DVD writing speed

[Nathan]

Hi

Using an NEC ND-2510A dvd writer. its a 4x drive but for
some reason on the last 3 installs of windows XP it will
only burn at 2.4x. I've tried firmware upgrades and XP on
its own and with SP1 and SP2. Any suggestions ?? Before I
go mad.

Cheers

Nathan

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Actually, the NEC ND2510A is a Dual Layer 8x DVD Burner. The reason it
will only burn at 2.4x is because of the media you are using. The
recordable DVD's that you have put in limit the speed of the Burner. It
is better to write at a slower rate and make sure it works than to save
an extra couple of minutes to simply burn a coaster.

If you want to write DVD's at the full 8x, you should buy certified 8x
DVD Media.

 

[Nathan]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I'm using 4x media
that has always burned at 4x up until 3 days ago. Theres
not even any options to adjust the burn speed. Previously
I could burn at 4x and lower it to 2.4x or 1x. Now theres
not even the option for 1x just 2.4x. The media burns at
4x no problem in my friends identical drive.

Cheers

Nathan

 

[PapaBoojum]

Hi

Using an NEC ND-2510A dvd writer. its a 4x drive but for
some reason on the last 3 installs of windows XP it will
only burn at 2.4x. I've tried firmware upgrades and XP on
its own and with SP1 and SP2. Any suggestions ?? Before I
go mad.

Cheers

Nathan

Nathan,

I have an NEC-1300A and am using Memorex 4x discs under XP Pro, and
also have experienced a similar recent sudden halving of my write
speed. The only thing I can point to that I did between the time I
was able to write at 4x speed on Tue Aug 17 and not on Wed Aug 18 is
install Windows XP SP2 earlier on Wed.

On Tue I burned an ISO at 4x. On Wed I installed SP2. On Thu I could
not burn the same ISO or any other ISO at anything greater than 2.1x
speed. While the discs burn okay, it takes twice as long, which is
unacceptable.

I've tried uninstalling SP2. While the uninstallation went fine, when
I rebooted after the uninstall, I ~still~ can only burn at a max speed
of 2.1x. Either SP2 does something unreversable thats affecting the
DVD writing or the SP2 uninstall isn't restoring my system to a true
pre-SP2 state. I can't imagine that anything other than SP2 is the
culprit. I have installed ~nothing~ else between when things worked
and when they didn't except install SP2. Nor have I changed any
software or hardware settings. I can't afford at this point to do a
clean wipe and restore my system to its true pre-SP2 state, but I may
have to do that eventually if I can't find a solution.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, they would be ~greatly~
appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Hi

I wouldnt do a complete wipe if i were you. I tried that
and it didnt fix the problem. all i can assume is i got a
bad batch of discs. but three packs all with the same
issue seems weird. if its sp2 its doing permanent damage

cheers

nathan

 

[User from Newshosting]

Hi

I wouldnt do a complete wipe if i were you. I tried that
and it didnt fix the problem. all i can assume is i got a
bad batch of discs. but three packs all with the same
issue seems weird. if its sp2 its doing permanent damage

I have a Maddog DVD dual layer drive (device manag. shows it as an NEC)
and after SP2 was installed it won't write at full speed. Nero keeps
burping and the cache keeps going to zero, even at 2x with memorex DVD-RW
discs. I even updated Nero to the lastest version 6 they posted a few
days ago, no luck. It will sucessfully write the data eventually, but
slowly with problems. I have a backup image and went back to pre SP2 and
all was well again.

FWIW, I also have Alcohol 120% and EZ CD Creator 7 on the machine.

I'll be watching for a drive flash update and updates to burning
software. Looks like I'll have to prevent SP2 from installing via auto
update as well.

I think SP2 installs drivers that screw up this drive.

 

[Papaboojum]

Nathan and User...,

I found the problem, at least with my setup. Turns out after
installing SP2, Windows XP reverted to using PIO mode for data xfer on
my NEC 1300A instead of keeping the previous DMA setting. For some
reason, I can NOT get Windows XP to use DMA mode for this device.
I've had to un-install XP SP2 in order to get things working again.

To check this, open Device Manager, and expand the IDE devices item.
Open a properties page for the IDE channel on which your DVD writer
resides and go to the Advanced tab. The setting should read 'DMA if
available'. If not try setting it and rebooting. If it still doesn't
work, try un-installing the IDE channel and rebooting. That seems to
fix it for some people, but unfortunately not for me.

I've had to unistall SP2 in order to get Windows XP to use DMA mode on
my DVD writer. Don't know why yet, but it definitely correlates to XP
SP2 being installed. I'm going to report it to MS as soon as I find
the page for doing so.

Good luck,

 

[Thomas Wendell]

Papa.. I don't know if this is the link you asked for, but maybe one can
report bugs here ..

http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/productfeedback/



--
Tumppi
Reply to group
=================================================
Most learned on nntp://news.mircosoft.com
Helsinki, Finland (remove _NOSPAM)
(translations from FI/SE not always accurate)
=================================================

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Probably a specific problem with a chipset. What motherboard do you have?

 

[Papaboojum]

Probably a specific problem with a chipset. What motherboard do you
have?
ASUS P4P800 w Intel 865PE chipset.

 

[Papaboojum]

I think SP2 installs drivers that screw up this drive.

Check the DMA setting for the IDE channel that your DVD+/-R drive is
installed. My bet is it 'dumbed' down to PIO mode after SP2 where it
was DMA pre-SP2.

Maybe you will be able to get DMA mode working. I could not.

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Well, I know it isn't the chipset. That's what I'm running right now.
Have you updated the chipset drivers? I am seeing nothing like this on
my system, but I do have all of my drivers up to date. Maybe try the
latest chipset drivers from Intel?

 

[Papaboojum]

Well, I know it isn't the chipset. That's what I'm running right
now.

Have you updated the chipset drivers? I am seeing nothing like this on
my system, but I do have all of my drivers up to date. Maybe try the
latest chipset drivers from Intel?

I'll try updating the chipset drivers tonite.

It ~might~ be something with the Asus mobo. I've seen a couple of
people with Asus P4P800 & related models report similar DMA/PIO
problems after SP2 in a couple of other forums and NGs.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Nathan McNulty]

I guess I should ask what the BIOS revision is and what settings the OP
has in the BIOS. DMA mode must be allowed in the BIOS as well. It just
doesn't make sense if it was working before SP2 that the BIOS values
would change.

 

[User from Newshosting]

Nathan and User...,

I found the problem, at least with my setup. Turns out after
installing SP2, Windows XP reverted to using PIO mode for data xfer on
my NEC 1300A instead of keeping the previous DMA setting. For some
reason, I can NOT get Windows XP to use DMA mode for this device.
I've had to un-install XP SP2 in order to get things working again.

To check this, open Device Manager, and expand the IDE devices item.
Open a properties page for the IDE channel on which your DVD writer
resides and go to the Advanced tab. The setting should read 'DMA if
available'. If not try setting it and rebooting. If it still doesn't
work, try un-installing the IDE channel and rebooting. That seems to
fix it for some people, but unfortunately not for me.

I've had to unistall SP2 in order to get Windows XP to use DMA mode on
my DVD writer. Don't know why yet, but it definitely correlates to XP
SP2 being installed. I'm going to report it to MS as soon as I find
the page for doing so.

I'll check pio vs. dma mode again after I try installing SP2. I'll see
if I need to force it to dma. Gotta be those drivers in SP2 affecting
this burner.

I'll also run the latest update to Nero after the SP2 install; I only did
it before the SP2 install last time and didn't try running it again.

 

[User from Newshosting]

I'll check pio vs. dma mode again after I try installing SP2. I'll see
if I need to force it to dma. Gotta be those drivers in SP2 affecting
this burner.

I'll also run the latest update to Nero after the SP2 install; I only did
it before the SP2 install last time and didn't try running it again.

Software changes have no affect.

Yes, SP2 hoses optical drives so they have errors and then go into PIO mode
automatically after a certain amount of errors. I've had optical drive
errors in 3 machines I've installed SP2 on, and DVD ROM, DVD RW and CD RW
drives are all being forced to PIO mode.

The only way to get DMA mode back is to uninstall the IDE controller and
redetect it, but if errors occur again, it's back to PIO mode. They all had
further errors and went back. It's driver conflicts due to SP2.

For this NEC drive, I am staying with my pre-SP2 image until some sort of
solution for hosed drives under SP2 is found.

I think a standard reply from MS is to find new drivers from the
manufacturer(s) to fix these sorts of problems. Yeah, right. The machines
are older Dells and I doubt if Dell will do anything of the sort for their
older machines and neither will very many other manufacturers for older
equipment.

 

[Len]

Sorry to disagree but my NEC 1300A is running just fine in DMA mode
specifically Ultra DMA Mode 2 which is the best this drive will achieve.
This is with XP Pro SP2 installed and running. The other optical drive NEC
2500 is also running at the same DMA level.

Hate to say it but whatever your issue is with the systems you are working
on it is certainly not an NEC v SP2 issue.

FWIW,
Len

 

[Chris Catt]

Hi, Ive done several installs of SP2 and not one of them has been 'hosed' in
any way or fashion....
Chris C

 

[User from Newshosting]

Software changes have no affect.

Yes, SP2 hoses optical drives so they have errors and then go into PIO mode
automatically after a certain amount of errors. I've had optical drive
errors in 3 machines I've installed SP2 on, and DVD ROM, DVD RW and CD RW
drives are all being forced to PIO mode.

The only way to get DMA mode back is to uninstall the IDE controller and
redetect it, but if errors occur again, it's back to PIO mode. They all had
further errors and went back. It's driver conflicts due to SP2.

For this NEC drive, I am staying with my pre-SP2 image until some sort of
solution for hosed drives under SP2 is found.

I think a standard reply from MS is to find new drivers from the
manufacturer(s) to fix these sorts of problems. Yeah, right. The machines
are older Dells and I doubt if Dell will do anything of the sort for their
older machines and neither will very many other manufacturers for older
equipment.

I had an Iomega Zip 100 ide drive slaved to the NEC drive. Once I removed the
Zip drive there were no problems with going to PIO mode with SP2. The SP2
drivers apparently don't support allowing DMA mode on the NEC in the same IDE
channel as the Zip 100 drive. Under SP1, everything worked fine. Another
poster to this group had a similar problem:

http://tinyurl.com/5nd8r

or the raw url for those who can deal with the line wraps:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&c2coff=1&safe=off&threadm=u4
t2xYeiEHA.636%40TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl&rnum=10&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dxp%2Bsp2%2Bide%
2Bzip%2Bdrive%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26c2coff%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG
%26scoring%3Dd

Now I have to find a SCSI or external Zip drive or do without the
drive...I don't want to be without SP2. Sigh...