1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

My AD-5530A CD/DVD drive

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by ECruz'N, May 19, 2012.

  1. ECruz'N

    ECruz'N Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2003
    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Hi Folks,

    I haven't been on the AfterDawn forum for years, "Hi there!"

    I need help if you anyone of you could.

    I have a DELL Inspiron 1000 laptop, and a new CD/DVD drive.
    It's an Optiarc AD-5530A CD/DVD drive, I bought it on ebay,
    a couple of months ago. It was a local ebayer in Seattle area.

    But it needed a firmware for that CD/DVD drive so it can burn
    well on CD and DVD so that other computers and players would
    recognized of what was bruned on the AD-5530A CD/DVD drive.

    The local ebayer doesn't know where I can find a firmware from.

    When I went to the Optiarc's website, they provide a tool called
    "DriveBoost" tool. I downloaed from their site, and installed onto
    the DELL inpiron 1000 latop, and didn't know that it scans the whole
    computer. I thought the DriveBoost is a firmware for the AD-5530A
    CD/DVD drive, apparently it isn't. Once after it scanned my laptop,
    then it asked me to type in the registration key that don't have.
    An order for DriveBoost to fix my laptop by providing drivers,
    it wants me to type in the registeation key. Or buy DriveBoost tool.

    Is there any way that I could find a registration key to continue with
    DriveBoost.

    Or maybe I don't really need DriveBoost, and only just need a simple
    fimrware for my AD-5530A CD/DVD drive?? The drive is made by Optiarc,
    I think.

    Could anyone help me on what're really necessary for me to have???
    All I'm asking is for a firmware for that CD/DVD drive. And not have
    to have a tool that scans the whole laptop. Whether is it really true
    that I would need to have them to provide drivers onto my laptop.
    They say that my drivers that I provided for other devices are "OUT-DATED".
    And I don't know whether to believe such thing on whether DriveBoost provides
    updtated drivers????

    Overall, am I screwed up ending up using the DriveBoost that I may NOT
    really need??? And I only need a firmware JUST for that AD-5530A CD/DVD
    drive???

    Thank for reading my concern and I hope that if anyone in the forum
    has answers.

    Thank youy,
    Eugene
    Seattle, WA.
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2012
  2. Ripper

    Ripper Active member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2006
    Messages:
    4,697
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    68
    Have you attempted burning a CD/DVD and failed, hence your thinking you need to update the firmware? What are you trying to achieve?

    Go to this page and download Nero InfoTool:

    http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cd_dvd/dvd_tools/nero_info_tool.cfm

    Run the infotool.exe file and tell me what version your current firmware is. I think it should tell you on the configuration tab. Regardless, from my limited searching, I imagine the version will be AX23 and there don't appear to be any updates available.

    Couldn't find much info on "DriveBoost" but did find something called "DriverBoost" - is this what you mean? If so, you don't need it, it's not firmware for your drive. Be wary that flashing (aka installing) the incorrect firmware or drivers for a DVD drive can render it useless.
     
  3. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
    that is a 8x DVD±RW DL drive. who makes the disks you are trying to burn & what burning program are you using?
     
  4. ECruz'N

    ECruz'N Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2003
    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Hi Ripper,

    Thanks for your fast response.

    YES, CD/DVD does sometimes failed by using the Optiarc AD-5530A
    drive. Bow?? I tried uisng Essy CD Creater, DVD Drcrypter,
    Roxio DE, and etc. It failed on DVDs, but not with CD.

    When I used CD-RW, I took that dis onto a different computer
    to see whether would it comply. It didn't.... It did NOT recognized
    the burning or finalized by the Optiarc AD-5530A drive.
    Same situation with DVDs.
    This has nothing to do with whatever brand makes the DVD or CDS OR
    CD-RW were made by. It's just that other computers doesn't recognize
    the finalized disc by the AD-5530A drive on my DELL insprion 1000 laptop.

    However, CD-R itself, the other computers were able to comply to
    that CD-R that was burned by the AD-5530A drive.
    Just DVD-R, DVD-RW, and CD-RW weren't recognized by other computers.

    YES, the AD-5530A does burns CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RWW.
    It's strange that other computers does not recognize those
    discs that were finalized by the AD-5530A drive.

    Now get this, oter CDs or DVDs that were burned on a different
    computer, you try to load or play those disc on the AD-5530A drive,
    it does recognaized them.

    Now isn't that stange???

    YES, about that driver I downloaded, it's called "DriverBoost"
    from Optiarc website.
    If you believe that I don't need them, should I uninstall it from
    my laptop???

    Finally,about the Nero Infotool, what am I suppose to do once after
    I install it??? What would it do for me?? Would it check my AD-5530A
    drive???

    Hope this helps with answers.

    Eugene
     
  5. Ripper

    Ripper Active member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2006
    Messages:
    4,697
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    68
    Having multiples burning engines installed, eg Roxio, can cause them to interfere with one another. It might be wise to uninstall the majority of them and familiarise yourself with a program called IMGBurn for burning purposes.

    This isn't true; the two are not mutually exclusive. If you are using media that your burner's firmware does not support proper write strategies for, then you won't have much success playing back any discs you burn because it won't have burned successfully or done a very good job. Like ddp said, your drive only supports writing media up to a certain speed (8x).

    Not particularly - writing and read errors are sometimes caused by separate issues.

    "DriverBoost" is not firmware for your drive - from what I gather, it is a program that supposedly finds and updates drivers for all your PC hardware. Could you perhaps link me to where you downloaded the software from?

    Nero InfoTool would just tell us both what version your drive's firmware is to establish if there are any updates available for it, to potentially fix the problem - it would not fix the problem itself.
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2012
  6. ECruz'N

    ECruz'N Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2003
    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Hi Rippoer,

    YES, here's the link to where I downloaded that "DriverBoost".

    http://www.driverboost.com/lp/drivers/update/Optiarc-Drivers.php?gclid=CKncy6Cy_a8CFSo0QgodHDboRA

    And I found out about my blank discs with write sppeds.

    SONY
    DVD-R 16X

    Memorex
    DVD+RW 4X

    Memorex
    DVD-RW 4X

    Memorex
    DVD+RDL 8X

    Memorex
    DVD-R 16X

    Memorex
    CD-RW 12X

    Memorex
    CD-R 52X

    There are the blank discs I have, now. In fact I posted note
    on each one of them with written write speeds on the note for
    each one of them, so that I would recognzie them. : - )))

    Does this all help???

    Okay, I'm going to uninstall the "DriverBoots" from the DELL
    Inspiron 1000 laptop.

    Eugene
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2012
  7. Ripper

    Ripper Active member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2006
    Messages:
    4,697
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    68
    Yes, uninstall that software; it isn't going to help with this.

    As mentioned, your drive only supports writing DVD media up to a maximum speed of 8x, so the following discs aren't supported properly:

    SONY DVD-R 16X
    Memorex DVD-R 16X

    Ideally you would use 8x media, but try burning these discs at 4x speed. What speed have you been burning your DVDs at currently? They might just not burn properly at all.

    Your drive also only supports writing CD-R at 24x and DVD+R/-R DL at 6X/4X, so same story with these with these:

    Memorex CD-R 52X
    Memorex DVD+RDL 8X

    You can read all of this information for yourself on the spec page for your DVD drive here.

    Some general points:

    - Media rated at a higher speed than is supported by your drive is not going to provide good end results. The drive's firmware doesn't support it, so as a result will probably try to use a "default" write strategy (if it works at all) and not be successful.
    - The manufacturer of the media you are using (Memorex) is not very reliable (in most cases). It might be cheap but what you get is what you pay for. Recommend brands include Verbatim and Sony.
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2012
  8. ECruz'N

    ECruz'N Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2003
    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Hey Ripper,

    I want to send you "Print Screen" of "Nero Info Tool" outcome on
    my laptop. How do I send you photos attachment, so that you could
    see it yourself???? I could send it in WINZIP attachment.
    There are 5 photos to show you.

    Let me know how I can send photos for you.

    Thanks,
    Eugene
     
  9. Ripper

    Ripper Active member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2006
    Messages:
    4,697
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    68
    You are welcome to show me, but I've already answered your problem in my previous post:

    - You're using the wrong media so you aren't going to have much success burning discs
    - There are no firmware updates seemingly available for your drive to improve that

    Upload them to a site like tinypic.com and post the links here if you really still feel the need.
     
  10. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
    ECruz'N, do as ripper suggests about media & burn speeds. try what he says & see what happens.
     
  11. ECruz'N

    ECruz'N Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2003
    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Okay Ripper,

    Try this

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    edited by ddp

    I uploaded 3 or 4 images for you.

    Let me know if you couldn't get it. Or they're not uploaded.

    Eugene
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2012
  12. Ripper

    Ripper Active member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2006
    Messages:
    4,697
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    68
    Yes, those screenshots don't shed light on any new information; you just need to follow the advice I've given you.
     
  13. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
    post edited & others deleted as per forum rules.
    get some more ram as your are at 256meg which is not enough when doing burning & other things at the same time.
     
  14. Ripper

    Ripper Active member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2006
    Messages:
    4,697
    Likes Received:
    13
    Trophy Points:
    68
    Well it's a laptop (and judging by the spec, a reasonably old one) so sourcing additional RAM might be a bit of an issue (if the board even has space for more, I don't know).

    But obviously I agree, it's not enough.
     
  15. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
  16. ECruz'N

    ECruz'N Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2003
    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    That's the other issue...

    The current BIOS A07, which is the OLD BIOS, wouldn't accept
    extra RAM. Someone mentioned that in order to add exrra RAM,
    is to get BIOS A08 that might accept additional RAM.

    Hmmmmm, I didn't expect to come across this in this forum.
    But thanks for the suggestion on the RAM. I agree with that one.

    Eugnee
     
  17. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2004
    Messages:
    39,153
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    143
  18. ECruz'N

    ECruz'N Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2003
    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Hi Everybody,

    PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!

    Here's how.

    I bought a TDK 50 pack of DVD-R 1-16X.
    It includes 8X as one of you members suggested.

    So, instead of just 16x DVD-R disc I already have,
    I went out and bought a TDK brand name, DVD-R 1-to-16X

    Guess what????

    It works!!! I burned a short video onto DVD-R 1-16X disc
    on a AD-5530A CD/DVD burner drive.

    I played that burned DVD disc onto another computer and stand
    alone DVD player, they recgonzed the signature from AD-5530A
    DVD drive. Than it didn't recognized with a DVD-R 16X.

    This depends on which DVD drive you're using and that
    would it be recognize by other DVD players.

    Righ now, problem solved. Get a DVD that's 1-16X.
    TDK brand mostly have them.

    Thanks for your help.

    Eugene
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2012

Share This Page