DVD Burner Messing Up

The14thGOD · Post by **The14thGOD** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 4:57 pm

My dvd burner is screwing up. It burns like this:

http://stu.aii.edu/~jah368/scan0023.jpg

It's kind of hard to see, but if you look closely there is an inner circle, which is darker than the rest of the cd. (this is a scanned cd, so sorry for the bad pic). nothin can read past that , anyone know why this is?

DVD Burner:

NEC DVD RW ND-3500AG

Thanks for any help

The14thGOD

Psygnius · Post by **Psygnius** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 2:01 pm

All DVD writers and CD writers will burn an "inner circle". That is usually one way to determine how much space you have used on that disc without popping it into your drive.

Hm... how long have you had your DVD writer, and estimate how many DVDs have you probably burned since you've had it. DVD writers will go bad after too many uses, I've gone through 3 or 4 CD writers since 1999, and I can vouch that burning CDs is like driving on tires. They serve their purpose, but every time you use them, the sooner they will need to be replaced.

I have a NEC DVD RW ND-3520AW, and it seems to be working fine for me without the required firmware updates.

NEC is known to release firmware updates religiously for our DVD burners. You might want to check to see if yours might need to be updated. Here's a link to the last release of the firmware.

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1904

The14thGOD · Post by **The14thGOD** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 4:45 pm

I know dvd burners burn an inner circle. but two inner circles? I havn't seen that on other dvd's I've burned. I think I have had it about 2 years, and prolly 200-300 cd's/dvds.

I will check that site, thanks for your help.

The14thGOD

Psygnius · Post by **Psygnius** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 4:58 pm

hm... didn't notice that there were 2 inner circles the first time I looked at it.

If burning at the lowest speed is still giving you coasters, then it would probably be best to just invest in a new burner.... they've dropped dramatically in price since two years ago. I think I bought mine about 7 or 8 months ago at http://www.newegg.com for like $50.

They're probably around $40 or so now.

PS. 200 to 300 burns does not seem like enough to kill the drive like that. The life of a burner should definitely be longer than that, but none the less, it definitely seems like some kind of hardware issue.

BasharOfTheAges · Post by **BasharOfTheAges** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 6:15 pm

Psygnius wrote: PS. 200 to 300 burns does not seem like enough to kill the drive like that. The life of a burner should definitely be longer than that, but none the less, it definitely seems like some kind of hardware issue.

Really? About 200 killed my last one. (I thought it may have been just an issue with my system, but 2 other people checked it on their systems with the same result.)

oldwrench · Post by **oldwrench** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:03 am

I've had bad luck with NEC burners, they don't seem to last. The better brands have come down in price so they are worth getting. I have Plextors and Liteons and haven't had a coster yet.

Psygnius · Post by **Psygnius** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:36 am

BasharOfTheAges wrote:
Really? About 200 killed my last one. (I thought it may have been just an issue with my system, but 2 other people checked it on their systems with the same result.)

I guess it varies on burners. I always burn my discs at the lowest possible speeds, 2X or 4X. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, but I noticed audio CDs tend to play better when burned slower, so I'm always using the slowest speed possible.

I don't have any actual numbers for how many actual discs I've ever burnt, to determine when mine normally crap out at, but it's definitely possible for it to crap out at around 200 to 300.

Deathscythe_Animated · Post by **Deathscythe_Animated** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 6:46 pm

I used to have this same problem with an HP burner I used to have. I burned about 40 DVDs and it just gave out on me. I traded it in for a Lite-on drive which has done well over 800 DVD and it's still going strong. I recomend just buying a new one, upgrading the firmware, or reinstalling the drivers. Also, you might want to try a different burning program or reinstalling it. Make sure nothing is running in the background and that you have sufficient cooling. Also you might want to checkdisk your hard drive. But really, it's just easier to buy a new one. Lol XD.

The14thGOD · Post by **The14thGOD** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:20 pm

Wow, sorry for the long response, my cookies got deleted so i was not logged in =D

Ill try all the suggestions, i really would like tos teer away from buyin a new one being a college kid lol. i just recently went through my discs to see which ones had the dbl mark on em, and luckily i only have about 10 discs to reburn.

Thanks for ur suggestions/help

=D

l8r
The14thGOD

The14thGOD · Post by **The14thGOD** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:55 am

I am able to burn at a lower speed with a different program, i havn't tried the same speed with it yet though. if it works though, im assuming its something wrong withnero ; /.