NiftyNorris Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Hi, Sorry to post a question here, but I've been trying to solve this problem on my own and I'm stumped. I've been trying to burn an ISO file to DVD and I just keep getting coasters. This is what I'm using: Pentium 4 CPU 2.40GHz 768 Mb RAM PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D ImgBurn Vers 2.3.2.0 Verbatim 16x-R discs When I put a disc into the drive, ImgBurn initially showed the following message at the bottom of the screen ... Device not ready (incompatible medium installed) I took the disk out, checked that it was OK, and then put it back in. ImgBurn then recognised the blank disc and showed the following info on the right side of screen .... ---------------------------------------------------------- PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D 1.29 (ATA) Current Profile: DVD-R Disc Information: Status: Empty Erasable: No Free Sectors: 2,297,888 Free Space: 4,706,074,624 bytes Free Time: 510:40:38 (MM:SS:FF) Supported Write Speeds: 4x, 6x, 8x, 12x, 16x Pre-recorded Information: Manufacturer ID: MCC 03RG20 Recording Management Area Information: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D Physical Format Information (Last Recorded): Disc ID: 0@P-!-00 Book Type: DVD-R Part Version: 5 Disc Size: 120mm Maximum Read Rate: Not Specified Number of Layers: 1 Track Path: Parallel Track Path (PTP) Linear Density: 0.267 um/bit Track Density: 0.74 um/track First Physical Sector of Data Area: 196,608 Last Physical Sector of Data Area: 0 Last Physical Sector in Layer 0: 0 ---------------------------------------------------------- However, when I try to burn the ISO file to a DVD, (at 4x speed) it only goes as far as "writing leadin" and then the whole computer hangs. I let it run for around 10 minutes, but the screen showed no progression so I closed the computer down (having to use CRT-ALT-DEL). When I start the system up again, and run ImgBurn, the (partially burnt - partially coaster) disc then shows as ... ---------------------------------------------------------- PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D 1.29 (ATA) Current Profile: DVD-ROM Disc Information: Status: Complete Erasable: No Sessions: 1 Sectors: 2,285,854 Size: 4,681,428,992 bytes Time: 508:00:04 (MM:SS:FF) Supported Write Speeds: 4x, 6x, 8x, 12x, 16x TOC Information: Session 1... -> Track 01 (Mode 1, LBA: 0 - 2285853) -> LeadOut (LBA: 2285854) Pre-recorded Information: Manufacturer ID: MCC 03RG20 Recording Management Area Information: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D Physical Format Information (Last Recorded): Disc ID: 0@P-!-00 Book Type: DVD-R Part Version: 5 Disc Size: 120mm Maximum Read Rate: Not Specified Number of Layers: 1 Track Path: Parallel Track Path (PTP) Linear Density: 0.267 um/bit Track Density: 0.74 um/track First Physical Sector of Data Area: 196,608 Last Physical Sector of Data Area: 2,482,461 Last Physical Sector in Layer 0: 0 ---------------------------------------------------------- At the bottom of the screen, ImgBurn says that the disc is not empty (but it's not full either, so I guess it's another coaster). I've had similar problems trying to burn a disk using both Roxio and Nero (which I had installed prior to finding ImgBurn, although both are uninstalled now - I understand that it's best not to have multiple burning programs on your PC). I also had my virus checker turned off during the burn so I'm presuming that's not part of the problem. What should I do? Here's some more info which may (or maynot) be relevent ... I'm swimming a bit out of my depth here ... I bought the burner (PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D) as an OEM, and I've connected it as the master on the IDE 40 wire cable, and moved an older DVD drive to slave. I've downloaded and installed the latest firmware for the burner. Both seem to work OK when I put a movie in them (ie, it'll play the movie OK). When I check 'Device Manager' they both show as 'working properly' with the DVD burner at 'Location 0'and the older drive at 'Location 1'. I've also checked the settings for under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers - both devices under the Secondary IDE channel are set to 'DMA if available' with the current transfer mode as 'Ultra DMA Mode 2'. Beyond that, I'm not sure what to do. The guy at the store told me that the discs would work OK with the burner (I guess they should - I think my set-up is the problem). I've also previously installed Roxio and then Nero (in succession) but they only made coasters as well. Frankly, I was glad to find ImgBurn as Nero was around 400+Mb in size (ridiculous) and I just wanted something small and easy to burn my ISO files, not something that would fill my hard drive. Cheers, and thanks for reading this. As I said I've run out of ideas. :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blutach Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Sounds like the drive is going south. Or you have a bad batch of blank disks. Change your cable to 80 wire. And try cleaning the drive. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiftyNorris Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 Blutach, Thanks for the advice. I'll buy some more discs (maybe '+R' this time) and see what happens. If it's still not working, then I'll change the cable. How do I go about cleaning the drive? Cheers, Nifty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus_McFartfinger Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 You can buy a CD cleaner from any store that sells hi-fi gear. It's just a disk with little hairs on it that brush against the drives' laser when it's spun. Never used one myself. With hardware as cheap as it is these days, I'd check the ribbon cable and also swap the drive onto another IDE channel to rule out problems with the motherboard. If neither of these worked I'd toss it into the bin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiftyNorris Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 Shamus, Thanks for the help. Will have a second look at that cable if/when the new discs 'coaster-ise' themselves. I presumed that my motherboard could maybe only have a 40 wire cable as it's getting a bit old now. I checked the manual and it does support an 80 wire one, and UltraDMA 66/100 (whatever the heck that is, like I said, I'm swimming out of my depth here). I'll buy one and see what happens. Will need it even if I do end up replacing the burner. One other thing, I've got 2 HDDs on the primary IDE channel. Maybe this is a dumb question, but both are set to 'DMA if available' and the Current Transfer Mode appears as 'Ultra DMA Mode 5'. The drives seem to be working OK, obviously :-), but I wondered if the fact that both DVD drives are using 'Ultra DMA mode 2' is the wrong thing to do (ie having the HDDs on UDMA mode 5 while the DVDs are on mode 2). It's just all confusing tech talk to me, but I wondered if the data coming out of the HDD is too fast for what is going into the burner. Like I said, it's probably a dumb question. There also doesn't seem to be any way to get both IDE channels to operate on the same mode as the only options I can select is 'DMA if available' or 'PIO only'. I can't select the same mode for both. I guess that doesn't matter? Cheers and thanks again (also to Blutach), Nifty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIGHTNING UK! Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 It's odd that your HDD's think they're running UDMA 5 if you're only on 40 wire IDE cables! The limit for those is UDMA-2. The Pioneer should be on UDMA-4, hence it requires an 80 wire cable too. If you use the right cables (80 wire ones), all drives should be running UDMA 4 or 5. If things still fail after that, clean the drive and try to find some other blanks. Verbatim +R discs are better than the -R ones. For -R, go with Taiyo Yuden (TYG02 are the best). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiftyNorris Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 Lightning, Thanks for the help. I think I'm finally getting to the core of this problem ... namely me! I've just opened my computer case to recheck the cables and stuff, (since you mentioned the suss nature of my HDDs using UDMA 5 on a 40-wire cable) and I've found that they are actually on an 80 wire cable! It's just the DVD's that are on a 40 wire cable plugged into IDE2. Sorry about that (sorry also to Blutach and Shamus) because maybe that has been the problem all along, just as you mentioned. I didn't notice the difference between the cables because, to a newbie at least, they kinda look the same - except for the fact that one has obviously got 80 wires running thru it, and the other just 40. ;-) I'll buy an 80 wire cable for the DVDs tomorrow and then check that everything is using UDMA 4 or 5 as suggested. Hopefully all will be OK. If not, I switch to some +R media and see what happens. I cleaned the drive today but I think I'll wait to change the cable before maybe trashing another disc. Hopefully something will work - I've had the burner for a while now and have never had a successful burn yet! Thanks again guys. (Lightning, thanks especially for the obvious work put into all of this!) Cheers, Nifty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
product_of_punk Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Don't feel too discouraged Nifty, I am currently having the same problem as yourself. I have been using both ImgBurn and DVD Decrypter to burn my ISO files for years now and have never had any problems. That is up until about 2-3 weeks ago. Lately I haven't been able to burn a disc either and now also have quite an abundance of coasters. I have always used the same burner without any nuisance. I am still using the same discs as they have never posed any problems. I did however replace the burner about a week ago to try to rectify the problem, but for some reason I end up getting the same results. All I can ever seem to do is get as far as Writing LeadIn on either burner I use. I'm not sure if anybody has figured out a working solution to this problem yet, but instead of posting a new thread I figured I would try to source out someone with a similar situation. Someone please help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dontasciime Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 Don't feel too discouraged Nifty, I am currently having the same problem as yourself. I have been using both ImgBurn and DVD Decrypter to burn my ISO files for years now and have never had any problems. That is up until about 2-3 weeks ago. Lately I haven't been able to burn a disc either and now also have quite an abundance of coasters. I have always used the same burner without any nuisance. I am still using the same discs as they have never posed any problems. I did however replace the burner about a week ago to try to rectify the problem, but for some reason I end up getting the same results. All I can ever seem to do is get as far as Writing LeadIn on either burner I use. I'm not sure if anybody has figured out a working solution to this problem yet, but instead of posting a new thread I figured I would try to source out someone with a similar situation. Someone please help! Try replacing the disc's you are using first if they are anything but TY or MCC, make sure your burner's firmware is updated to latest. Without any other info do any of the above mentioned for previous poster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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