Slow DVD Burning with Nero R6

[Guest]

I have two P-IV tower systems at home: one is an older 2.0 GHz system with an
Intel MB and 768MB RAM. The second has a P-IV HT 2.8GHz CPU, ASUS MB, and
1GB RAM. Both run Window XP Pro SP2 with Nero 6.6 retail. Normally I burn a
dozen DVDs each week and have been doing so for the past three years. About
four months ago I replaced the internal ATA DVD burners in each one with 16x
burners of different brands (Samsung, A-Open) and both systems worked fine.
Last week (Feb 17) I let Windows apply seven priority security patches:

KB927779
KB927802
KB928255
KB924667
KB931836
KB926436
KB918118


Since then both systems have been running Nero Burning ROM in SLOW mode. It
takes now 40 minutes to an hour to burn an 8x or 16x DVD-R and a similar time
to verify. When the burn starts the correct speed of burn is shown but it's
obviously running much slower. Nero's buffer-full indicator now frequently
empties whereas previously it was always 98% full. The verify speeds that
used to be high (12x or better) are now below 2x. I have tried several
brands of 8x and 16x DVD-R discs.

Yesterday I sent the details to Nero but have not heard back from them.

Today I used Windows System restore to go back to a February 16
configuration (before the seven patches) on the older P-IV system. The DVD
burner has resumed its normal performance.

What's up? Which is the bad patch?

 

[GRAND_POOBAH]

Couldn't you now go to the Windows Update page (on the functioning
computer) and apply each of them one at a time and find out which one
kills performance? Once you locate the offending Update, then uninstall
it from the other computer.

GP

--->

 

[Guest]

Both computers are fully functional though one still handles DVDs in slow
mode. I was hoping someone might have already done the work, which is not
trivial.

 

[MAP]

All of Feb's patches are for a work place setting, the average home computer
need not apply.
http://ultimatewindowssecurity.com/

Perhaps one of the hotfixes changed your burner from DMA to PIO mode? If it
happens again check it in device manager.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info. The DMA issue jumped to mind but it's no longer
possible (or at least easy) to change it back. DMA was once a Device Manager
check box but it no longer shows. My older system, the one on which I undid
the patches, has an Intel MB so I suppose I could always rerun the Intel
Application Accelerator but the other machine, still in slow mode, has an
ASUS board.

 

[ClarkVent]

Go here:

http://www.buzzypedia.com/reviews/LG_GSA-H20L_Rewriter

And scroll down to the "Installation and Setup" chapter. It explains how
to change PIO mode back to DMA.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for that good advice. Damn MS for moving those options around!
On my newer system, without removing the security patches, I removed and
then reinstalled my secondary IDE channel and its device's status went from
the dreaded PIO to Ulta DMA 2.