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DVD burners stopped working?


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#1
ijhobson

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About a month ago both my DVD drives suddenly stopped being able to burn dvds for back up etc. They work perfectly for everything else but burning.
I have had them both for about a year and they never aborted during a burn once in that time.
It usually gets about 2-3% into the burn and then aborts.
I tried everything, reconnecting the cables switching the master and slave devices round but still they won't burn.
I decided that both must have just given up at the same time and bought a new DVD drive but the problem is still the same.
I recently bought a new hard drive and did a fresh windows install but still the problem is the same.

I use Nero 6 and run windows xp sp2.

Has anyone any idea what the problem could be?

Edited by ijhobson, 07 September 2006 - 10:58 AM.

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#2
computerwiz12890

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The problem could be Nero. Is it up-to-date? If not, update it.

If that doesn't solve your problem, try Downloading DeepBurner and try to burn DVDs with that. That will let us know if it is your physical hardware, or something with Nero.
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#3
ijhobson

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Thanks for getting back to me, i have being doing all that you said.
Updated nero.
Downloaded deepburner and burnt off the 1st dvd ok but when i tried it agin it failed twice.
The odd burn say 10% works with nero as well so i'd say the problem is the same.

Edited by ijhobson, 07 September 2006 - 01:42 PM.

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#4
computerwiz12890

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Let's make sure your DVD burner(s) are getting enough power:

Please download Speed Fan and install it.

Start Speed Fan. When it is fully loaded, take a screen shot of the first screen by pressing Print Screen/SysRq on your keyboard. Open Paint and paste. Save the screenshot as a JPEG and post it in a reply to me. Now click on the tab called S.M.A.R.T.. Select your hard drive by using the drop-down box at the top. Now take a screenshot of that as well. Post it in your reply to me as well.

NOTE: For certain computers, Speed Fan will not display accurate measurements. If the temperature wildly fluctuates or doesn't change at all, let me know, otherwise I will believe the mesurements are accurate.


In addition, do you happen to know how many watts of power your power supply puts out? You may be able to tell by looking on the back of your computer, and if your power supply has a sticker, it should be on there.
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#5
ijhobson

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My PSU is apparently 400w.
Readings on speed fan were fairly staedy.

Attached Thumbnails

  • speedfan.JPG
  • Smart1.JPG
  • smart2.JPG

Edited by ijhobson, 07 September 2006 - 02:29 PM.

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#6
computerwiz12890

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400w is plenty, unless you got your computer seriously "tricked out" :help: :whistling:

Everything in speed fan looks good, except one reading is a little hot. Though I'm sure those readings that were above 120*C are not true. If they were, you computer probably would of exploded by now. :blink:

To fix the one that was overheating, it probably just needs a good internal cleaning with compressed air.


Now let's see if Nero's neat little program can detect if there's physical problems with your DVD drive(s):

Download Nero CD-DVD Speed. After you download it, unzip it to your desktop. No installation is necessary, just double-click on it and it will start. Here's how to use it:

1. Put a CD with data into the drive you want to test. The more data on the CD, the better.

2. Make sure there is nothing blocking the CD drive since it will eject the CD as part of the testing. Now, at the top, click on Start.

3. Let it complete and then save the results. To save the results, click on File > Save Results > HTML and save it to your desktop. Attach the results in a reply to me. Also, take the graph from the results and attach it separately, since it won't appear for me in the results.

Edited by computerwiz12890, 07 September 2006 - 02:35 PM.

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#7
lonely67cowboy

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i have a similar problem. i have 2 dvd drives on my pc that will accept everything EXCEPT a dvd. i can burn cd´s but they won´t even read a dvd. what could this be?
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#8
computerwiz12890

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Hello and welcome to Geeks to Go, lonely67cowboy!

Please follow our directions at the top of our site:

To avoid confusion, please do not post your question in someone else's topic. Start your own. Stay with your original topic when posting a follow up.


Somone will stop by to help you out too, just like I'm helping ijhobson :whistling:
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#9
ijhobson

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Here's the results!

Attached Thumbnails

  • untitled.JPG

Attached Files


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#10
computerwiz12890

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CPU usage at 8X: 46 %


:whistling: That's rather high CPU usage! And that's just while reading it. I can image that when a DVD is burned, the CPU usage goes through the roof! I think that is your problem. Mine was:

CPU usage at 8X: 8 %


Big difference! :blink:

What kind of processor do you have? And what is its speed?

One other important thing I just thought of...what kind of DVDs are you trying to burn? (+R, -R, +RW, -RW)
And what brand of DVDs?
And what brand is your burner?

Edited by computerwiz12890, 07 September 2006 - 03:13 PM.

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#11
ijhobson

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That is a big difference!
CPU is an AMD 64 2.8GHz.
DVD's Datawrite 8x DVD-R the brand i have used for ages.
I have 3 burners, Sony, LG and Matshita
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#12
computerwiz12890

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I'll do a little research on those drives.

A quick FYI, DVD-Rs are old, but more compatable with non-computer DVD players. Perhaps they are no longer supported for your drives? :blink:

CPU is an AMD 64 2.8GHz.

Sounds brand new. How old is this computer? Or was the CPU just upgraded?

I'm off to do research. :whistling:

Edited by computerwiz12890, 07 September 2006 - 03:27 PM.

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#13
ijhobson

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AMD athlon 64, it's not new i bought it January 2005.
This problem has really been baffling me.
I wonder if it could be a motherboard or cable problem?
Thanks for all your time and patience computerwizz, i really appreciate it!
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#14
computerwiz12890

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Thanks for all your time and patience computerwizz, i really appreciate it!

Anytime! :whistling:

I can't find any specific info on your burners. In order to find that, I'll need exact model #s. Before we worry about that, though, I'm curious to see if we can get 1 or more of the burners to consistantly work when burning at a rate less than 8x

Open Nero (or DeepBurner) and try to burn a DVD on any of those burners at a rate less than 8x. If one burner doesn't support less than 8x, try a different one. And if it works with burning less than 8x, then do it again. And again if it works. If it is successful all 3 times, then we've found the problem.

And once we find the problem, we'll work on a solution to overcome that CPU usage issue. :blink:
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#15
ijhobson

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I have tried at all possible speeds with all drives.
At 8x it always seems to cancel at the lead in stage, at lower speeds it will get past the lead in but still abort.
I should point out that if i do a burn immediately after turning the computer on it is more likely to work.
Also on occasions when the burn aborts the computer freezes for about 5mins especially with the LG drive which
is the newest one.
Don't know if this helps.
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