dvd rw poor record speed

Hi
I have a Lite on dvd rw drive (model 8-11s )
Although it should record at up to 8x , it has never done more than 1x.!!!
I take the same blank discs to a friends and he has them record at 4x.
its all good quality (and ive tried many) media but it never gets better than 1x.
Ive set it up for max write
Do I need a patch or something ?
Any help would be wonderful

Thanks

Dave

 

Go into Device Manager and open the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller in the Channel Properties window, check under the advanced tab and make sure DMA is on. Sometimes the drives get stuck in PIO and the drives seem to crawl.

 

thanks Brobear,
But ive checked and DMA is already set to (DMA if available)
Dave

 

What does it say for Current Transfer Mode?

 

It says
Device 0 ultra dma mode 6

Device 1 ultra dma mode 5

Thanks

 

i have the 811s as well. one it is not meant to do RWs at 8x, only DVD+R. another thing is that there is not 8x RW media out yet - at least not mainstream or that i could find to buy. 4x is about it for right now. you should be able to hit 4x though with that drive i believe (i could anyways).

 

hey MY BAD - reread your post! sorry.

you should be able to get close to 8x, i never quite hit that but 7 to 7.5x was the norm for me with TDK media.

 

Well sox
I only ever hit 1x any ideas
what about a patch or something

 

well Loaf...i would try this:

http://digi.rpc1.org/flashfix.htm

FlashFix will allow you to flash back to an older or newer firmware. especially helpful if your drive is locked into a bad firmware (trust me it happens). also refer to this site for lots of info:

http://forum.rpc1.org/index.php

let me know if none of this helps...

 

In the Nero Toolkit there is a test utility for drives. There is also a manual under help to tell you what your results mean. If you don't have the Nero suite, you can download the trial from the Nero site. Run the test and see what Nero gives for the drive speeds and transfer rates. I used a factory movie DVD. Without AnyDVD it gives a CSS error when you try it. The AnyDVD trial is available from SlySoft http://www.slysoft.com , it's good for 3 weeks. Great ripper software, you may want to keep it.

 

Brobear,
Sorry to be a pain but the test ulility buttons are all greyed out on Nero.
On the other tab "get system info" its states speed 40x

 

The CD/DVD Speed test in the Nero Toolkit was the one needed. That was part of the package 1 download for the trial. It's supposed to be full function, so I can't tell you what's happening. The infotool gives you the specs for the drives. The test actually reads the rpm of the drive and the transfer rate along with spin up speeds and the like. It even gives you a log you could have copied to the forum.

When you say the buttons were grayed out, was that when the test opened (showing the graph) or when you went to open it in Nero?

While poking around, I found there is a firmware upgrade for your drive dated 9/03/04. You can check it at the Lite-On site. http://www.liteonamericas.com/us/download.htm

 

Hey Brobear,
The patch was what was needed, thanks a million im a happy chap now!

Cheers for your efforts

Dave

 

Any time a person runs into a drive acting up, they should check for firmware upgrades. The Lite-On link would be a good one to keep for future reference. Glad you got things straightened out.