dbminter Posted May 30, 2012 Posted May 30, 2012 It's only started recently, but I've had some weird behavior going on with one of my drives. Whenever ImgBurn is done burning a disc, it ejects the tray. So, I remove the disc from the tray and sometimes, the tray immediately then closes itself! I've made sure not to push the tray in by accident when I remove the discs and it's still happening. I'm at a loss to explain how the drive knows I've removed a disc and then close the tray kindly for me. Although, sometimes not so kindly as I DON'T want the tray closed sometimes.
ianymaty Posted May 30, 2012 Posted May 30, 2012 I've seen such a drive. Push the button, opens the tray and closes imediately. You don't have the time to put a disc in the tray. It was an old ASUS CD-S520. I dumped it.
LIGHTNING UK! Posted May 30, 2012 Posted May 30, 2012 How often does it happen? Often enough for you to be able to capture any I/O sent to the drive to see if it's the drive itself doing it or some software running in the background on your PC?
dbminter Posted May 30, 2012 Author Posted May 30, 2012 No, it doesn't open the tray and close it immediately. The tray stays open until I remove the disc. THEN, it somehow knows I removed the disc and closes the tray. As for trying to capture the I/O, it doesn't always do this behavior. So, I've no idea when I remove a disc if the tray will close right after I remove the disc or not.
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 I think I may have sussed it out. Because now it happens more randomly. Sometimes I leave the tray ejected with the disc for minutes and remove it and the tray closes. Sometimes not. Just now, ImgBurn immediately ejected the tray and then reloaded it before I could even have a chance to remove the disc. I think it may actually be ConvertXToDVD that does it. I need to see if it happens only if that software is open, but, it was this time when the drive was ejected and then immediately closed. It may just be pseudo-random that it only happens to happen most of the time when I remove the disc from the tray and that the drive doesn't actually know I've removed the disc, of course.
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 Well, it ain't ConvertXToDVD at all. It was closed and I ejected the drive in ImgBurn and then it immediately closed itself.
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 How often does it happen? Often enough for you to be able to capture any I/O sent to the drive to see if it's the drive itself doing it or some software running in the background on your PC? Do you want me to try and enable something to capture any I/O sent to the drive?
ianymaty Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 I remember I checked my drive with only the power cable attached so in now way te problem comes from software, it's a problem with the drive itself.
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 I havne't tried that yet, but, I did try just ejecting the tray manually. When I touch the interior part of the tray, where the disc sits, the drive tray then closes. I tried like 3 times in a row and it did it. Then, I did it six times in a row and it didn't!
LIGHTNING UK! Posted June 10, 2012 Posted June 10, 2012 It sounds like it isn't opening fully or something and you touching it is enough to make it think you're trying to push it closed manually (not via the button).
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 I would agree. By putting my finger in the hole in the center of the disc to lift it out, I am also pushing the disc down slightly as my finger moves into it. That applies pressure to the tray itself, the force directed downwards. And my pressing down on the tray itself has caused the drive to reload.
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 Newegg has a LiteOn with Lightscribe for only $21. I may just order it and see if that drive does the same thing when inserted into the same bay/attached to the same data and power cables. I've been ragging on Sony for its lower quality products over the years and this Sony/NEC/Optiarc appears to be keeping up with their trend. My last one lasted one year. This one I only just got in January of this year. My only real problem with LiteOns is their 8x DVD+RW doesn't start writing at 8x. It starts at 6x and then moves to 8x after a certain amount of time. So, if the image file is small enough, an 8x DVD+RW never writes at 8x, going only at 6x.
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 I forgot. I have the DH-16ABS drive that came with my Dell that I took out and swapped in my Optiarc. I can test connecting it and see how it behaves for a few days.
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 I put in the Dell PLDS DH-16ABS and ejected the tray manually. I pressed down lightly on the inside of the tray 50 times and it did not reload. I repeated it again and it did not reload. So, it appears to be the Sony drive. Another nail in their coffin of my not buying stuff from them anymore!
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 According to the FirmwareHQ page that ImgBurn loads to check for the PLDS DH-16ABS drive, http://www.firmwarehq.com/search.php?keywords=PLDS+DVD+-RW+DH-16ABS&chk=88 this drive might be a rebadged LiteOn that Dell bought for inclusion as the optical drive in their XPS 8300 PC.
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 I am going to say that the PLDS DH-16ABS drive is a LiteOn. Tried writing an 8x DVD+RW in it. It behaved like all my past LiteOns with 8x DVD+RW discs. It burns at 6x for about 2 and a half minutes, then goes to 8x for the rest of the burn.
dbminter Posted June 10, 2012 Author Posted June 10, 2012 Just ran DVDInfo on the PLDS DH-16ABS. It has LabelFlash but not LightScribe. I'd have much prefered LightScribe. From what little I looked up about LabelFlash, I'm not interested in it, yet, I still use LightScribe, even though the labels fade fairly quickly.
dbminter Posted June 11, 2012 Author Posted June 11, 2012 Also one thing I didn't like about the LiteOns. The Verbatim DVD-R Lightscribe MCC discs that burned at 20x in the NEC/Sony/Optiarc drives only burn at 16x in the LiteOns.
dbminter Posted June 15, 2012 Author Posted June 15, 2012 Another thing I don't like about this PLDS is that it apparently only writes at 6x to 8x rated Verbatim MCC DVD+R DL. Even though ImgBurn says they are rated at 8x.
dbminter Posted June 15, 2012 Author Posted June 15, 2012 Now it only wants to write at 4x to 8x Verbatim MCC DVD+R DL's!
dbminter Posted June 15, 2012 Author Posted June 15, 2012 Now I'm getting 8x again! The replacement Lite-On I wanted from NewEgg was shipping for free until Monday, so, I went ahead and ordered it.
dbminter Posted June 17, 2012 Author Posted June 17, 2012 Seems like the PLDS also doesn't like my MCC Lightscribe Verbatim 16x DVD-R's. I've gotten 3 Verifies with an L-CE uncorrectable error. I switched to using the LiteOn USB for them and haven't had a problem. Now, that might not actually be the fault of the drive itself. I did have to throw it around a little bit after I removed it from this Dell. I stored the extra screw that was securing it in the case in one of the side holes and I had a lot of difficulty getting it out! I left scratches on the side of the drive from where I had to use pliers and a lot of force to finally get the screw unscrewed. So, getting that replacement SATA LiteOn was pretty much a good idea!
dbminter Posted June 19, 2012 Author Posted June 19, 2012 Looks like I also saved some money! It seems that Newegg raised the price of the drive by a buck after I ordered it.
dbminter Posted June 20, 2012 Author Posted June 20, 2012 You know what? I had said I would never buy another Sony product ever again. I might be tempted into buying a PS4 IF the so called specs that Afterdawn.com reports are true. IF it still pans out that it will play PS 1, PS 2, PS 3, and PS 4 discs, audio CD's, DVD movies, and Blu-Ray movies. Of course, that's a big if because who knows how true those specs are. Plus, Sony is wont to remove features from their units as time progresses. So, by the time a PS 4 becomes affordable, it may no longer support all those game formats, IF it will even ever support them at all!
dbminter Posted June 20, 2012 Author Posted June 20, 2012 Weird. I put in the new Lite-On and I'm still getting errors on Verify with good MCC Verbatim Lightscribe DVD-R. Every 3rd or 5th one craps out. I 12:47:56 Verifying Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 1752479) W 12:50:44 Failed to Read Sectors 913408 - 913439 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error W 12:50:54 Failed to Read Sector 913424 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error W 12:50:54 Sector 913424 maps to File: \VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_2.VOB E 12:50:59 Failed to Read Sector 913424 - Reason: L-EC Uncorrectable Error E 12:50:59 Sector 913424 maps to File: \VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_2.VOB E 12:50:59 Failed to Verify Sectors! I've burned about 7 in the USB Lite-On with no problem. But, 2 SATA Lite-Ons keep crapping out on these discs. In fact, this was my first DVD-R burned in the new Lite-On!
Recommended Posts