plagued by DVD burning troubles

okay, here's one more update before i hit the hay:

i just tried the last disc that supposedly "failed," and it plays just fine. what's THAT about?!?

 

change your media choice, your burner doesn't seem to agree with it. If that doesnt solve it, try a firmware upgrade. Avoid hacked firmware, I read that some hacked firmware for this drive is bad. Clean the burner and check all cable connections. If none of that does it, your burner may be going out on you.

 

I know nothing, but I too have the _NEC DVD+RW ND-1100A burner, and mine also just stopped working. Thus, I'm searching afterdawn for the answer to my problem, saw your post, and thought that perhaps - from one newb to another - this may help, or maybe give one of the experts out there a Eureka! moment and they can help you w/ your problem.

First, is what you're trying to record the correct size? Sounds stupid, but I just encountered the exact same 'end-of-disc' error and yet the resultant DVD played beautifully. My problem was that the file I was burning was just a sneeze (7,319,808 bytes) over the limit. 4.7 is not 4.7 but rather 4.3772161 GB (4,589,843.75 KB).

Secondly, did you just open a new spindle of discs? You say you're using the same as always - Verbatim DVD+R - but my problem began with a new spindle of Memorex 8x (more on that under "Lastly..." below). I'm a believer that there are faulty groups of discs distributed. I bought 4 identical spindles of CD's at the same store on the same day; 3 worked perfectly, and the 4th has given me nothing but bad pixels or whatever it is when big squares show up all over the screen instead of the picture, the audio sounds like a robot whose circuitboard shorted out, and ultimately the movie freezes even though the counter keeps ticking.

Lastly, you say that you upgraded your firmware, which makes us sisters, or brothers, or at least two pretty sorrowful people whose DVD burner no longer works. At the very top of the new spindle of Memorex 8x DVD's I opened was an insert cautioning that I may need a firmware upgrade in order for my burner to work w/ these discs. Even though I'd used TEON 8x and Maxell 8x in the past w/o a problem (I too have had maybe two coasters during the life of my burner), I researched Memorex' advice and (unfortunately) heeded the warning, got the firmware upgrade, and the rest is history ... here I am. There's some development? improvement? that suggests burns by older/slower hardware might not play, all data might be lost, and your dog might develop furballs.

While I'm not getting the same errors as you (I'm not getting any errors), none of the DVD discs I now burn are recognized by my stand-alone player (though, like you, the CD burns are fine). Now, the DVD player (and I've tried two) 'loads' forever then returns 'BAD DISC.' Everything plays beautifully on the computer (of course).

Hope these comments will tweak someone's thoughts and they'll help you find an answer!! Good luck.

PS: Re: Screenshots. Just press the PRNT SCRN button (next to F12), and then open up whatever graphics program you use (MS PAINT, for a quickie), and PASTE. Crop the image so it shows just what you wanted to capture. And there you have it - one of my all-time favorite computerings and perhaps the ONLY one that has never let me down.

 

Teons aren't any better. If you don't have playback problems at first, more than likely you will have when you try to play them in 6 months or later. Here's some teon codes.

Teon DVD+R 4x (CMC MAG E01)
Teon DVD+R 4x (CMC MAG.F01)
Teon DVD+R 4x (Philips C08)
Teon DVD-R 4x (CMC MAG. AF1)

 

@CREAKY:

First, my apologies to everyone for using forum space to respond to CREAKY's message, but I don't know CREAKY's home address.

CREAKY! ... c'mon man. Put the bottle away and FOCUS.

I'm baffled. Why on earth would you think I was touting Memorex media? I've read and re-read my post, and for the life of me I can't figure you out. If anyone (other than you, of course) were to get the idea that I was touting one disc over another, I would think Memorex wouldn't even make the list, as it's the one that's failing as we speak.

I've read and re-read your post also, and in your defense, I'll cut you some slack because it's now clear to me that you didn't even read the posts, but relied on your Senior Member ESP to formulate your response. You admonish dametony:

when not only does dametony state on 06/06/05 @ 22:43

but I reconfirmed that when I wrote on 06/08/05 @ 13:17

It would appear that not only does dametony's drive knows what media is being used. [bold]I[/bold] know what media dametony's using, and anyone who read this thread knows what media dametony is using. Or, I guess another way of putting it is,

And no disrespect intended (as you say ... NOT!!), but as far as your comment to dametony,

I ... uh ... think that maybe just one person suffers confusion. If there's more, then I'm certain they became afflicted after reading your post. Or perhaps it was after seeing "Senior member" after your name.

Yikes! Help me out on this one. Maybe my husband IS right after all and I AM crazy.

 

kcnew...now, now...let's not amplify any potential hostilities. i, too, am very confused at creaky's inability to get info from posts (such as the fact that i already said i updated my firmware, or that i said that i had figured out how to do the ASPI thing, or that you had already shown me how to do the printscreen thing), but let's not go overboard.

addressing some questions/concerns:

i've been using those verbatim discs for two years. why would they suddenly stop working for me? that doesn't make any sense to me. back when i was having trouble with sonic, i couldn't burn anything, any media. once i got nero running, my old media worked fine. but now nero has ceased functioning, too.

why would i now need to make the disc size smaller in DVD shrink when it's worked fine for me to leave it alone for something over 100 burns?

what is "packet writing software"? you said it causes problems with nero, but, as i've said multiple times, neither my:

1)sonic recordnow!
nor my
2)nero

will burn DVD's or do player-to-recorder exact copies of CD's. as i stated a few posts ago, i think just focusing on the nero aspect is a mistake, as the only reason i have nero at all is because i got it when my sonic recordnow! stopped burning DVD's. and now nero has stopped, too. oh, and i forgot to mention: i can't seem to get either program to erase my DVD+RW's anymore. they won't even read them.

so this is why i think my burner is shitting the bed. i have no idea how to definitively tell, though. does anyone?

***

kcnew, to answer a specific question --

no, i only started having DVD troubles with my current spindle after i'd already used, oh, thirty or so discs out of it already. so i don't think that's it.

we'll make it through this, yet. let's just be nice, everyone.

 

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but one more thing ...

Regarding ASPI, CREAKY offers

.

Good advice (perhaps, but I've lost all faith) but in that dametony wrote, just a half hour after his/her post addressing ASPI, one inch down on the afterdawn screen, and thirteen hours before CREAKY's help(cough)

I seriously doubt that anyone who actually needs ASPI help will find CREAKY's advice buried in this thread entitled plagued by DVD burning troubles.

I'm convinced I could be a Senior member, too, if I just wrote about something I knew, whether or not it was at all responsive to the readers' problem. Watch HERE for my upcoming posts entitled, "How To Install Crown Moulding" and "The Proper Way To Perform The Heimlich Maneuver."

NOT! (Sorry, but it was just so darned cute when CREAKY wrote it.)

 

Newb dametony:

You're right. Sorry. Our posts crossed in the mail. I'll be good.

 

okay, so check this out: i just burned a disc with no problems. why would THAT be?

i'm really pretty convinced that my burner is either shot or really dirty. anyone care to suggest otherwise?

the only way this reasoning doesn't make sense to me is that i can burn regular CD's okay.

 

CREAKY:

You're sweet. My deepest apologies for taking out on you my terrible horrible no-good day. I braided my daughter's hair and she said the part was wrong. I walked the dogs and was told they can pee on garbage cans but not on fenceposts. I drove the disabled to the VA and was told the seatbelts in my car were too tight. I did laundry in cold instead of warm and then dried the towels with the undies. I topped off my car's windshield washer fluid but was told I shouldn't have put it in the hole marked 'oil.'

Other than being an ass, I suffer from speed typing, so the tish hits the fan faster than my (incredibly small) brain can process it all.

And just to prove that I really am sorry and hope you will forget my nasty comments, continue serving the public, and have a very merry day, I ask that you consider this:

As a public admission of my stupidity, I solved my own problem (well, I discovered the problem, though the problem remains). After trying to play my new Memorex DVD's in the BR player and experiencing total failure, I tested them on a second DVD player, also unsuccessfully. At that point, I determined that I was burning, and would continue to burn, coasters. I then hit the forums wondering what was wrong, who I could yell at, and if it really did matter where the dogs peed. Having completely spent myself spitting at you, I hauled the stack of 'bad' DVD's, together with my crack pipe, down to the living room APEX, and spent the remainder of the evening watching my coaster of men beating one another senseless in the USC Nationals. That, and every other 'bad' DVD, played beautifully. See my question regarding the issue "Bad disc or bad player?" in a more appropriate thread (yours) - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/193298 - which (unfortunately, but can you tell I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer?) I didn't understand.

 

okay, i'm back. i was out of town for a couple of days.

first things first, kcnew: you are very funny. comedy writer funny. just wanted to say that. are you a writer?

second, to creaky:

here goes. lots to address.

1)you never tackled my last post, the one where i burned a disc just fine with no problems. i haven't tried another since, but why would some work, others get kicked out, and still others the computer claims are failures, yet they work perfectly in my dvd player? my question is, why is there randomness in the results?

2)i have to say it again: i really think focusing on nero is a mistake, especially as i *only have* nero because my sonic recordnow! failed me. the problem just can't be the software, it just can't. but if you insist, then so be it.

3)i am currently working from a 50-disc spindle of verbatim dvd+r's. i've probably burned 30 or so dvd's successfully from it. it's only the last 10 or so that have been a problem, really. i fail to see how the media could be the problem, especially when i've tried other media before, and they failed, too (this was before i got nero, when sonic recordnow was shitting the bed). but, i can try a media checker thing.

4)you haven't mentioned my problem with both nero and sonic recordnow! failing to burn player-to-burner copies of regular CD's. this is somehow tied to problems with the burner itself, right? and then there's that issue of me being able to burn CD's from things on my hard drive with both programs with no problems whatsoever. these things are all tied together. i never had any issues when i first got my computer. they all worked magnificently. gradually, over time, problems have arisen.

5)firmware: i tried updating when i was having my initial pre-nero problems. i just tried again (and i did it, just to see), but the program told me that 10GE was the current edition, and that's what i already had installed.

6)okay, so tell me how to get rid of this "packet writing software" you speak of (i have no idea what this is). i uninstalled sonic DLA (whatever that was), though.

7)stand by for dvdinfopro readout.

...and thanks for your help!

(ps -- other people reading this, feel free to chip in with your expertise!)

 

creaky, you are definitely an interesting character. you have to understand, you're the only person who seems to be currently posting advice in this thread, so you've got to see it from my point of view: how do i know what you're talking about? i don't know who you are or what you do on this board. i know next to nada about computers work. so it's a little hard for me to just trust one person, who has admittedly had problems keeping track of details, here and already gotten into a scuffle with someone else in this thread. it'd be nice to get a consensus from a few people, but this thread has maybe gotten too complicated for that. i should maybe start a new, simplified one with a new title.

i'm not sure where you get the idea i don't want to be helped...since i started this thread, i obviously do. i just have trouble doing what you suggest when it seems like you're making judgements based on a lack of information. you've already said that you've neglected to read certain parts of my posts, so forgive me if i'm a bit leery. don't take that the wrong way or get insulted, it's just that i have written things that have been overlooked by you -- and that's fine. i'd just feel more comfortable if i was sure that everything i was saying was being heard. you've readily admitted that you have "memory problems," so don't blame me if i'm a tad unsure of how to take you.

you just have to understand that i know nothing about any of this. so when you say something like...

i just go, well, first, i feel like he's being condescending. second, i don't know what he's talking about with "incorrect setups," because i haven't changed anything -- things just stopped working one day. and i also think, well, it can't be the media, because the current spindle has been working fine until recently. and, before, when i had my sonic recordnow! program stop burning DVD's, i was using the same brand, and once i switched to nero, the brand worked fine again, from the same spindle. and, PLUS, the most recent burn i tried worked fine. so how can that be the media? why would the burner work some of the time? i ask because I HAVE NO IDEA, and i need to understand this stuff. you've got to realize that newbies like me don't have the reference points you do.

i've tried reading those threads you pointed out, but i have no clue what you think i should really glean from them. it's a bunch of charts and graphs and tech talk about different drives and media that tell me virtually nothing because i don't know what i'm looking at, you know?

the most i got is: don't use shitty media. well, reading those threads, it seems like Verbatim is pretty decent (you recommend them), and that's what i use! you're going on about using good media, and that's fine, but it doesn't address my problem -- my burner has (again) stopped burning DVD's (mostly), and it has stopped doing player-to-burner direct CD copies.

so, you see, it can't be the media, right? because i'm having a couple of different issues, and you say verbatim is good!

okay. so let's go step-by-step. one thing at a time. let's get on the same page.

first:

i just went to get dvdinfopro, and it looks like it needs to be paid for, or it comes with adware. does it? because i'd prefer not to deal with that stuff. i don't even know what it means, but it sounds bad. if it's not an issue, i'll download it and do whatever you say i should do with it.

 

hey, listen: i don't know where you get the idea that i'm "berating" you, but you need to realize that that's not the case at all. i don't feel like getting into details about who started what where, but just please try and read closely what i've already written. i don't know what else there is for me to say. i've got no "attitude," as you claim. it's just that you have already shown that you have skimmed over some things and missed some important details and then had them pointed out to you. so, yes, please reread the thread. that will be helpful. it's all in there, stated many times.

i absolutely appreciate your help, but if it's too much for you to handle, just say so, and i can start a new thread. it's no problem, really.