Weird SATA and CD's issue

[dbminter]

I've got a weird issue that I can't even begin to tackle.

 

 

The problem appears to be reading audio CD's to image files on an SATA drive.  What happens is the last track always plays with skips.  I've tried different drives and different media and the only concrete results are it occurs when reading audio CD's to an image file in an SATA connected drive.  When I read the discs with my USB drive, I don't get skipping playback on the last track.

 

 

I've tried restoring my system to an image made when I last made successful audio CD reads.  The issue is still there.

 

 

As I said, the only thing that seems to work is to read the audio CD's to image files with my USB drive.  I can burn the image files in an SATA drive without the skipping playback.  It appears to only be when audio CD's are reading in an SATA drive.  I've tried both SATA drives and it happens.  I've tried writing to Mitsubishi CD-R and CD-RW and get the same results.  I've burned in both the Pioneer and LG with the same results.  I've tried reading and writing with both ImgBurn and Nero with the same results.

 

 

So, this isn't particularly an ImgBurn issue but it does happen with ImgBurn.  So, anyone have any idea how I can begin to go about this issue? 

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Boot into safe mode.... same issue?

 

Which mode is your sata controller in? Ata / ahci / raid etc

 

Which chipset does your motherboard use? Just make sure it's not the one that had the bug and required the B3 update.

[dbminter]

I'll try Safe Mode and report back.

 

 

I'm sorry, but I don't know how to check the SATA Controller mode or what chipset my motherboard uses. 

 

 

I Googled about checking the chipset but apparently Intel idiotically doesn't make a 64 bit version of its chipset identification utility!    So, I can't identify it.

 

 

What worries me it doesn't appear to be a software issue as I know I've been able to copy CD's before on this PC since I got it in August and I restored my system to an image I think worked before and it still failed. 

[LIGHTNING UK!]

CPU-Z should do the trick.

[dbminter]

I just got out of Safe Mode and the issue was not present.  So, it's something that got installed/changed that did it.

[dbminter]

CPU-Z information

 

 

Motherboard

 

Manufacturer: Dell Inc

 

Model: 0KWVT8

 

Chipset: Intel Haswell Rev. 06

 

Southbridge: Intel Z87 Rev. C2

 

LPCIO: ITE IT8772

 

 

I don't know how to determine the SATA Controller mode.

[dbminter]

Working on a hunch, I tried something.

 

 

The biggest change I could think of all the changes I had cataloged since the last update of my base image was I turned on Indexing for all of my PC drives that were allowed.  Windows 8 Search sucks.  50% of the time, it cannot find file names on a drive.  So, I thought maybe it was because Windows 8 only indexes a few folders.  So, I turned on Indexing for all drives.  I noticed this pretty much kept my USB HDD drive light blinking half of the time.  I disabled it and tested CD's again.  The problem seemed to go away.  I even played the last 3 tracks on the CD to see if the problem had moved somewhere else. 

 

 

Now, I've no idea if this was the cause of the problem or if it fixes it.  I'll have to test more in a real world environment with copying CD's.  I honestly cannot see WHY this would be the issue.  Indexing shouldn't have anything to do with SATA burner read data.  It might on SATA HD's as the indexing might be causing intermittent read errors to the file being written to the SATA HD while the indexing is reading contents/writing to its own indexing pool.  I'm only guessing as I'm grasping at straws as to why this might be the cause IF it is, indeed, the cause. 

[dbminter]

I'm starting to think it was random results of a dying Playstation 3.  Nothing to do with the SATA reading as a problem.

 

 

I was playing The Golden Compass in the PS 3 when it reached the end of the movie and stopped dead in its tracks.  I played Where The Wild Things are and at 15:50, playback just stopped.  I was playing The Goonies and at 39:48, it jumped into the 40 minute mark.  I inserted The Goonies into a really old Panasonic DVD recorder and it did not skip at 39:48.

 

 

So, I'm beginning to think the issue is the PS 3 is dying.  It's been 3 years since my first PS 3 was replaced and Sony makes crap products now.  So, I wouldn't be surprised if the blame was laid squarely at the feet of the PS 3.

[dbminter]

Plus I've had other issues with CD playback.  The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Book On CD Read By Stephen Fry Disc 1, Zombie Survival Guide Book On CD Disc 1 Track 19 starts okay but then starts in with content from other tracks repeated periodically throughout the remaining tracks and the same thing happening with Brave New World Book On CD and an audio CD of La Nozze Di Figaro.

 

 

Some of these issues began before I listened to my Remembrance Of The Daleks Book On CD.  All 5 discs of that played fine since.  And then the skipping on the end tracks really started up with The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Tertiary Phase CD 1.

 

 

I think that sometimes the playback plays fine but sometimes the playback doesn't on the PS 3.  I removed and reinserted The Goonies and it skipped at a different spot, just a little into the 40 minute mark.

[dbminter]

Well, that kills the dying PS 3 theory, I think.  I inserted Goonies into my 2nd Panasonic DVD recorder and played it around the place where it skipped before on the PS 3.  I let it play a little bit before and after the place where it skipped before and it skipped a little after where it skipped before.

 

 

I put Where The Wild Things are in this same Panasonic and it, too, stopped playing at the 15:50 mark, in the exact same place as on the PS 3.

 

 

So, it appears the issues are with the physical CD's themselves.  They are many years old check outs from my local library and have scratches on them that are probably causing the problems on the PS 3 and the Panasonics.

 

 

So, I inserted Zombie Survival Guide Disc 1 and tried Track 19 on my PC this time.  Same skipping about at the same point.  This, too, is a years old check out from my local library so it's probably damaged.

 

 

The Tertiary Phase was also a year's old check out from my local library.

 

 

Thus, as improbable as it may be, the issue seems to be  ALL of the physical discs in question that I was using to test out these PS 3 issues.  So, it's most likely not a dying PS 3 issue.

[dbminter]

Well, I've had more chance to test it and the issue still persists! 

 

 

So, what can I do now?  Just always boot into Safe Mode whenever I need to make a CD image?  Just always use USB to read CD's? 

[dbminter]

I've done some more looking into the issue.  It's definitely occurring at the read state of CD's in SATA drives.  Both the LG and the Pioneer SATA drives when used as the read source cause this issue.  It's not a burning issue to SATA drives because I mounted the .CCD/.IMG set and played it in WinAmp at the same spot and the issue is present in the images themselves.  I've used the USB to read CD's and the SATA Pioneer to write the image and the issue isn't present.

[dbminter]

It doesn't matter what software I use to read in CD's either.  I used UltraISO to read in the CD and ImgBurn to burn the resulting image.  The issue persists.  Same skips in the same tracks at the same time.  Always within the last 3 tracks on an audio CD.

[dbminter]

Ah, I think I'm narrowing down the root.

 

 

I believe I was wrong in my initial reporting that it occurred when reading CD's in my SATA Pioneer.  I think I was only testing with image files that had the error and I was burning in the SATA Pioneer.  I believe the issue now is the SATA LG.  So, it's either the burner, the SATA cable attaching it to the motherboard, or the SATA port its attached to on the mobo.  Or some weird configuration issue of the channel.

 

 

I have been using the LG as the main reader, except for the USB where I detected no problem.  I ran the read test again on the same disc in the SATA Pioneer, burned in the same SATA Pioneer to the same CD-RW, and tested on the same 3 tracks at the end on the same player, the Playstation 3.  No detectable issues.

 

 

I've also been getting some weird results reading in DVD's when the LG is the source drive.  Issues where DVD playback just stops.  Could be related.

 

 

I still need to do some more testing.  More CD tests with the Pioneer as the read source, because I'm not entirely sure I tested with the SATA Pioneer as the read source.  I THINK I did but my last test showed no results.

 

 

LG drives are rotten readers, anyway.  Funny how I just posted in Chat how bad LG drives are as readers.  I've had this LG only about half a year and I think, coupled with my results from my previous LG drives, I WON'T get another LG drive.  I'll stick with Pioneer.

 

 

So, I need to rest more with the Pioneer.  If I don't get repeatable results, I will swap in my last LG drive which I still have.  It was still a good reader when I swapped it out.  I only swapped it out because after a year, it stopped writing to DVD+R DL's at all!    It was still reading fine as far as I could tell.  If I still have problems, then I'll have to swap around the SATA cables.  If the LG suddenly starts reading properly, I'll know it's either the SATA cable, the port, or a weird configuration issue on the port in Windows.

 

 

From all my tests, I don't see it being a software issue.  I've tried multiple software and restored known working Windows images.  The constant seems to be the SATA LG when used as a read source.

 

 

But, I'm not testing anymore tonight.  I'm tired! 

[dbminter]

ALTHOUGH, this current dying LG theory does NOT explain why booting into Safe Mode seemed to fix the problem. 

[dbminter]

Well, this puts the dying LG drive theory to bed.

 

 

It's not the LG drive dying.

 

 

I tested another SATA Pioneer read and got even worse results than my test that worked last night!

[dbminter]

My current theory is a borked Windows update.

 

 

I THINK when I restored one of my last working images, I ran a test on CD's it worked.  Then after I updated everything, it returned.  This updating included about 50 Windows Updates.  So, it's going to be a long process to test each and every one of those if that is indeed the problem.

 

 

First things first, restore 04-13-2015 image and see if the problem is there without updates.  If it is, restore 03-21-2015 and see if it's there without updates.  If it is, restore 09-17-2014 and see if it's there without updating.  It was definitely NOT there with the 09-17-2014 image without any updates.

[dbminter]

I have a terrible feeling I know the culprit.

 

 

I restored to 04-13-2015 and ran the test again.  The skips were in a different track this time, hence why I test the last 3 tracks.

 

 

The major change from 04-13-2015 and the previous image was I updated Macrium Reflect from version 5 to version 6.

[dbminter]

Well, it's not Reflect 6.

 

 

I restored 03-21-2015.  While it skipped at different parts, it did skip in the same track again, the 2nd of the 3 I was testing.  This was a known working image.  The last CD's I made weren't delivered until March 30th, after 03-21-2015, and the images I made and burned from these worked fine.

 

 

So, the next step is to boot this image into Safe Mode and rerun the test.  MAYBE I didn't test ALL 3 tracks and the skipping had moved to a different track and it wasn't tested.

 

 

IF it fails on any of the 3 tracks in Safe Mode, it's a hardware issue on the mobo as it happens on both SATA drives.  IF it doesn't fail, then what could possibly be the cause?  Safe Mode would be a software issue, but I restored to a known good point BEFORE the last working CD's were made.  Given this, it seems to me the issue is on the mobo. 

[dbminter]

It appears to be an issue on the mobo.  Damn it!

 

 

I entered Safe Mode and tested again.  Though it was in different spots again, it was again in the same track, the 2nd of the 3 test tracks.

 

 

So, now, to test and make sure the USB actually works.  It seems to be the SATA on the mobo because it happens on both SATA drives.

 

 

Then, after that test, I will perform one more test.  Restore the system to factory default, install ImgBurn, and retest.

[dbminter]

Well, this is irksome.

 

 

The problem wasn't as persistent.  There weren't any skips but there were hisses and pops in the audio not present on the source when I read from the USB drive.

 

 

This indicates to me a problem present across ALL SATA connections.  Including the internal HDD.  Or the problem is with the HDD itself or on the SATA.  Since it occurs across any SATA or USB connected source drive and since the problems are present in the image files themselves, maybe the HDD is not being written to properly.  The SATA HDD as the target source is the constant variable in this scenario.

 

 

Now I'll test reading from SATA but writing to a target on a USB HDD.

[dbminter]

I altered my test a bit.  I decided to see if I could isolate if it was the SATA issue by eliminating the SATA issue entirely from the equation.  I read, wrote the image to USB HDD, and wrote the image from USB HDD to USB CD.  Skips and pops returned, this time in new locations in the first track.  So, it's on the SATA and USB.

 

 

So, now to restore factory default image, install ImgBurn, read from USB, write to USB HDD, and write to USB CD and test again.

[dbminter]

After restoring to a factory default, I appeared to have no skips and pops when reading from USB, writing to USB HDD, and then writing to USB CD.  When reading from SATA CD, writing image to SATA HDD, and writing to SATA CD, I had no skips but a few pops.

 

 

So, it seems the issue is a hardware problem I've got to live with!    I couldn't take it in for a diagnostic because I've no idea what to tell them!  It's a read issue that occurs on both USB and SATA or do I tell them it's a write issue that occurs on both SATA and USB?  Or both?  Or neither?! 

 

 

My only option is to go with USB read, USB write to image, and USB write to CD.  That gives me the fewest errors with the fewest possible chances of something going wrong. 

 

 

I've had this Dell for 8 months and I don't think I'll get another one.  The first Dell was difficult to work around inside.  I had to remove the graphics card to insert a 2nd SATA cable!  I had to have the bezel off in order to get drives in and out or to access manual eject holes.  This 2nd Dell was better to work around inside but it's been more of a chore to work with.  The bezel still has to stay off.  With my Windows Vista Dell updated to Windows 7, I had to rarely restore a system image to fix a system problem.  With this Dell, I can't even count how many times I've restored a system image to fix a problem or troubleshoot an issue.  So, Dell goes on my list.

[dbminter]

I ran a test and ripped MP3's of the last 3 tracks from my test CD.  I played all 3 tracks and there were NO audio errors.  No skips, hisses, pops, or repeated audio.

 

 

So, what issue can possibly affect only reading CD's to image files from either SATA or USB drives, writing images to either SATA or USB HDD's and yet NOT effect ripping those same tracks to MP3?! 

[dbminter]

Well, I ran the test again on a different CD in my collection that I know, years ago, I was able to copy on a different computer with different software.  I mounted the image to see if the errors were in the file.  There were only skips, hisses, or pops in the last 3 tracks!    There were pops at the change of tracks in WinAmp, but it did the same thing in WinAmp when I played the source CD in the same reader.

 

 

So, I don't know WHAT to think!