I realized that I don't actually get the speeds I select...

Like Rotary said, your not getting annoying at all. We all are trying to figure out your problem and learning at the same time.

Are the BenQ and the Radeon on the same power line?

Your PSU should be enough wattage to run your system without problems. Before you got the BenQ, what writer were you using?

I know it's a hassle but you could take your PSU in and have it checked out. Should only take a few minutes for them to test. Or, if you don't mind the time waiting for a shipment, you can get a PSU tester here for $8.50.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PS-101&cat=CAS

 

Good to hear I'm not annoying

@Rotary

Yeah, very odd. I wish I had the normal problems.

Well, my power supply is a Powerlab 480W, so I don't think it's all that great. What I plan on doing is using two power supplies because it's obvious this one still works. I'll have one dedicated to my NEC, BENQ, and possible my 250GB IDE Hard Drive(which I burn from). I just think my current one has too much to handle as this computer is hardly ever turned off, and is never idle(Torrents, USENET, etc).

Just to clarify on my BENQ and NEC a bit: When I burn greater than 4x they are both quite loud(you can hear them spinning), but in the case of my BENQ when it stops("dies") for a couple seconds and resumes at 4x it is very quiet like it doesn't need as much power. I can't help but think maybe qsuite or something realizes that it can't get enough power so it keeps it at 4x for the rest of the burn. If I run a simulation on a disc it rises to 16x perfectly and smoothly, but when you actually burn something it starts good, but loses power/stops for some reason. In the case of my NEC, I can't really say. It dies/stops multiple times during a burn, but eventually it will jump to a higher speed, die/stop a couple more times, then jump to the desired speed, and die/stop until finish. What I'm trying to say I guess, is that I believe they die because they can't get a sustained power supply, and that my BENQ is a bit "smarter" as it doesn't keep trying once it loses power/stops like my NEC.

@Dolphin

My NEC and my BENQ are on their own power line. However, my Radeon and 250GB IDE HDD share a power line. EDIT: Oh wait, I forgot my SATA drive is on legacy power as well, so it's my radeon, 250GB HDD, and an 80GB SATA HDD that share a power line.

Before my BENQ, I was using a NEC ND-3520AW. It's currently a slave to the BENQ.

To be honest Dolphin, I can be almost sure it isn't providing 480W. This thing is 2-3 years old of hard use(this computer is never turned off unless installing something or if it needs to be restarted.) I'm sure this thing is not the "youth" he once was, so to speak. It's just easier(and faster I might add) to buy a new and better PSU, and use a little wire and some molex pins to turn him into a standalone power unit as I am most certain that he can handle two DVD-RW drives at the least.




Another possiblity is to buy a 5.25" External Enclosure and see if my BENQ works good on my laptop, but USB 2.0 might cause even more issues.

 

I'm going to go see if I can afford both. I'll let you guys know in a couple hours if they fix anything.

 

!!!!!!!!! I can't even put my happiness into words!!! I feel like I won the lottery!!!

I bought an Antec 500W SmartPower 2.0 and didn't even bother with that cheap POS PSU I used to have. I was going to use them both, but this PSU is light years ahead of my old one. And quite frankly I don't even need the other one. I'll save it for something else.

At first, I was disappointed that my burns were jumping around, but I realized WOPC was on, and turned it off. Tried to burn again and!!!:



Aside from a stray CPU spike, PERFECT!!! I need to try to use MCC-004 before I can truly rejoice, but I'm so damn happy!!! Woot! Well, I'm going to try MCC-004 now.

 

Fantastic!!

I'm happy for you. You made my day!

 

Hi Dolphin! I'm so excited! I didn't have luck with Verbatim but I found something I had completely overlooked for weeks.. I kept wondering why it would stop at 4x, then I realized under disc info, 4x is the only write strategy my drive has... look at this:



You see? It only has 1 write strategy and that is for 4x... WTF? So, it wasn't my fault! LOL! But, seriously, anyone know why it only has that single strategy? Fakes?

Should make a new thread? Thanks to you guys I fixed the problem I was having with my drives dying and such, so this thread is complete. I really appreciate all your help and I...I LOVE YOU GUYS, in a brotherly sense of course!

Edit: Wow this truly is weird. It only has 4x for my NEC as well???



I hate to slander people, but I think newegg sold me some fakes... Anyone heard of this happening before? Or is it something I'm doing wrong?

 

Do you have DVDInfo? Can you check the discs with that and see if you get the same results?

I ran across this:

http://home.arcor.de/ala42/MCSE_Mirror/

I wouldn't try it with one under warrenty.

I just checked one of my TY discs and write strategy isn't even listed. That's why I suggested DVDInfo.

 

Hi,
Draugr, the thing is in terms of write strategies most modern drives support 4. What you've got with the BenQ is a drive that reports only the strats it supports. With the Nec it tells you how many strats are available in theory with the disc(6) & how many are actually available via that drive(4).

 

@zebadee

You are correct if your refering to the Write Speed. What we've been noticing is the Write [bold]Strategies[/bold] in the Extended Information section.

 

Hi,
dolphin2, I did realise this. Obviously not made it clear. In the Basic Information Panel, the write strategies of the disc are presented. However with BenQ in this box only the strats supported by the drive are listed (4). So when you look in Extended Information Panel, this displays the number of write strats supported by drive. Again (4).
With the Nec in the Basic Info Panel it lists all strats supported by the disc. Without applying the restrictions of the drive, hence (6). But in the Extended Info Panel, it lists the strats supported by Nec with this particular drive (4).
In the Extended Info Panel it is confusing, because when it says 4x. This is meant to mean 4 times (or 4 strats 4x 8x 12x 16x) not just 4 speed.
So put simply the disc supports 2.4 & 6x as well as 4x 8x 12x 16x. The drive doesn't.

 

I guess I'm still confused. Why would the drive (BenQ) show/have restrictions? And then why wouldn't the NEC show 6 in the Extended Info Panel?

 

Hi,
When it comes to Basic Info.
One manufacturer believes in showing the 'real' disc strategies(Nec).
The other believes in showing only what options are available(BenQ).
While when it comes to Extended Info, obviously both show the drives available strategies.

 

Hi, Zebadee

I think I understand what you are trying to say, but then why does my drive not burn past 4x on a MCC-004? I can select 8x, 12x, or 16x, and it will only burn 4x.

EDIT: Here is DVDInfo Dolphin,



Seems to suggest I have more that one write strategy, but I don't know how to get the other ones to work..

 

Hi,
Draugr, I believe that what's happening in your is f/w related. If you have SolidBurn enabled, disable it & see what happens. If you don't have SB enabled then, you need to reflash the drive. For some reason the current flash hasn't taken properly. Maybe some background pc activity. To try & rule this out flash in safemode.
In fact if I was in your position, I would flash back (if possible) to a f/w earlier than the one I wanted. Then flash to the desired f/w. This sometimes works. It's as if there's a clearing out of the flash memory. If this has no affect on the drive, then two options left. Return the drive as faulty (although you'd need to try other media to be sure really). On the other hand you could throw caution to the wind & crossflash. Flash the Philips equivilant drive (1660) & back again this will void warranty. But can 'shake things up'. The result is not guaranteed to work, but I go through these processes before writing of a drive.
BTW My last resort is to flash in dos.

 

Hi,

I managed to get it to work @ 16x by reverting back to BCFC RPC1. I'll stick with this firmware for now, too many bad experiences with BCHC.

Thanks for the help everybody!

 

Hi,
Draugr, glad you got there. I posted somewhere on this forum, advising folks to stay clear of BCHC. Although it works for some, it's few & far between. I believe that it's overly critical of some media for some reason.

 

hi

great you sorted it!

but i may of had an answer for you! with OVERSPEED setting...

also try making an ISO to burn and use these speacial settings in IMGBURN by the maker of dvd decrypter...

 

@Rotary

I wish I had seen that a lot earlier, but BCFC has it burning at 16x.

@Creaky

That's what I get for trying to save a few bucks going with a cheap PSU.

I'd be interested in seeing why it doesn't show it NERO too. I asked this a couple days ago, but have you tried RicohJPN R02's in NERO? It gives me the same one-liner as MCC-004.