Problem with recognizing blank discs on LG's GSA-4163B

[Schocker]

Hello everyone,

 

Last week, I tried to burn a dual layer ISO file. Ashampoo Burning Studio, Nero and all other programs failed miserably, while IMGBurn at least tried to do something. But the discs turned out to be useless.

I've been using Platinum media then, but now got the Verbatim DVD+DL 8x (They didn't have 2,4x in my neighborhood, even finding those Verbatim ones was a pain). While the burner normally recognized the previous DVDs, this time, after putting into the disc, the status bar says the following:

Device not ready (logical unit is in process of becoming ready)

Device not ready (Unknown (ASC: 0x28, ASCQ: 0x81)) <- Flashes for a second

Device not ready (Logical unit not ready, Cause not reportable)

I doubt there is anything interesting in the logfile, but I'll provide it:

I 18:37:49 ImgBurn Version 2.5.5.0 started!
I 18:37:49 Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600 : Dodatek Service Pack 3)
I 18:37:49 Total Physical Memory: 2 095 920 KB  -  Available: 1 473 416 KB
I 18:37:50 Initialising SPTI...
I 18:37:50 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 18:37:50 -> Drive 1 - Info: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4163B A106 (I:) (ATA)
I 18:37:50 -> Drive 2 - Info: WD Virtual CD 1130 1012 (K:) (USB)
I 18:37:50 Found 1 DVD±RW/RAM and 1 Unknown!

Yes, the "unknown" drive is just a virtual CD for my external HDD.

 

I read many topics, but just couldn't find the proper solution. The drives reads normal CD/DVDs without any problems.

[mmalves]

Your burner is too old and doesn't support the new media you have. You'll have to get a new burner, which is pretty cheap these days, and will also ensure top quality burns on current market's media.

[Schocker]

Aww... I mean, yeah, they are quite cheap for a computer equipment, but the computer I was using is 6 years old and I want to get rid of it ASAP, not modernize it. Yes, I have a laptop, but the TSSTCorp burner in it doesn't even read brand new game CDs, taken out of the box, let alone burning one.

Huh, looks like I would have to go to my friend, his notebook is only 6 months old, I think it would be enough. Thanks for the advice. ^^

[ianymaty]

Laptop burners aren't that good DL burners either. You may try tough, rather with moderate expectations.

[Schocker]

Actually, TSSTCorp burner which was in his mom's laptop turned out to be... impressingly good. With burning at 3x, the average was 2,9x and the disk worked like a charm. ^^

Unfortunately, now my desktop burner (the LG one I wrote about) won't recognize any blank discs... Is it still fixable?

Edited March 19, 2011 by Schocker

[ianymaty]

You got lucky.

 

If you search the forum you'll find that are a lot of folks having problem burning DL's on laptop/slimline burners even if they use Verbatim quality discs.

 

If your laptop drive can't recognize even original pressed discs, it most probably got toasted.

 

If you don't want to put a new drive in the old computer buy it instead and mount it in an external enclosure (USB 2.0 or eSATA) to use it with your laptop.

[Schocker]

I know, I am that kind of person, who would still try something, even with little chance of success.

To be honest, I didn't think about putting a burner into an enclosure - but I did buy a external HDD and it works great. Didn't know we could do this with CD/DVD drives, and I didn't want to buy an external burner - my budget is kinda... low. Great thanks! ^^

[ianymaty]

Just avoid the slimline/laptop external burners, that are crappy too. Go for a normal size one.