSpeed: No, SmartBurn: Yes I 15:03:58 Filling Buffer... (20 MB) I 15:03:58 Writing LeadIn... I 15:04:31 Writing Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 2298495) I 15:04:31 Writing Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 2298495) I 15:13:51 Synchronising Cache... I 15:14:09 Exporting Graph Data... I 15:14:09 Graph Data File: C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator\Application Data\ImgBurn\Graph Data Files\ATAPI_DVD_A_DH24AAS_BP5N_MONDAY-FEBRUARY-08-2010_3-03_PM_TYG02_6x.ibg I 15:14:09 Export Successfully Completed! I 15:14:09 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:10:12 I 15:14:09 Average Write Rate: 8,223 KB/s (5.9x) - Maximum Write Rate: 8,661 KB/s (6.3x) I 15:14:09 Cycling Tray before Verify... W 15:14:16 Waiting for device to become ready... I 15:14:32 Device Ready! I 15:14:32 Operation Started! I 15:14:32 Source Device: [0:0:0] ATAPI DVD A DH24AAS BP5N (E:) (ATA) I 15:14:32 Source Media Type: DVD-R (Book Type: DVD-R) (Disc ID: TYG02) (Speeds: 6x, 8x) I 15:14:32 Image File: -==/\/[DISCOVERY IMAGE]\/\==- I 15:14:32 Image File Sectors: 2,298,496 (MODE1/2048) I 15:14:32 Image File Size: 4,707,319,808 bytes I 15:14:32 Image File Volume Identifier: DISCOVERY_IMAGE I 15:14:32 Image File File System(s): None I 15:14:32 Read Speed (Data/Audio): MAX / MAX I 15:14:32 Verifying Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 2298495) I 15:14:32 Verifying Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 2298495) I 15:19:30 Exporting Graph Data... I 15:19:30 Graph Data File: C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator\Application Data\ImgBurn\Graph Data Files\ATAPI_DVD_A_DH24AAS_BP5N_MONDAY-FEBRUARY-08-2010_3-03_PM_TYG02_6x.ibg I 15:19:30 Export Successfully Completed! I 15:19:30 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:04:58 I 15:19:30 Average Verify Rate: 15,426 KB/s (11.1x) - Maximum Verify Rate: 22,445 KB/s (16.2x) The main buffer was 100 the whole time. The device buffer dropped about 6 times but jumped back up immediately.
LIGHTNING UK! Posted February 8, 2010 Posted February 8, 2010 Can you do a few speed tests/benchmarks on your hdd? If you happen to find one that can benchmark reading a *real* file (i.e. the ISO), even better.
hucklebuck Posted February 9, 2010 Author Posted February 9, 2010 Can you do a few speed tests/benchmarks on your hdd? If you happen to find one that can benchmark reading a *real* file (i.e. the ISO), even better. Here is a test.
hucklebuck Posted February 10, 2010 Author Posted February 10, 2010 Should I replace the hdd and/or get more memory? I'm still kinda lost here.
LIGHTNING UK! Posted February 10, 2010 Posted February 10, 2010 I have to be honest here, I'm kinda out of ideas! Your machine passes all the tests and everything looks ok when looked at individually... just obviously not when it's all working at the same time!
hucklebuck Posted February 12, 2010 Author Posted February 12, 2010 For some reason it is working ok again. ??
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