Scubapete- I used your whole guide under forum dvd shrink/dvd decrypter. The thread is http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/135493 I followed every step and everything worked fine until I got to the actual burning using dvd decrypter...The first thing I got was this error: "Power calibration area error" It didnt even burn 1%...if you know what this means or how to fix it please let me know.... p.s. extreme newbie here! Thanks pete....
Hi there check95, welcome to aD, A "Power Calibration Error" can also be attributed to the Optical Components of a DVD Writer, though this isn't usually the case. Most of the time it's caused by poor media. Try an upward change in the quality of media you're using - ] A good grade, Hi-quality media is needed for DVD reproduction ! RiData, Phillips, Sony, TDK, "Branded" Ritek G04's or "Branded" Verbatim Data Life, Verbatim DataLife plus, Taiyo Yuden's and generally, almost any discs manufactured by Mitsubishi or RICOH are excellent bets. Among the better discs we're looking for, any media boasting "Advanced Metal AZO" - BUT it must say "METAL" AZO !, this indicates a superior dye and dye application on a good composite disc, while they are sometimes a bit "pricey" they are just the type of media we're looking for to do our DVD backups, Prices online from Meritline.com OR Newegg.com have gotten Ritek G04 starting at about a $ .45 (USD) a disc - Let's see how you're doing now - Cheers, Pete
Thanks pete but my problem is a little more in depth than that, My fault for not being detailed..I am currently using sony DVD+R. I have a pacific digital MACH-8 DVD+R/DVD-R burner. It came with roxio software wich I was using to burn to the disc. I know this is not the best software but it was burning just fine at 4x speed...for some reason my burn speed went down to 2x and even DVD shrink time was doubled during encoding. I saw your post about how bad roxio was so I figured it must be damaging something..so I did a complete "clean uninstall" of roxio, dvd shrink, and dvd decrypter. Thats when I followed your guide. Everything was fine until it was time to burn useing dvd decrypter...I cant understand why it was burning fine and then it got worse and now I got nothing? any suggestions? BTW thanks for your help!
Well there my friend, it's time to checkout a ton "O" stuff - There are some things we should check as they have a direct influence over how our drive behaves - 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 sledgehammer – 2. Check for your ASPI Layer. If one isn't present, we'll need to get one and reinstall it, then reboot our PC to allow it to "settle in". ASPI Checker - http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/su...oduct/EZ-SCSI_5.0&filekey=aspichk.exe&sess=no 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 being one of them. Once we've done that, our DVD burner should operate at peak efficiency ) 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 -
ok pete heres the latest... 1. I checked for firmware for my drive and I even called the company, they said there is no firmware now for this drive.... 2. I defraged my computer last night and you were right it desperately needed it! 3. I checked my DMA setting and the secondary IDE channel was in PIO. I uninstalled it and rebooted, now its back to DMA, when I tried to a copy a DVD my read rate was as high as 7.9X wich is a great improvement, but when I tried to burn I got the same error, "Power calibration area error" so no joy.... 4. now about the aspi layer...I downloaded the ASPI Checker and Im not sure what the results are, I have it save to my computer...this is what it said... "ASPI is not properly installed. One or more components have been replaced with older versions of the software." Under components: WNASPI32.DLL WINASPI.DLL ASPI32.SYS WOWPOST.EXE Under version, date and size it says N/A for each component. Hopefully this is my problem and it can be fixed. I went to your link "Force 1.8 ASPI Layer" but it took me to a page in a different language and Im not sure what to do next....I feel like Im almost there...any advise pete?????
p.s. I just tried the fore ASPI: http://forceaspi18.w.interia.pl/ and I installed it, but when I did the ASPIcheck it says that nothing is installed, I must be doing something wrong...Please help!!!
Get your ASPI layer here and then give it a wurl http://cd-rw.org/software/cdr_software/cdr_tools/aspi.cfm
I dont know if I am doing something wrong, But I cannot install an ASPI layer, everytime I install and then do aspicheck it says there is nothing installed??? any idea why its not letting me install?
Use the link I gave you for Force ASPI 1.8 There is a tool there that says "Kill ASPI". Use that first. It will get rtid of all the crap that you have there, THEN fire of the Force ASPI and run ASPI check to make sure that it's installed and working Don't let the Russian care you. They are our friends now Cheers, Pete
Pete, I have done that 3 times... I did the dump and the kill, each time it says there are no files to kill, then I run the inst. and it says "done" ASPI installed and it tells me to reboot, after the restart I do the ASPI check and it still says nothing is installed....?
1 more thing, when I run the install it says windows NT or 2000 detected.... I am running XP, does this info help any?
It almost sounds like your PC was upgraded to XP from 2000 or NT doesn't it ? We do need to install an ASPI layer no matter what. It's how your PC speaks to your burner - Try the 4.71 force ASPI. We need that ASPI layer. Pete
I did try that one also pete, no joy! the initial operating system has always been XP...I am totaly lost...please help, I refuse to sleep tonight without fixing this problem,lol
one more thing I noticed, I can copy dvd's just finr using dvd decrypter and dvd shrink...it is only burning that has problems
I finally got an ASPI layer installed. the version is only a 4.6 though. But when I run the ASPI check it says "ASPI is properly installed and fully operational. However, no host adapters have been detected" I am still getting the same error when I try to burn, can anyone help? Please
OK, I'm glad we finally have that ~ I'd like you to go into Divice Manager, locate the IDE that shows your burner, click "Properties" then "uninstall". "Ok" to uninstall then reboot to allow your PC to find and then install your burner and give that a shot. (Also, check to see if your burner has a 40 or 80-pin cable. You have to look at the cable to see it. We want a 80-pin.) Iffin we get no joy from all of this work we'll have to send this "Puppy" back. We've done just about all there is to this but hold a prayer meeting And I don't think that would help Soooooooo, let's hope this works . . . . Pete
yea, its an 80 pin, and I already tried uninstalling the drive and rebooting..still nothing, so I guess the problem is the drive, I just dont understand why it was working fine and then it just shit itself.....
Im thinking that it's time to try another drive. If it's possible, try to put your drive in another PC to check it out for the last time. Good Luck, Pete
