AlanHo Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 I recently upgraded my computer with new motherboard, processor, hard drives, graphics etc to move up to Windows Vista. At the time I decided to retain my old CD/DVD reader and an LG DVD Burner. However - I then found the need for a dual layer burner so I decided to replace the CD/DVD reader with a new LiteOn burner. Thus having two burners available.The new drive proved to be troublesome - burning DVD coasters (even on TDK Good quality DVD-R media) and I eventually sent it back as faulty. The supplier allowed me to change it for another make - and since my LG burner had given me good service - I went for the latest super duper LG drive. To my horror this drive is behaving just as erratically as the previous one - which leads me to the conclusion there is something wrong with the computer, rather than the drive. The original LG burner is set as master at the end of the IDE cable and the new one as slave on the middle connection. The floppy is connected via a separate cable and the hard drives are SATA. I tried downloading and installing the latest firmware for the LG drive - being very careful to follow their instructions about having the drive set as master, all other drives disconnected, no anti-virus running etc. I put everything back together again - only to find it had made things worse, rather than better. I can now produce CD-R coasters as well as DVD ones, if you should want any.I am at a loss. I feel it unlikely that two new drives should behave the same but have no idea what could be wrong with the computer.Any ideas....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Which burning program are you using, Alan? Does it have all the Vista updates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Which burning program are you using, Alan? Does it have all the Vista updates?I have used the generic Vista facility, the latest version of Nero and the latest Acronis. All with the same results. They all work fine on the old LG burner - but not the new one(s).The main problem is getting an error message after the burner has been writing for a minute or so saying "The operation failed at 12x" - or whatever speed I have selected. I have even tried running at 1x in case it was a speed thing - but no joy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Two possibly silly questions, but you haven't mentioned either.1. Have you tried a different IDE cable ?2. Is your IDE transfer mode set to "DMA if available" and if so what "Current Transfer Mode" is showing ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Two possibly silly questions, but you haven't mentioned either.1. Have you tried a different IDE cable ?2. Is your IDE transfer mode set to "DMA if available" and if so what "Current Transfer Mode" is showing ?1. No - I don't have one2. I have no idea what this means or how you do it. I am afraid that I am not very experienced at messing with the innards of computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 The IDE cable could be an important factor. I have just replaced two DVD burners, previously 8x now 16x DL and the installation leaflet is quite adamant that 80 wire IDE cables MUST be used when burning at 16x and when burning DL disks. I didn't think much of that at the time as the cables are already 80 wire but, are yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 1. No - I don't have one2. I have no idea what this means or how you do it. I am afraid that I am not very experienced at messing with the innards of computers.Re. 1. What were your previous hard drives connected with ? - an 80 wire IDE lead ? - or were they also SATA drives ?Re. 2. My ComputerRight Click - choose PropertiesHardware Tab - select Device ManagerThen (look at attachment below)Left Click - IDE/ATA Atapi ControllersRight Click - Primary IDE Channel - Properties - Advanced SettingsYours should hopefully be saying Ultra DMA Mode 2 ???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Oh and how have you set your Optical Drive jumpers ?as both Cable Select or Original = MasterNew one = Slave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Previous hard drives were also SATA.My device manager (Vista) differs from yours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Look under the ATA Channel 0 and ATA Channel 1 entries.One of them should show something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Alan,Any joy ?You should soon have this sorted :)Google is reading your thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Original master at end of IDE cableNew drive set as slave on middle plug on cableIs this setting what we are looking for ...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Yes that looks OK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Lets check out your IDE cable (as well as we can)Pictures of both below.As -pops- said - with a UDMA 4 optical drive, you really need an 80 wire one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Just taken the side off the box - it's a 40 wire cable with black connectors.Before I get all excited and have a chat with the guy who built the tower for me - if this is the problem - why is the old LG burner working OK...?Do I take it that the motherboard socket will accept both types of cable. I see that the floppy drive has an identical cable plugged into the MB and the DVD drives share a cable connected to the MB on a second socket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 The old burner is only rated at UDMA 2 according to your screen shot - so it can get by with a 40 wire cable. The new 16x drives are much faster.The floppy cable is not identical - it is a 34 (I think) wire cable, - if you look carefully it is different as it is split and reversed at the Floppy Drive end.The good news is that a new 80 wire IDE cable is only a couple of pounds :)http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/107284 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Thanks Boris - quite circumstantially I was about to order a new 20" widescreen monitor today from them - so it was easy to add the cable to the order.I assume the old burner will be happy with the new cable and will report results when the cable arrives. Does it matter which burner is set as slave and which as master...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 Alan,Both drives will happily work with an 80 wire cable.Either can be set as master or slave.Hopefully this will cure your problems :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 I've just tried one of my new burners with an old 40 wire cable which I had in the junk box (from W95 days, I think).Guess what? It doesn't work. It doesn't work at all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 My grumpy drive will read some media OK but not burn anything successfully.Thanks for your experiment pops - probably proves the point very effectively. I have my fingers crossed that updating the drive with new firmware whilst using the wrong cable has not done any harm. The LG instructions are very clear about the importance of doing everything to "the book" with grim threats of ruining the drive if you don't comply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 I'm curious where your builder found his 40 wire cables I had to search right to the bottom of my junk box for the one I found. 80 wire have been in use for many years (W98 days?).Was he trying to palm you off with some old junk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 I think the reason is that the tower is a 5 year old Antec which originally had a CD/DVD reader and the original LG Burner which cost an arm and a leg in those days. I imagine a 40 wire cable was OK for those units which I retained when the guy rebuilt the computer. He woulod not have needed to swap the cable.It was me who added the later DVD burner in ignoranmce of the fact you need a better cable. I bought an OEM burner so there were no instructions for me to follow and I just swapped the units over using the same screws and cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted June 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 My new monitor and DVD drive cable arrived this morning - I ordered the stuff from EBuyer at about 4.30 yesterday afternoon and it was here at 8.45 am this morning - not bad eh'I fitted the cable and am delighted to report that the burner is now working fine - thanks Boris for the info.By the way - andsome takes on a whole new appearance in widescreen - there ought to be a government health warning on his avatar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 8, 2007 Report Share Posted June 8, 2007 I always find that swapping out cables (and other components) is a quick and cheap way of narrowing down possible causes of problems. My portable tool box always includes the following (all old but tested and working) items for temporary replacement of problem components :-Ancient 640MB H/D8x CD/RW3.5 FDDFloppy Cable(s)40 wire flat IDE cable(s)80 wire flat IDE cable(s)Power lead(s)Monitor lead(s)64 MB PC66 RAM128 MB PC100 RAM128 MB PC133 RAM128 MB PC2100 RAM128 MB PC3200 RAM8 MB PCI video card350W PSUwith that + a phillips screwdriver + a couple of 1 Gig pendrives (1 of the latest freeware "pest control apps" and the other with freeware utilities) I can usually sort out most of the "normal" problems that my friends/colleagues come up against :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted June 8, 2007 Report Share Posted June 8, 2007 My new monitor and DVD drive cable arrived this morning - I ordered the stuff from EBuyer at about 4.30 yesterday afternoon and it was here at 8.45 am this morning - not bad eh'I fitted the cable and am delighted to report that the burner is now working fine - thanks Boris for the info.By the way - andsome takes on a whole new appearance in widescreen - there ought to be a government health warning on his avatar.I bet I look gorgeous. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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