verify after copy always fails, reverify succeeds, DVD copy is good

[imgmhe]

So far, this problem is 100% reproducible:

 

1.  ImgBurn copies an ISO file to a DVD with verify enabled.  The verify fails.

 

2.  After cancelling the verify, I initiate a verify operation and the verify succeeds.  In some cases, the verify fails if I don't restart ImgBurn.  But the verify always succeeds if I restart ImgBurn.

 

3.  The copied DVD works well.

 

Attached are two logs.  In both cases, the above problem occurred, and in both cases the re-verify succeeded without restarting ImgBurn.  ImgBurn was restarted between copies.

 

P.S.  This system is running Windows 7 Home 64-bit.  My experience (on other computers) with DVD Decrypter has been excellent.  I switched to ImgBurn on this system because DVD Decrypter did not work for me on Windows 7 64-bit.  This problem (the initial verify fails) has occurred every time, and the re-verify has always succeeded.(though sometimes a program restart was needed).  The resulting DVD copies have always been good, 

ImgBurn_11-28-2013_Example1.log

ImgBurn_11-28-2013_Example2.log

[LIGHTNING UK!]

This is your system / drive playing up, not the program.

[imgmhe]

As a test, I tried (for the first time) using "Windows Disc Image Burner" (which comes with Windows 7).  It burned and verified the disk without error -- and the resulting disk worked properly.

 

Even though the initial ImgBurn verify has failed every time (at least 10 times), I realize that this one successful test with the Windows image burner is not proof that ImgBurn is at fault.

 

I'll do more tests with the Windows image burner, and report back with the results.  But it may be a while as I don't burn many DVDs.  Also, since I have Nero 11, I'll try it too. 

[LIGHTNING UK!]

It's hard to explain something when you already think it's a black and white situation.. It isn't.

 

Obviously there's something going on, but real bugs affect everyone and that isn't the case here.

 

For whatever reason, your system/drive isn't returning real data (from the disc) in response to the "read" command at that moment in time - it seems to be returning blank/empty/zeroed out sectors. I have no idea why that is and I have no way to look into it as it's only happening on your machine.

[imgmhe]

I tried "Nero 11 Burning ROM" with "verify after copy" enabled.  As with Windows 7 "Windows Disc Image Burner", Nero 11 burned and verified the disk without error -- and the resulting disk worked properly.

 

I then tried ImgBurn again (using a different .iso file) and the failure occurred again:  the initial verify returned errors, but the re-verify completed with no compare errors.  (Log file is attached.)  As before, the burned DVD works fine.  

 

You're welcome to connect to my computer and see this problem yourself (e.g., with TeamViewer).   Just let me know, and we can set up a time.  (I live in California -- Pacific Standard Time.)

ImgBurn_11-30-2013_Example1.log

[LIGHTNING UK!]

That log shows it's detecting miscompares in 32 sectors... which just happens to be the number the program reads in one go (2 ECC blocks).

 

Obviously there's nothing wrong with the ones before or after and when you run the standalone verify function straight after (which you're saying is fine), it's running the exact same code again. There is no 'bug' here, it's just that the sequence of commands is showing an anomaly with your system/drive.

 

So I can't explain it, but your system/drive is messing up and returning invalid data to the program. It can only work with what it's given.

 

Try going into the Settings, I/O tab, Page 2 and change the I/O Transfer Length to 'Manual' and make sure it's set on 32 KiB. I wonder if you'll then just have 16 sectors that miscompare, it'll remain being the same 32 sectors or if it'll be totally fine.

[imgmhe]

As a separate test, I downloaded and installed "Active@ISO Burner".  As with Windows 7 "Windows Disc Image Burner", and also with "Nero 11 Burning ROM", Active@ISO Burner burned and verified the disk without error -- and the resulting disk worked properly.

 

Per your suggestion, I changed the ImgBurn I/O Transfer Length setting to 'Manual' and made sure it was set on 32 KiB -- and as with the previous ImgBurn tests, the initial verify failed, the re-verify succeeded, and the resulting disk seems fine.  The log file is attached (showing both the initial verify and the subsequent re-verify).  (After this test, I changed the Transfer Length back to "Automatic".)   

ImgBurn_12-01-2013_Example1.log

[LIGHTNING UK!]

I really can't do anything with this.

 

I'd go to the trouble of locating and buying that specific model drive but I know it would end up working just fine for me and be a waste of time and money.

 

Searching the forum, I found 2 other threads (from 2010) where people were using GH22NS50 drives (very similar to yours internally I expect) and both had miscompare errors pop up (starting) at sector 7168.

 

You can see from my own tests with the GH22NS50 drive (in the 'Drives' forum) that I didn't have that problem with it.

 

If you want to spend some time looking into the issue you're having, I'd start by trying the drive with other discs... CDs, DVD-RW / DVD+RW etc. and see if the problem persists. Then try it in another PC and try another drive in your PC - see if the problem follows it or goes away.

 

I don't know which SATA controller you've got the drive attached to at the moment, but if you have more than one on your motherboard, try it on the other one.

[imgmhe]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I tried more tests, using two more ISO burning programs, CDBurnerXP and Ashampoo Burning Studio FREE.  Like Windows Disc Image Burner and Nero 11 Burning ROM, both programs performed the copy and verify without problems.

For completeness, below is the info from my prior posts as well as from the latest tests.

SUMMARY

1.  ImgBurn consistently reports false compare errors when performing a write-image-with-verify operation on my Windows 7 (64-bit) system.  A subsequent verify operation (again using ImgBurn) returns no errors.  The problem is 100% reproducible.  The burned disks work properly.  (I recall one instance a few months ago where it was necessary to restart ImgBurn for the re-verify to work; but in all recent false verify errors, no restart was needed for the re-verify to complete successfully.)
 
2.  The above operations were done on a Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) system (Intel i7-3770S, 8GB RAM, LG GH24NS72 burner).  The SATA controller is part of the Intel H77 chipset (not an add-on card); Device Manager reports it as "Intel® 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller - 1E02".  The brand of DVD media used above is Philips White Inkjet Printable DVD+R 16X, part number DR416B00M/17  8670 000 32766.  (All burns were done at 8x.)

3.  Per your suggestion, I tried different media (DVD+RW) and ImgBurn performed correctly (no initial verify errors) -- and two repeats of the same test resulted in the same proper operation.  Also per your suggestion, I ran ImgBurn on a different computer (Windows 7 Pro 32-bit) using the Philips DVD+R media, and ImgBurn performed correctly.

 

4.  On my Windows 7 (64-bit) system, the write-image-with-verify operation completes successfully (using the Philips DVD+R media) with every other ISO burning program I've tried, which so far are:

      Windows Disc Image Burner (comes with Windows 7)
      Nero 11 Burning ROM
      Active@ISO Burner
      CDBurnerXP
      Ashampoo Burning Studio FREE


IDEAS

Incidentally, I'm a retired programmer, and have developed several commercial products, including a disk utility that was popular several years ago -- and I've encountered several problems like this one over the years.  There were often some combination of drivers, firmware, and hardware that behaved unexpectedly, and often my program was nominally doing the right thing.  But as long as other similar programs worked and mine didn't, it was necessary to address those cases to maintain market share.  And in this case, at least five other ISO burning programs are working properly on my system, and ImgBurn is not.

Some thoughts that may be of use:

Regardless of where the problem lies (within or outside of ImgBurn), the business solution is to modify ImgBurn so it can handle whatever is unusual in this situation.  The fact that there are no other bug reports doesn't mean my system is unique.  When one program doesn't work, most users just move to another without taking the time to submit a problem report.  Also, as my system is relatively new, there's a chance the problem may occur more often as more people upgrade to newer systems.

I agree that procuring the same DVD burner would likely be a wasted effort.  Also, the possible reasons this is happening are endless.  E.g., one of the other installed burning programs (such as Nero 11) may have insinuated its own logical driver into the Windows driver hierarchy, and that driver may be buggy or causing trouble for ImgBurn (even so, since the manufacturer won't change it, fixing the problem bounces back to modifying ImgBurn).  Another possibility is that some driver is returning more bytes (e.g., of some property) than requested, causing a buffer overflow in ImgBurn.    

The good news is that this problem is 100% reproducible, making it much easier to find and fix than an intermittent problem.  This means you have a good chance of finding it quickly by remotely connecting to my system and setting breakpoints and/or creating a test version of ImgBurn that produces a more detailed log.  (Unfortunately, since the problem occurs only with DVD+R media, I'll have to feed blank DVD+R disks as needed, instead of you being able to work at leisure with a single rewritable disk.) 

If for any reason you don't want to debug this problem remotely, there are several API monitoring tools (which I've never used) that can log API calls from specific applications.  It may be possible to monitor one of those other ISO burning programs on your computer to see what calls it issues.  E.g., there may be more than one way to reset a drive, or driver, etc., and not all of them work the same with all hardware. 

I hope the above is of help.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Please just confirm something for me... Your drive with the same DVD+R media works fine in another PC?

 

Have you tried booting your machine to safe mode and burning one of the DVD+R discs that usually fail?

 

I do have a tool that can be used to log all of the I/O on a machine, I can send an end user version of it over to you via email if you're happy to do that.

 

Do any of those other burning tools cycle the drive tray between write and verify operations? If not, try turning that option off on the 'write' tab in ImgBurn's settings.

[imgmhe]

Please just confirm something for me... Your drive with the same DVD+R media works fine in another PC? Have you tried booting your machine to safe mode and burning one of the DVD+R discs that usually fail? I do have a tool that can be used to log all of the I/O on a machine, I can send an end user version of it over to you via email if you're happy to do that. Do any of those other burning tools cycle the drive tray between write and verify operations? If not, try turning that option off on the 'write' tab in ImgBurn's settings.

1.  The same DVD+R media works on another PC (a laptop) that is running Windows 7 Pro (32-bit) using the built-in drive on that laptop.  (Not using the same LG drive on my Windows 7 Home (64-bit) PC.)  

 

2.  No, I have not tried any tests in Safe Mode.

 

3.  As I recall, all the other programs cycle the drive tray between write and verify operations. 

 

Incidentally, I have seven Windows computers, only one of which is running a 64-bit version of Windows,  All the others run Windows XP or Windows 7 (32-bit).  I've been using DVD Decrypter on the XP systems, and it has worked well.  I installed ImgBurn on the Windows 64-bit system only because DVD Decrypter didn't work on that system. 

[imgmhe]

Two more tests:

1.  I tried another ISO burning program -- "PowerISO" -- and it performed the copy and verify successfully using the Philips DVD+R media.

2.  Using a Hiren Boot CD 15.2 MiniXP, I ran ImgBurn 2.5.7 (which comes with the Hiren CD) using the Philips media, and ImgBurn reported false compare errors on the initial verify and on the first re-verify, but reported no errors on the second re-verify.  The burned DVD is good.  By "re-verify", I mean initiating a verify without restarting ImgBurn.

Regarding the second test, in prior cases where the initial verify and first re-verify reported false errors, I restarted ImgBurn and the verify succeeded.  This is the first time I tried a second re-verify (i.e., without restarting) -- and, as mentioned above, the second re-verify succeeded.   

Again for completeness, below is the info from my prior posts as well as from the latest tests.

SUMMARY

1.  When burning to Philips DVD+R media (part number DR416B00M/17 8670 000 32766), ImgBurn 2.5.8 consistently reports false compare errors when performing a write-image-with-verify operation on my Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit system.  A re-verify operation (without restarting ImgBurn) usually returns no errors.  In one case, the first re-verify failed, but the second re-verify succeeded.  In cases when I restarted ImgBurn, the verify always succeeded.  The problem (verify-after-write producing false compare errors) is 100% reproducible.  The burned disks work properly. 
 
2.  Using a Hiren Boot CD 15.2 MiniXP (to avoid possible software issues with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit), and using the same Philips DVD+R media, ImgBurn 2.5.7 (which comes with the Hiren CD) reported false compare errors on the initial verify and on the first re-verify, but reported no errors on the second re-verify.  The burned DVD is good. 

3.  Using other media types (DVD+RW, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD+R DL), ImgBurn performs correctly (no initial verify errors).  (As I don't have another brand of DVD+R media, it's not clear if the problem also occurs with other DVD+R brands, or just the above Philips brand.)  All burns on the Philips media were done at 8x.  All test were done using a normal OS startup (not Safe Mode). 

4.  The above operations were done on a PC with an Intel i7-3770S, 8GB RAM, LG GH24NS72 burner.  The SATA controller is part of the Intel H77 chipset (not an add-on card); Device Manager reports it as "Intel® 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller - 1E02".  

5.  I tested ImgBurn on a different computer (Windows 7 Pro 32-bit) using the Philips DVD+R media, and ImgBurn performed correctly.

6.  Using the same Philips DVD+R media, the write-image-with-verify operation completes successfully (on my Windows 7 64-bit system) with every other ISO burning program that I've tried, which so far are:

      Windows Disc Image Burner (comes with Windows 7)
      Nero 11 Burning ROM
      Active@ISO Burner
      CDBurnerXP
      Ashampoo Burning Studio FREE
      PowerISO