Could it be my ASPI thingy?

NiftyNorris · July 26, 2007

Sorry guys, but I'm back.

I've had problems getting my Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-111D to work on my Windows XP system. I got some good advice here yesterday which I have tried, but I still seem to be no closer to a solution.

I'm using:

Pentium 4 CPU 2.40GHz

768 Mb RAM

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D

(as master on IDE 2 with a second, older DVD player as slave)

(current firmware update installed yesterday)

(I have 2 x 40Gb drives on IDE1)

ImgBurn Vers 2.3.2.0

I had a problem yesterday, wherein ImgBurn would recognise a blank disk when inserted to the burner, but would 'hang' the system whenever I attempted to burn an ISO file to the disc. It would only go as far as 'Writing LeadIn...' and that was it. The Progression Bar would show 0% and so I shut it down each time after about 10 minutes (by holding the power button in as the system was unresponsive).

I've taken the advice given yesterday (replacing the 40 wire IDE cable to the burner - it's now 80, I cleaned the drive with a 'laser lens cleaner' disc bought from a music shop, and have tried another brand of discs - no success with either Verbatim 16X-R or Sony 16x+R) I live in the country so there's not much choice when it comes to the discs.

I've just tried to burn a disc and the same problem occurs - the computer hangs at the same point, while 'Writing LeadIn ...' which effectively makes another coaster - the disc comes out only partially written.

Following on from yesterdays discussion, I rechecked the IDE ATA/ATAPI controller settings after swapping the IDE cable, and both HDDs (Primary IDE Channel with an 80wire cable) are set to DMA if available (transfer mode Ultra DMA Mode5). The Pioneer DVD burner shares the other 80 wire cable (the new one) with an older DVD player. The burner is connected as Device 0 and set to 'DMA if available' and current transfer mode of 'Ultra DMA mode 4', while the DVD player is connected as device 1, also set to 'DMA if available' but the Curent transfer mode is 'Ultra DMA mode 2'.

All of the devices show as working properly, without any conflicts, and I can play pre-recorded DVDs (movies) on both DVD drives and they look fine.

Sorry to bother you guys with all of this, and maybe I should just throw the burner out, but it seems a pity as I'm wondering if it still just my settings. If it is, I'll still be stuck even if I install a new burner.

As I've said earlier, I'm pretty green at this (but learning the hard way), but could it be any of the following things ... (have a chuckle if you want, I won't hear you) ..

I bought the burner as an OEM so there was no software with it. I have downloaded the appropriate 'firmware' from the manufacturer (Pioneer) and installed it. Seems funny though as I thought that 'firmware' was just another name for the driver, but when I check the driver details (under Device Manager/PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D/Driver) it lists the following:

Driver provider: Microsoft

Driver date: 1/07/2001

Driver version: 5.1.2535.0

Digital Signer: Microsoft Windows Publisher

What seemed odd to me was the fact that I installed the current firmware yesterday, and my burner is dated 2006 (on the actual burner itself) but the date showing under driver details is 1/07/2001. That seems too old. The install of the firmware seemed to go OK so I'm not sure what all that means, if anything at all.

Also, when I look at the 'Driver details' it gets even more confusing. The following files are listed..

C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\cdrom.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\GEARAspiWDM.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\imapi.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\redbook.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\storprop.dll

All of these entries (except the second one ... C:\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\GEARAspiWDM.sys) have a green tick in front of them. The second entry has no green tick (and is probably feeling a bit stupid)

Could it be a driver problem?

I also wondered if it could be an ASPI layer problem?

I did previously have a copy of Roxio and then Nero installed (I know, I'm a tart) but both are uninstalled now. I noticed once that NERO had a version of NERO ASPI active, and I wonder if I've cocked things up by uninstalling it (as opposed to cocking things up by installing NERO. Hehe). I had the impression that Windows XP doesn't use an ASPI layer, but to be honest, I don't really know what I'm even talking about. I've also got DVD Shrink 3.2 currently installed, Windows Media PLayer and Cyberlink Power DVD.

As I said, I'm sorry to bother you guys, but you seem to understand what this is all about and so I thought I'd ask.

Cheers,

Nifty the Coaster King.

(I'd love to have an avatar of a busty chick with great big norgs, but it's probably not worth the smack in the back of the head from the missus. :-)

NiftyNorris · July 26, 2007

Just some more info ...

I've noticed that under the 'Settings' section of ImgBurn, looking at the 'I/O' tab, the Interface setting is set to 'SPTI - Microsoft'. Not sure if this is relevant. Was wondering if it should be 'ASPI - WINASPI32.DLL'

A bit further down the same page, there is a tick in the box for 'SPTI - Use 'CdRom' class. Not sure if these settings are OK for my operating system and burner. I'm trying to burn DVDs.

Cheers,

Nifty.

**dontasciime** · July 26, 2007

SPTI is default.

You should press the defaults button in ImgBurn.

Check you machine for spyware/ viruses.

Try stopping the service GEARAspiWDM.sys

you can do this by right clicking my computer choose manage then services and applications / services.

You will only know for sure if your writer is faulty after a clean install of your operating system with minimal software installed, like your motherboard chipset drivers/ gfx driver and then install ImgBurn if it still does it then it is hardware related and not driver corruption.

IF you can get the writer working again change how you have the hard drives to increase performance.

Have you operating system hard drive on IDE 0 as Master (this is same as you have it already)

Connect the DVD reader you have to IDE 0 as Slave.

Put your writer onto IDE 1 as Master (this is how you have it already)

Put the other hard drive on IDE 1 as Slave

Using 80 wire cables for both IDE cables.

**LIGHTNING UK!** · July 26, 2007

Click the 'Tools' menu and goto the 'Filter Drivers' option.

Click the 'Clipboard' button and then 'Paste' into your next post.

Maybe you've got some dodgy filter drivers installed that shouldn't be on there.

ASPI is not used/required. I don't even have a system wide ASPI manager on my PC these days.

Could you also please copy + paste the latest log of you burning something. You might also like to try removing that dvdrom from the 2nd ide channel so it's just the Pioneer 111 on it - configured (via the jumpers) as 'Master' and make sure it's on the opposite end of the cable to the motherboard (i.e. so there's a spare block in the middle).

NiftyNorris · July 28, 2007

I'm back,

Sorry about the delay but I've been busy with family matters, and this burner problem has been taking up a lot of my time.

Thanks Dontasciime and Lightning, I've been working through your advice and this is what I've come up with ...

Dontasciime, I did a virus check and that came out clean. I then used Spybot & Adaware to check the computer, Spybot found some DSO entries which I selected to 'Immunize', but they just showed up again when I did another scan. What the? I hate it when things like that happen. Maybe my computer is getting clogged up with crap after years of use? Seems to run OK though, it just hangs when I try to do a burn.

I checked My Computer/Manage/Services etc and strangely I couldn't find a reference to 'GEARAspiWDM.sys' Not sure why as it's beyond me. I did notice it when I checked 'Filter Driver Load Order ...' in ImgBurn (see Lightning's comment), so I deleted it there.

Two other entries showed up under My Computer/ Manage/ etc which concerned me (amongst a whole lot of others that I wouldn't know from a bar of soap). They seem to be related to Roxio, which I had installed on the computer but which are now uninstalled...

Roxio UPnp Renderer 9

Roxio Upnp Server 9

I didn't delete them as I don't know how. Not sure if they are a problem. Maybe I should use a registry cleaner or something ???

I tried another burn (following the virus/spyware scan & deleting 'GEARAspiWDM.sys') but essentially the same thing happened. The computer 'hung' after a short time. The green LED on the front of the burner came on for a short time (which I think is new) but that was about it.

Thanks for the advice re the better arrangement of my devices, I'll probably do that regardless but I'm a bit daunted by the clean install. I'm becoming aware that my computer probably needs it, it's just that I've never done that before. Think I'll need a stiff Scotch or three. :-) I would like to connect everything in the best order so thanks for describing that to me.

I'll make a seperate reply to Lightning as I don't know how long I can make these posts (and I do waflle a bit).

Cheers mate, and thanks again for the advice. Have a read of my next post if you're still interested. Sorry to bother you with my problems but I appreciate the help!

Trevor (Nifty)

**dontasciime** · July 28, 2007

Just noticed you had lock ups and you said the only way you could shutdown was to hold power button down.

This is a bad shutdown therefore you should run scandisk/chkdsk to fix any errors on hard drives caused by bad shutdown.

If you using xp then download and run any of the 2 attachments and answer yes when it tells you that drive c: would need to be scheduled to scan at next restart. If you have the pagefile set to a different hard drive/partition you would also have to answer yes to that drive to check at next restart.

If you are using any drive before running /save work etc as I set it to dismount drives auto when run.

Use scan for file system errors only, this one is faster and should suffice however if you have a bit more time and you are not planning on using your computer for a few hours then use scan and recover bad sectors. (you would have to run the second if you wanted to thoroughly check your drives)

Either way do not forget to say yes at start and anytime it asks you and remember those scans will not start until you reboot/restart

file system errors only scan_for_file_system_errors_only.rar

Bad sectors scan_for_bad_sectors.rar

NiftyNorris · July 29, 2007

Dontasciime,

I've actually been closing the computer down each time it hangs by holding the power button as nothing else works. (I've tried a few times to close applications and even shut down thru Windows Task Manager but it just doesn't work, the computer just sits, and the burner keeps whirring away, it won't even open when I press the eject button or use the 'eject' button via 'My Computer'). I didn't even think about checking the drives - I'll run both applications and do both drives straight away..

I had trouble replying to Lightning last night, each time I posted the reply, my broswer went straight to a "Page Unavailable" error. Same thing happened 3 times in a row so I gave up and hit the sack as it was late. I'm using dial-up so everything goes slooow. Will try again now as he's asked for some logs etc.

Cheers and thanks again,

Trevor.

NiftyNorris · July 29, 2007

Lightning,

Thanks for the help once again. I'm having trouble posting a reply with the logs included (maybe because I'm cutting and pasting after saving them as a Word doc??).

I'm just sending this post as a test to see if it gets through. I'll send more info as soon as I can ....

Cheers for now.

Trevor (Nifty)

**blutach** · July 29, 2007

Forget about Word. Just cut and paste as text in the reply box.

Regards

NiftyNorris · July 29, 2007

Blutach, cheers mate & thanks!

Trevor (Nifty)

zomorf · October 20, 2007

I've got a similar problem as above... Now I have been burning DL dvd's for both music dvd's over 400 DL burnt and over 150+ x360 games DL all using ridata 2.4x

At present I'm lucky to burn even single layer discs aswell... I myself put it down to either dvdfab platinum v 3.2.x.x or something has screwed my registry or a dll on the system somewhere...

I have 2 systems that I have this problem with it's definitely not a DRIVE or DISC problem...

I have been able to burn audio cd's using WMP V10 on the same drives...

here is what my log says burning a x360 DL game...

I 08:50:23 ImgBurn Version 2.3.2.0 started!

I 08:50:23 Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 2)

I 08:50:23 Total Physical Memory: 2,096,624 KB - Available: 1,198,360 KB

W 08:50:23 Drive F:\ (FAT) does not support single files > 4 GB in size.

I 08:50:23 Initialising SPTI...

I 08:50:23 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...

I 08:50:23 Found 1 DVD±RW/RAM!

I 08:50:41 Operation Started!

I 08:50:41 Source File: P:\x360\tony hawks\ccclx-thpg.dvd

I 08:50:41 Source File Sectors: 3,697,696 (MODE1/2048)

I 08:50:41 Source File Size: 7,572,881,408 bytes

I 08:50:41 Source File Volume Identifier: XGD2DVD_NTSC

I 08:50:41 Source File Implementation Identifier: Sonic Scenarist 3.1

I 08:50:41 Source File File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)

I 08:50:41 Destination Device: [1:1:0] HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H10N JL10 (U:) (ATA)

I 08:50:41 Destination Media Type: DVD+R DL (Disc ID: RITEK-D01-01) (Speeds: 2.4x)

I 08:50:41 Destination Media Sectors: 4,173,824

I 08:50:41 Write Mode: DVD

I 08:50:41 Write Type: DAO

I 08:50:41 Write Speed: 2.4x

I 08:50:41 Link Size: Auto

I 08:50:41 Test Mode: No

I 08:50:41 BURN-Proof: Enabled

I 08:50:41 Optimal L0 Data Zone Capacity: 1,913,760

I 08:50:41 Optimal L0 Data Zone Method: Copied From Original Disc

I 08:51:03 Filling Buffer... (40 MB)

I 08:51:06 Writing LeadIn...

W 08:51:06 Failed to Write Sectors 32 - 63 - Invalid Address For Write

W 08:51:06 Retrying (1 of 20)...