Plextor PX-708A DVD Burner - Slow Speeds?

[gigabyte]

Hey,

Recently my DVD burner has been causing me some problems. Occasionally, it will burn 8x maxell discs at a speed of 1.0x while other times it will burn the same 8x maxell discs at the regular 8x speed. Anyone know what this is?

These 8x maxell discs are all from the same 100x spindle and my burner might occasionally burn DVD's at 1.0x for maybe 5 discs then back to normal. Is it the discs or just a problem with my burner?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

[gigabyte]

As you can see, my plextor is burning veryyyy slowly (not even at 4x). For a while it would burn great but now it is burning really slowly. I've tried discs from the middle and even bottom of spindle but I have the same problem, any ideaS?

[dodecahedron]

are these Maxell discs really Maxell or some other manufacturer - Ritek or something? perhaps of lower quality.
try other media.

[gigabyte]

these are ritek im pretty sure (made in taiwan) but it's weird because earlier on they were working really well, now all of a sudden the speeds are super slow

[dodecahedron]

well Ritek has a reputation for inconsistency in media quality. sometimes even in the same spindle. so this could be an explanation.

if you can try to get some better media - Taiyo Yuden or real Maxell. i'm sure you'll get better results.

[MediumRare]

@gigabyte: The "device buffer" is very low. Check that DMA is (still) activated for your drive. Sometimes windows turns DMA off if there are too many read errors. Check dodecahedron's "howto" in th FAQ section.

G

[gigabyte]

hey,

I have two drives and am not sure whether my plextor is hooked up to primary or secondary. anyhow on the primary both DMA were enabled but here is how my secondary looks:



does that mean that DMA still isn't enabled because it says it is in PIO mode? any way i can enable it? how can i check if secondary is infact my plextor drive and not my other DVD-rom? help?

[dodecahedron]

check the FAQ forum for instructions on how to enable DMA.

use Nero InfoTool to see which drive is where.
www.cdspeed2000.com

[munchgrunch]

hey,

i will be posting under this username because my gigabyte got deactivated when i changed the password and email

anyhow i made my plextor DMA, tomorrow i will test out a burn and see if that fixed the problem or not

thanks to everyone for all the advice so far!