Burner Firmware

Good day to you all.

As a follow up to my previous post [http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/258911], I'm still trying to find out the source of my DREs.

Researching through the afterdawn forums I found some threads regarding the firmware of the DVD burners. I have a Samsung DVD-RW TS-H542A with the TS01 firmware revision.

When I did a google search for the last firmware version for my burner, I found out that the latest version was TS07. I have already downloaded it and the flasher utility.

The question is: Do you think flashing the firmware will help ? Do you think this will be the answer to my problems ?

Thanks for your help and oppinions.


Regards.
Marco V.

 

Hello Marco,

I have come to suspect that my problems are coming from my burner as well. Burning the same media on my burner and on my friends burner doesn't give the same results.

Coincidentally, I also have a Samsung DVD burner, but mine is the TS-H552B. I installed the latest TS11 firmware version, but it did not solve my problem. Incidentally, my friends burner is a Panasonic A06. His burns work perfectly, whereas mine are completely unusable and don't even load!

Does anybody have any idea if Samsung burners cause problems with the gamecube? Or is it just a big coincidence? And most importantly, how to solve this problem?

Thanks a lot.

 

Guys what program are you using to burn your GC games?

I ask this as my burner worked fine till I changed from Nero 6 to Nero 7 and now I get DRE all the time. There is a good post about this here:

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/272682

 

I am using Nero 6.6.0.13, the exact same version my friend uses with his burner! I'd already seen the thread about Nero 7, and also tried burning a DVD with CopyToDVD. Didn't work.

 

LarrxX - Its your burner that doesn't work, not the program. I've used that program since the first release, no problems whatsoever. I think the best burners hands down is the NEC 3500 series. You can check many forums and this is the burner that most recommend along with BenQ 1640. Look at cdfreaks.com and you'll see what I mean. I've had nothing but problems with Nero 7, so I scrapped it all together.

NEC 3520 w/latest firmware + Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD+R's + CopytoDVD latest release = Very happy GC owner!!

NEC 3520 firmware here : http://www.micheldeboer.nl/firmware/3520.html

P.S. - This is what I use "2U3_rpc1.zip"

 

I suspected as much, guess I'll have to invest in a new burner then. Found a NEC ND3550 at a good price, anyone tested this drive? I want to make sure it works because the ND3550 is a double layer burner, as is my Samsung burner. I was thinking that maybe the dual layer burners might be troublesome. Any insight?

 

homerjnm:
I'm using Nero 6.6.0.18, as recommended in most threads. I have already flashed my DVD to TS06 (although I understand there's a new firmware version).

I have burned my backup of Fire Emblem again and *apparently* the DREs are gone. I didn't have too much time to test it but the spot where the DRE always occurred seems to have disappeared. I have tested the backup for about an hour or so.

The question remains: Was the firmware my problem ? Is my burner STILL the problem ?


Thanks for your help.

 

... This is really frustrating !

I've been testing my recently burned backups (recommended nero + new firmware) and the errors just keep coming. Now it's really bad 'cause when I thought I have finally solved my problems, after about one hour of errorless playing, BANG! DRE AGAIN !

I really don't know what is wrong... Do you guys think (or have read) it's the burner ?

I don't know what else to try... Any comments or help is greatly appreciated.


Regards.
Marco V.

 

Hey Marco.

Beleive me when I say I am even more frustrated than you! I bought myself a NEC 3550 burner, and I'm still having the same problem that I described before! I can't even launch games I burn on both my burners and I have absolutely no idea why!!

I tried using the Microsoft IDE drivers instead of the nForce4 ones. I even suspected it could be the Starforce protection messing with my system, but I still have found no way to successfully burn DVDs to use with my cube.

 

viper0478 and LarrxX - Could you guys explain in detail what burner firmware your using, software version, media, chip, burn speed,etc.

LarryxX - I recently just bought the 3550 to replace my 3520 and burns are the same as 3520, 100% successful.

 

Here goes for the full details:
I have a qoob SX Chip with the 1.3c BIOS installed (and I tried both A & B modes for DVD reading).
I tried both the Samsung TS-H552B burner (with TS11 firmware) and the NEC 3550 burner (tried both original firware and 1.Y4 firmware).
For software, I tried the latest copy of CopyToDVD but I mostly use Nero 6.6.0.13.
Finally, the media (which is I suspect the culprit here):
Everybody says how RiTek media is the best, but I couldn't get my hands on any so I tried RiDisc (which is also manufactured by RiTeK). I tried DVD-R 8x (burned at 4x and 2x) and also the mini DVD-R 4x (also burned at 2x and 4x). The DVDs don't even load. The same DVD-R 8x burned at 2x on my friend's Panasonic burner (with the same Nero version) work like a charm and the minis have a lot of DREs. I also tried Traxdata DVD+R 8x and Memorex DVD+R 8x (both burned at 2x, 4x and 8x) but these DVDs don't load either.

So can anyone with the NEC 3550 burner tell me what media/software/firmware they use so I can finally enjoy my Qoob chip?

Thank you so much and, by the way, happy new year 2006!

 

What I'm running is qoob pro 1.3C bios, latest copytodvd, always A mode for DVD reading, Taiyo Yuden DVD 8x TYG02 and NEC 3550 with 1.Y4 firmware.

I checked my pot just recently and its at 200, I have never changed it since I bought it. I always burn everything at 8x, never lower or higher.

So from my viewings, its either the media or your gamecube thats the culprit. You say there's a lot of DRE's with mini's but it should be the other way around. Mini's should have better read ability than full sized DVDR's. At least this is from my reading over the year. This leads me to believe it might be your gamecube. I have always been using Taiyo Yuden DVDR's, the 8x+ to be exact, as these are suspected to be the best quality media on the market right now. I really think you should open up your cube, use the pen trick to get the gamebits out and check the pot. Then if its set right, change your media to a very good quality one. These three links here and very good reads on the understanding of media and DVD burners. I really suggest you read these, I learnt a lot from them.

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/30/the_latest_dvd_writers_true_speeds/

http://liggydee.cdfreaks.com/page/faq/

 

shadow82: Sorry for taking this long to post. Here are my full details:

Gamecube version DOL-001 USA. ViperGC chip with Cobra Bios v1.2. My current pot value is 200.
I'm using Ritek Mini DVD -R (supposedly, one of the best). My burner is a Samsung DVD-RW TS-H542A, currently with the TS06 firmware revision. I'm burning with Nero 6.6.0.18. Always at 4X (recommended for the media).

Thanks for the help.

Happy new year 2006 for everyone in the forum !

 

On the Qoob Pro BIOS there is a setting were the chip trys to stop DRE's mine did it with a backup of Mario Sunshine it makes the Game think the lid was opend then 2 seconds later it resumes its self.

Sometime it depends on the DVD's your using Ive found if you mod the case to suport full sized DVD's you get more DRE's.

 

Wow shadow, thanks for the links! Wish I'd read that media list before buying my DVDs; turns out my RiDisc Minis are 4th grade, according to the list. How up to date is that list anyway?

But the big questoin is, where can I score some of that 1st grade media? I live in France and I usually buy my media online because it's much cheaper. The store I buy from is Nierle, but they don't have any first grade mini DVDs (they have some second grade though, but I'm through taking chances). I guess I could buy some normal sized DVDs (I got a modded case) but I'd like to use some minis. So if anyone knows where I can get some of these babies in France I'd be grateful for the help.

And one last question, does it matter if the DVDs are +R or -R? Is it all that important?

Oh and by the way, my POTS value is 190. Tried lowering it to 160 but didn't dare go lower and the problems still persisted. So I put it back to 190. But the weird thing is, I don't get the same POTS value if I measure the value from left to right or right to left (that is if I switch the connectors of my ohmmeter). Is that normal? Anyway, the value I gave was measured as seen on this image taken from www.consoleworkshop.co.uk



So if I use the red connector on the right and the black one on the left, I get a reading of 240. Is that normal?? If yes, which reading is the correct one??

Thanks a million

 

LarrxX: Actually I had the same question ('bout the position of the connectors), but ended "guessing" that the image you post (same I used) is correct. I have based my pot tweaking on that presumption, I hope I'm not wrong.

Now back to the DRE issue: I don't know why I've forgotten to post a VERY important issue regarding all this burning stuff. Hope it's not too late:

Every time I begin burning a Ritek Mini DVD-R, Nero 6.6.0.18 says:
The loaded disc is not registred in the drives's write strategy list. If you use the disc for writing, the quality might be worse than using a registred one. We recommend enabling the verify option.

I know its an obvious question but: Do you guys think this is it ? Is this the reason for ALL my DREs ?

If so, how to correct it ! The firmware update didn't help at all.


Thanks.

 

viper0478 - Ritek's are the best for games, as this is what I hear from everyone and everywhere. Every modchip installer tells me its best to use Ritek's for all systems as it seems to be the most compatible. Anyway, its not the media.

This is what I would try in this order:

1. Update the firmware to TS11.
2. Try the latest version of copytodvd.
3. If the above doesn't work, ask a friend with a different burner to burn a game for you. If it works, then the most probable reason is your burner. I recommend the NEC 35xx series to everyone as they are also recommended by DVD veterans.

Cloudkill - From my experience, full sized DVD's don't affect the DRE case. I can see it would if you have an old gamecube with thousands of hours on it, then the laser is just worn out. There's a huge difference in the dvd drive sound when there's a original mini dvd and backup full sized dvdr. You could tell with the full sized its working a lot harder. This different affect the laser obviously as its reading the same data as a original mini, its just the drive has to spin faster to accomodate the full size

 

LarrxX - Actually, according to that list they are second grade. Ritek's used to be the best media around until new stuff came around and their quality was getting lower. That list is updated every month or so, so I would say its recent. The best media list to check is www.videohelp.com and you'll see at the left DVD Media, their database is huge!!!. You can find the best and every DVD media manufacturer in there.

RiDisc is Ritek, your right but I don't know if this has changed. What is the media code when used with NeroCDDVDspeed?. Please post here or you can enter that code in Videohelp DVD Media and it will list the manufacturers that use it.

The DVD's don't matter if its - or + R because most hacked firmwares have booktype setting or "bitsetting". Most prefer -R's but I always use + R's, these days its just a personal preference with no difference. When plus R's first came out they were better.

I was getting the same reading even if I switched the connectors, 200 both ways. I would go by the picture and if its set to 190, leave it. I would assume the way its pictured is the correct way because this is how its done by every "potmodder"

 

viper0478 - Each drive manufacturer has its own write strategy or "algorithm" and has their own media support list. For example, when you downloaded the new hacked firmware, there should be a media support list with it as to what media your drive supports burning.

As I've stated before, I really recommend you try copytodvd but don't run it right away. Make sure all the settings are right as there's quite a few of them that needs to be changed.

 

Shadow thank you for all your help. You say Ritek + NEC 35XX is the best combination. Well the media I'm using is RITEKG05 and burning it on my NEC3550 with 1.Y4 firmware. They don't run on my cube, but run on my friend's. And since my POT value seems to be OK I'm beginning to suspect that it's my chip that has a problem. Started a new thread to talk about this, http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/1/282100#1602744.