Emprex DVD burner no burnee?

hooksetter · 2005/09/12

hey all,

i recently bought an Emprex 16X DVD burner from Frey's. i can burn CD's on it but it won't burn DVD's! i have coasters to prove it. I am using TDK 16x single sided media. i changed the speed to 8x and it still came up with a "writing error" message. see the link below for product info..... help... thanks--hook

http://www.emprex.com/02_products_02.php?id=25

charlesvar · 2005/09/12

Hello hooksetter,

You're going to have to supply some more info:

Burning software? Did it come with the Burner?

Hardware environment - how is the burner setup on its cable, with another ROM device, by iteself, how is it jumpered?

Regards - Charles

hooksetter · 2005/09/12

charlesvar said:

Hello hooksetter,

You're going to have to supply some more info:

Burning software? Did it come with the Burner?

Hardware environment - how is the burner setup on its cable, with another ROM device, by iteself, how is it jumpered?

Regards - Charles
Click to expand...

thanks Charles, it is Nero software (bundled suite came with it) and the DVD is on the second master of my XP driven machine. it burns CD's so it's connected.

jaylach · 2005/09/12

You might try disableing the built in burning for XP. I don't run XP so I can't say for sure but as XP's burning won't do DVDs it may be a factor.

charlesvar · 2005/09/12

Hi hooksetter,

the DVD is on the second master

I'm not sure what that means, but I'll asume its a standard hookup meaning that the DVD is in the 2nd position on a IDE cable from a cd ROM.

Basics to check:

Is the DVD jumpered as slave with the cd Rom as master? Or is it Cable Select?

In Device Manager > expand the ROM's - general tab of each, what's the location #?

Regards - Charles

hooksetter · 2005/09/12

charlesvar said:

Hi hooksetter,

the DVD is on the second master

I'm not sure what that means, but I'll asume its a standard hookup meaning that the DVD is in the 2nd position on a IDE cable from a cd ROM.

Basics to check:

Is the DVD jumpered as slave with the cd Rom as master? Or is it Cable Select?

In Device Manager > expand the ROM's - general tab of each, what's the location #?

Regards - Charles
Click to expand...

sorry charles, just picked up that saying elsewhere..... it's NOT slaved, it is on it's on IDE lead----(gawd whaterver that's called.) and is set to master on the unit. that part works. i had my CD burner there before.

hooksetter · 2005/09/12

jaylach said:

You might try disableing the built in burning for XP. I don't run XP so I can't say for sure but as XP's burning won't do DVDs it may be a factor.
Click to expand...

ok----how do i do that? thx jw

PeteC · 2005/09/12

To disable Win XP native burning software .....

Open My Computer > right click on DVD burner > Properties > Recording tab > uncheck 'Enable recording on this drive' - or words to that effect.

hooksetter · 2005/09/12

PeteC said:

To disable Win XP native burning software .....

Open My Computer > right click on DVD burner > Properties > Recording tab > uncheck 'Enable recording on this drive' - or words to that effect.
Click to expand...

thanks, but it WAS NOT checked. should i try checking it and trying again?

PeteC · 2005/09/12

The general recommendation is to have it unchecked when other burning software is installed to avoid any possible conflicts. I cannot see that enabling it will affect your problem in any way.

You might try another brand of DVD - DVD burners can be picky

Check out the Emprex website for recommended makes of media which are compatible.

sparrow · 2005/09/12

mattman · 2005/09/12

Hi,
From the Emprex FAQs:

I can't burn any DVD successfully, what can I do ?
A:
1. Make sure to use the latest firmware update (see www.drvupdate.com for more information);

2. Make sure to update the software that you are using to burn the DVD.

3. Make sure to use reliable, quality media (discs) that are supported by your drive (see the online media support list for your drive).

4. Make sure to use only 1 burning application in your PC; more than 1 burning application may conflict with each other by trying to simultaneously access the drive.

If you have taken the above measures and are still experiencing problems, then please send an e-mail to the technical support person that is responsible for your region. Check the website for more information.
Click to expand...

I ran out of time looking for the "online media support list ", it is well hidden

Matt

oshwyn5 · 2005/09/13

I always recommend trying a few different brand blank media . Some machines just will not use certain brands no matter how good they are.

Secondly I recommend trying to burn at a lower speed.

Finally consider it may be defective and you may need to return it .

Okay, here is a broad general explanation which should answer your question, I hope.

When an optical disk (CD, DVD) is made commercially; an acrylic disk is covered with a layer of metallic foil and a mechanical press stamps this foil to make pits. which will reflect the read laser differently than the flat undisturbed surface. This foil layer is then covered with a protective surface (in some cases another acrylic layer in others merely a label). Damage to the lower acrylic layer can be polished out, but if the top layer is damaged and the foil marred, the disk is not repairable.

Now we come to Recordable optical disks CDR and DVDR either + or - (the difference I will cover later)
The lower acrylic disk has a spiral groove cut in it and an optically sensitive (changes color when exposed to the right frequency and power of light) dye is put in this groove and then covered with either reflective foil or a doped layer of acrylic to accomplish "total internal reflection" as is done in fiber optics, where the refraction caused by the medium change will completely reflect certain frequencies of light (but be transparent to others) . The burn laser burns this dye , thus changing its color and hence the ability of the read laser light to pass through it . Once burned, this dye cannot change back ; so disks may be burned but not erased.

Rewriteable disks are similar , but use a liquid crystal (or liquid metal ) in place of the light sensitive dye; which at one power level will crystalize in one direction causing light to scatter, and when hit with a more powerful level will remelt and return to the original reflective state.

Now how does the drive know what type of disk it is? In the very center (all optical disks start at the center and work outwards) is a thin metal ring with the information needed for the drive to know what type of disk it is, what speeds it is designed to be burned at , and what power levels are needed to read, write, rewrite, erase etc as applicable. Then there is a "test" area for "calibration" of the needed lasers .

So now you know the difference between the different types of disks and how the drive determines which you have and what it needs to do to use them (note that this explains the calibration failed errors, if the calibration area of a write once disk is full or if the laser cannot meet the requirements of the disk you are using you get a calibration error). But what is the deal with the + and - .
Well these are "formats" or different manners in which the data is saved.
Just like when they first came out with video tapes there were two competing standards Beta by Sony and VHS by Phillips because of licensing restrictions of the original format so two different groups came up with differing standards for recording to DVDs. DVD-R was first, but some companies did not like the licensing and royalty scheme so they came up with their own format DVD+R . Think of it this way, one format the spiral is wide and the burn is perpendicular to the direction of the groove. The other the spiral is narrow and the burn is in the direction of motion. So in one you have a bunch of ------ along the spiral to represent data, and the other they are | | | | .
Now obviously you cannot burn one format on a disk designed for the other and you cannot burn one with a drive designed to burn the other. So many modern drives can burn either format depending on which type of disk you have.
DVD-R disks tend to be cheaper, but DVD+R tend to support higher burning speed.

Again, this is not a completely technically correct explanation, but it is putting things in "laymans terms" so you can get the idea.
Click to expand...

So it is possible that the laser for burning DVDs just does not accurately track the spiral and thus it cannot burn successfully, while the one for burning CDR does.

hooksetter · 2005/09/13

oshwyn5 said:

I always recommend trying a few different brand blank media . Some machines just will not use certain brands no matter how good they are.

Secondly I recommend trying to burn at a lower speed.

Finally consider it may be defective and you may need to return it .

So it is possible that the laser for burning DVDs just does not accurately track the spiral and thus it cannot burn successfully, while the one for burning CDR does.
Click to expand...

thanks guys. i took it back and got a Toshiba. when i install it, i'll let you know the results. i'll be a 12pack less this coming weekend for sure money wise....arrrgh

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