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New drive fitted and now I can't burn with DVD shrink

Discussion in 'DVDR' started by sportmind, Apr 1, 2005.

  1. sportmind

    sportmind Member

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    I was using an external Plextor USB drive and an internal Sony drive to make my DVD back-ups. It worked very well.

    I've now changed the external Plextor for an internal LG 4163 and DVD shrink doesn't see either the LG or the Sony for buring.

    I have Nero installed OK, as previously. The only thing I've changed is the new drive.

    It is set to slave.

    All help appreciated.

    Many thanks.
     
  2. mybarras

    mybarras Member

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    well first make sure other drive is set at master and u allow shrink to burn with nero oem other than that go into system then device manager and check devices are enabled and working properly
     
  3. ScubaPete

    ScubaPete Senior member

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    Hi sportmind, welcome to aD,

    There are some things we should check as they have a direct influence over how our drive behaves -

    Physically, Your burner s/b set as "master" on your IDE cable and the IDE cable s/b an 80-pin cable not a 40-pin. Always double-check your burner's jumpers to make sure they are correctly set for master, not slave if you installed the burner yourself.

    1. Let's check for up-to-date Firmware for your burner.

    "OK, so what is this "Firmware" garbage?" Fair question. Firmware is a "tutor" who's job it is to eliminate any "bugs" found in your drive and to "introduce" your burner to all the different kinds of media to your burner is likely to run into and to tell your burner a little bit about it. What type of media it is and at what speed to burn it. As new media is introduced OR, as the Mfgrs of your burner find new ways to use it, new firmware updates OR "Flash upgrades" come out to "school" your burner, keeping it up-to-date. It's good to keep your burner up-to-date as it "tweaks" your burner and keeps it operating at peak performance.

    Of major Importance – When dealing firmware, you must match your burner's exact model with the proper Firmware. Trying to "Flash" your burner with something "Close" won't do it. It must be the exact firmware for your drive. ("Flashing" is what the installation is referred to when you put the firmware into your drive.) Trying to "Flash" your drive with some other drive's firmware can ruin your drive.

    At the bottom of the page look for "What's my firmware? - Try this little tool I found," Download this tool and check out your Firmware's health (up-to-date wise). You can probably get a current upgrade there also –

    http://flashman.rpc-1.com/

    Firmware page -

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

    Always check your burner's Mfgr's "Support" section to see if some newer Firmware is there -

    Firmware, You can't burn without it -

    Now we need to see if we have a working ASPI Layer.

    "Yea right, and ASPI stands for Another Stupid Piece of Insanity, right ?" No, not quite, it stands for "Advanced SCSI Programming Interface". "Well that tells me nothing, what's it do ?" That's a much easier question to answer. It is kind of a "translator" allowing your software to talk your hardware in a manner that your hardware will understand. Let's imagine an Earthman trying to talk to a rock. Now, think of a sledgehammer as being the interface. With the interface in play, the Earthman can tell the rock to disperse into gravel no matter what planet the rock is from, OK ? Good, let's see if we have a "working" sledgehammer ~
    2. Check your ASPI layer to ensure it's working. The operative word here is "working".

    ASPI Checker.
    Ascertains your ASPI layer's presence and operation status

    Check for your ASPI Layer.
    ASPI Checker -
    http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/su...oduct/EZ-SCSI_5.0&filekey=aspichk.exe&sess=no

    If one isn't present, we'll need to get one and reinstall it, then reboot our PC to allow it to "settle in".

    Force 1.8 ASPI Layer -

    http://forceaspi18.w.interia.pl/

    Finally, we need to check your DMA. "Ooohh, no you're not ! Only my husband or my Doctor checks my "D", "M" . . whatever . . ." No, no, it's OK, DMA stands for "Direct Memory Access" transfer mode OR as we say in the computer field, it's a really, fast way to move stuff. Many PC's today are using UDMA or "Ultra Direct Memory Access transfer mode, or as we like to call it, a really super-duper fast way to move stuff as opposed to the PIO mode. The PIO or Programmed I/O mode, is a technique whereby the system CPU and support hardware directly control the transfer of data between the system and the hard disk since shortly after the beginning of PC's up until the mid-1990's. So we want DMA (fast) more than we PIO (slow).

    3. Let's check your Drive's transfer mode. It should be DMA-4, not PIO.
    Windows XP downgrades the Ultra DMA transfer mode after receiving six CRC errors and drops it down to the much slower PIO mode.

    To enable DMA mode using the Device Manager
    1. Go to "My Computer, ""System Tools," "View System Information," then System Properties, "Hardware," Then Open Device Manager
    2. Double-click IDE ATA//ATAPI Controllers to display the list of controllers and channels.
    3. Right-click the icon for the channel to which your burner is connected and select Properties. Now click the Advanced Settings tab.
    4. In the Current Transfer Mode drop-down box, select DMA if available if the current setting says, "PIO Only."
    If the drop-down box already says, "DMA if Available" but the current transfer mode is PIO, then the user must "toggle" the settings. That is, change the selection from "DMA if available" to PIO only, and click "OK".
    Then repeat the steps above to change the selection to "DMA if available".

    OPTION: Right-click the burner and select "Uninstall" and then "OK" all prompts until the PC reboots. Upon rebooting, the PC should "find" your burner and reinstall it setting it by "Default" to DMA.

    Lastly, when did you last defrag your Hard Drive (HD) ? If you have to stop and think about the last time you did it, then it's way, way overdue. Here we go, (Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. When it opens, choose your HD, analyses it to see where we stand then if you need it (you probably will) choose Defragment.).

    After you finish doing it now you might want to think about having "Scheduled Tasks" in your Control Panel do it for you on a daily basis.

    A fragmented HD not only drastically slows down your system but it can cause all number of things to happen inside your PC, a messed up burn, not seeing the drive being sone of them.

    Once we've done that, our DVD burner should operate at peak efficiency :D)

    Cheers,

    Pete

    Now let's see if everything will work together the way we want it to, OK ?

    Give it a test run and let us know how you make out -
     
    Last edited: Apr 1, 2005
  4. Rotary

    Rotary Senior member

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    hi

    does anything see the drive? say in my computer, but very good advice from mybarras
     
  5. sportmind

    sportmind Member

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    That is one awseome reply. Thanks. I'll et on to that and post back results.

    Rotary: Yes, it can do everyhting else.
     
  6. sportmind

    sportmind Member

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    Scuba Pete,

    I have bought an 80 pin cable to install. Befre I get down and dirty, do you mean that both burners should be set to master?

    Incidently, if there are only 40 pins, what does the 80 pin cable do and how is it better?

    I have checked the DMA settings and all is as you suggest.

    Thanks for your help and I look forward to your reply.

    Always breathe out when ascending!
     
  7. ScubaPete

    ScubaPete Senior member

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    Damn good advice that . . .

    No! If you have 2 burners, place one on your Secondary IDE cable as the master and the other on your secondary IDE cable as the slave.

    You must havbe your Primary HD as a master on your Primary IDE ( a secondary HD can then be put there as a Slave. I put one PC together with 3 burners internal The third drive was where a second HD could have gone :)

    I always have my newest (most complex) burner as the one in the master slot.

    Better data transfer and better shielding ~

    Go to it :)

    Pete
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2005
  8. sportmind

    sportmind Member

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    This may be wehre my problem lies then.

    I have 2 hard discs for data on the primary IDE and the 2 burners on the secondary IDE. I also have 2 RAID 1 Mirror SATA drives.

    Should this configuration work?

    Before changing the drive my 'other' burner was an external USB and everyhting was fine.

     
  9. Rotary

    Rotary Senior member

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    hi

    should be ok? i have simarlar setup....
     
  10. ScubaPete

    ScubaPete Senior member

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    Yes that should be fine -

    I saw that I had become a little brain-fried on my last post so I edited it - it now makes a lot more sense -

    Pete
     
  11. sportmind

    sportmind Member

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    Firstly, thanks again for your help Pete.

    I'm getting somewhere (I think).

    I opened Nero and had a play around. It doesn't see either of drives as burners but can read files from them.

    I also have Roxio installed (CD version) and can burn to both drives OK.

    I have checked all that you suggested and that is fine. Cable is changed too.

    I can burn to both drives using drag and drop within XP.

    Nero (I'm using version 5) has an option to check the drives. It requires the original installation CD.

    I then remembered that my copy came as OEM with my external Plextor drive that I no longer use. I reinstalled Nero with the same results. The drive checking doesnt work as, I guess, I'm installing Nero from a compliation rather than a Nero original so it can't find what it needs.

    Is it possible that my OEM version of Nero won't function correctly without the Plextor because it was bundled with it? I have re-installed the old drive and can burn to it with DVD shrink.

    Will a newer version of Nero support my drives? There is no trial version available for download currently. I'm happy to buy one if it will work and can try it first.

    Thanks again.
     
  12. sportmind

    sportmind Member

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    Well, thanks everyone for your help. It seems like it was the OEM Nero. I installed version 6 and, hey-presto, DVD shrink now sees both drives.

    Thanks again.
     
  13. ScubaPete

    ScubaPete Senior member

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    Sorry about the lag . . .

    I've been in the hospital on and off for the last 2 weeks or more and can only get onlin when the computer lab is open. I'm home now -

    Never the less, I'm glad that your problem has been solved. It's what we're here for BUT let's not think about saying "Goodbye" just yet -
    We'd still like you to stop by and visit even when you don't have problems you need help with - "Pop" in when you can and cruise around the different forums. You never know when we might have something that can make your computer work a little easier. You might pickup some valuable tips to boot. Checkout the "Safety Valve", it's a place where we "Chew the fat" on just about every topic under the sun. Heck, check out our forums on CD's, PS2's, X-box or Gamecube topics, Digital Camcorders, Photography, Home Theater components – it's all there.

    As an extra added bonus, when you see another person with a problem and you feel you might know something that could help, join in. As the Ogre said to the Cyclops, " Three heads are better than two." (Lol) You'll then see how much fun we have helping others. As a current member of our little club you can welcome the new guys in ~

    We'll look forward to seeing you. "Me ?" You'll find me hangin' out over there by the water cooler, sittin' under the potted palm with my feet propped up, sipping on a "cold one", waiting for the next "Newbie" with a problem that I can help them with - maybe you'd like to join me . . . ? I'll be lQQkin for you ~ ~>

    As the old underwater saying goes,

    "I'll be Sea'n you ~ ~"


    Pete ;p)
     
  14. tsquare43

    tsquare43 Regular member

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    ScubaPete:

    Sorry to hear about your hospital stay. You doing OK?
     
  15. ScubaPete

    ScubaPete Senior member

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    Better, thanks for asking -

    Too much time in the wheelchair BUT there's nothing to be done about that. Trying to heal, if I'm lucky I'll only have to back X2 -

    Cheers,

    Pete
     

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