n00b question regarding swap method

I just chipped my GC, and I loaded the GCOS 1.4 BIOS. I can boot to the menu screen fine, but after I swap in my full-size DVD-R (generic garbage burned at slow speed), it just sat at a black screen and didn't do anything. Is this indicative of "bad media"? I see mention of DREs all over the place, but I'm not sure if that's an actual error message, or just a description of the symptoms I'm having. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

note: I also figured I'd ask the question here before tinkering with the laser...not sure if that would help in this situation anyway

 

don't use garbage media on the cube. try tweaking the laser. and try reading other threads before asking simple media questions.

 

It seems that less good media works better if disabling burn proof protection(buffer underrun protection)

 

I did check a lot of the other threads, but I couldn't find if DRE was an error that showed on the screen or if it just meant that it couldn't boot. Bear in mind I was modding my GC after midnight, and the stores were closed, so I couldn't even get branded media at that time if I tried.

Thanks for the advice, Quezacotl, I'll give that a try (at least until I can get to the store).

 

It could be bad media. It's hard to tell at this stage because it's your first time trying a backup. If I had to make an educated guess though, I would say you need to tweak your laser. This is your best option right now. Before you go spending a lot of money on different kinds of media and possibly wasting discs, try tweaking. I would say around 180-200 is a good value.

Oh yeah, and what you're experiencing is not dres. If you had a dre there would be a message on the screen that say something like, "the disc could not be read, check your instruction manual, blah, blah, blah..." Your cube simply won't read the disc at all. There really is no official name for this

 

I adjusted the laser last night, and set it to 200. I'm still getting the same thing on some of the discs, and now getting DREs also, even after trying both GCOS 1.4 and Cobra 0.4. I'm off to get some new media this afternoon. Any chance anyone reading this thread lives in the New York metro area, specifically Long Island, and would be able to lend me a known-working backup, just to test?

 

A person that's media is working well might not work at all for another person. It's very hit and miss. But in general, try either memorex +R's, or any other +R that's not junk if you can. Or memorex -R and TDK + or -R.

 

Not sure how much my Pioneer A05 would appreciate +R media

Looks like I'll either have to try more -R media, or actually install the +R burner that my friend gave me...I hate being lazy

 

My best results have been with a 50 spindle pack of FujiFilm -R media. As per the media code, it's RitekG03. Didn't even have to tweak my laser to use it.

I've also had some really good luck with CMC MAG F01 +R media (generic 100 spindle compusa brand: sku316430) tho I did need to tweak the laser down from it's original 540ohms to 470ohms for it to read consistantly.

But every cube is different it seems. All you can really do is keep trying media till you find some that works, unfortunatly.

 

Was that with turning buffer underun off and burning slowly?

 

You should burn at whatever speed your media/burner is supposed to burn at. If you have 4x media, then burn at 4x.

 

Best way to burn is take buffer underrun off and burn 1x-4x
And disc recommended/max speed is'nt the best, the most slowest speed is always the best. It's same as you write a letter, when writing faster, typo percent is bigger.

 

Got some Taiyoyudens (sp?) from a friend, reburned at 1x without buffer underrun, and now it seems to be working. I get the problem where if the game stops reading for any reason it'll give me a DRE, but now they're at least somewhat playable. Thanks for everyone's help

 

Actually, it's not the same as writing a letter the way you describe it; the analogy doesn't work. As burners get faster and faster, they become more accurate burning at higher speeds (just as a typist can type faster and more accurately as they gain more skills and aren't meant to burn at slow speeds in the first place. If you have 4x discs and a burner that is best burning at 4x and 8x, and you burn at 1x speed, you're gonna get a lot of errors.

Since the gamecube works best with games that have low PI/PO errors, and more errors occur burning at 1x, then your best bet is to burn at 4x and maybe 2x depending on your burner.

 

I only borrowed 5 "good" DVDs from my friend, so I'm limited as to the amount of experimentation I could do...once my spindle gets here I'll be better off...thanks again!

 

how did you burn it the first time? you say at a "slow speed" but how slow was it? Did you try burning at 4x?

 

I never upgraded my 4x burner, so 4x is fast for me
The ones that are working I burned at 1x, although Splinter Cell has been acting a little funny with sporadic DREs, and some of the other games take two or three times to load up (showing the GC logo is good, showing a blank screen with the disc still spinning is bad).

 

2x should be optimal for your burner. I've heard very few positive results from burning at 1x with GC games. I would strongly suggest 2x for your burner and better media. I'm pretty sure that the media you're using is your problem. Try a variety of quality media if you can and see what kinds of results you get.

 

Regarding slow speeds.

Yeah, it's not automaticly the best to burn as slow as you can. Even on older CD based technology but most important on DVD.

Burn speed involves more then just how fast it burns, but also the write stragity. Burning a disc out of spec with what it was intended for or compatable with will create errors.

Consider hardware. DVD firmware contains the information for what speeds require what write stragities given specific media id's. Not all firmware are the same. You could take some 1x-8x rated media and try it on different drives. Some will have the media approved write stragites for the entire speed range, some drives will only have specific speeds supported and either not support other speeds at all, or use a generic "maybe it will work, maybe it wont" stragity.

Now consider how media reacts. Laser power varies depending on write speed, and speed rated media has specific power requirements. Also, faster speed, means shorter pulses to keep the pit size standard, but also requires a faster reactive dye layer. Try burning slow speed media at a high burn speed, and the dye layer won't react fast enough under the short pulses. Try burning high speed media at a slow speed, and you could get an over reaction that damages the dye layer, or bleeds too close to ajoining pits.

It's that all important issue of compatable write stragity.

Then you have to consider the problem with fake media branded with phony media id's. All bets are totaly off with regards to that situation since you have no way of knowing what the real stragity is supposed to be.

Any who, in the end, you're always better off burning at the suggested speed that the drive & media want to work at together, as that will generaly produce the best & most compatable burn. To that end, some burners don't even let you manualy select burn speed at all. If you must futz with the speed, keep it to specific media that you think you're having problems with, and not follow it as a general rule.

 

in a nutshell, you'll usually have the most success burning at 2x or 4x, depending on your burner

artlover, not to say that all you said isn't true or important. I was just summarizing thanks for the info