HELP! Every other burn fails consistently. Details...

[dima]

drive: Toshiba SD-R2102 8x write CD-RW/DVD combo drive internal (brand new)
media: Sony CD-R
computer: Compaq Presario 705US laptop; 1.0GHz AMD Athlon; 256MB RAM
OS: Windows XP Home Edition (newly reformatted/reinstalled)
Burning software: Nero 5.5.9.14

I'm really frustrated by this problem. It seems that only every other burn is successful. I tried it w/three different audio CDs and every other burn worked. Although, at the end of each burn, Nero told me the CD was burned successfully.

The CDs all worked fine when played on the computer, but when I tried to play them on two different CD players (one standard CD player, one CD-R/CD-RW/MP3/WMA compatible), the burns that didn't work just skipped repeatedly on the first two or three tracks. All successive tracks played fine.

A peculiar feature about the CD-Rs that didn't work is that you can visibly see a "cloudy" ring emanating maybe a 1/2 inch from the center of the CD (on the burned side), which I presume is why the first 2-3 tracks skip.

It's odd that every other CD works consistently. One will work, the next won't, and so on.

I am burning at 8x. I tried turning Buffer Underrun Protection off to solve the problem, but it did the same as before. One good, one bad. I am not multitasking while burning.

Does anyone know what could be the matter? I would greatly appreciate a solution. Thank you.

-dima

[Ian]

Have you tried it at a slower speed? Is DMA enabled for your harddrive and writer?

[dima]

Thanks for your reply.

DMA is enabled for the Primary IDE Channel. There is no DMA option in Device Manager for my CD-RW/DVD drive.

Why would I have to write at a slower speed? 8x is already slow, isn't it?

What's the significance of the burn being successful only every OTHER time consistently?

-dima

[dima]

I found this on the Windows site. http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/storage/IDE-DMA.asp

"Windows XP enables DMA by default on ATAPI DVD and CD-RW/CD-R drives."

-dima

[dodecahedron]

dima, here's instructions how to enable DMA on windowsXP and related stuff:
How to enable DMA?
Problems enabling DMA in Windows XP

[dima]

My Primary and Secondary IDE channels were already set to DMA.

Please, I still need help. I don't want to keep burning coasters every other time.

Thanks.

-dima

[EDF587]

Its probloly the CD's. Dont worry just get some new cds. My friend had the same problem. I told him buying spindles of 1000 for super cheap prices wouldnt benefit. He had to burn at 4x.

[dima]

Yeah, I tried other media (Hi-Val) and burned a half-dozen back-to-back no probs. And the coasters are Sony, too. Fucking buddy brand worked and name brand was a pos. But I'm just glad it's not a hardware prob.

So you think burning the Sony's at 4x would solve the prob?

Thanks.

-dima

[Spazmogen]

Yeah, I tried other media (Hi-Val) and burned a half-dozen back-to-back no probs. And the coasters are Sony, too. Fucking buddy brand worked and name brand was a pos. But I'm just glad it's not a hardware prob.

So you think burning the Sony's at 4x would solve the prob?

Thanks.

-dima

It's worth a shot. It could just be a bad batch of discs too.
What speed are the Sony's rated for?

[dima]

The Sony's are rated 1x-40x. What do you think?

Thanks for your help.

-dima

[blakerwry]

What do you think?

I think you should buy Taiyo Yuden media next time... last time I checked Sony didn't make their own media nor do they sell all that much(reletively)... and therefore are not a "name brand" as far as CD-R's go.


Any CD-R you see on the shelves made in Japan is probably Taiyo Yuden, it is often sold under the names Tiyo Yuden, Fuji Film, and some Memorex CD-R's.

[TheWizard]

Sony makes their own media, I have quite a bit of Sony media rated 24X and 32X. It's good stuff, from what I can tell, although perhaps dima received a bad batch, which others in this thread have already pointed out.