DVD burners have stopped writing

Yousuf Khan · Feb 7, 2012

I had a pair of DVD burners, both of which have stopped writing (they
can still read them though). They were IDE drives, and they were
connected to each other on the same cable. One of them had started to
spew out random errors in the event log, but the other one was fine.
Then all of a sudden I noticed that the random errors had stopped. This
would've been good if it meant that everything is working again. But
after I tried to burn a disk it didn't seem to work in either drive. I
tried removing the drive that had previously been shown as giving the
errors, but it didn't help, the other drive still won't write either.

Is it possible that one drive could've damaged the other drive by being
connected to the same wire as the other? The software I'm using ImgBurn,
shows a lot of diagnostics messages, and all it shows when I try to
start a burn on the drive is that there is no medium inserted, and the
drive is not ready. The drive can detect other types of disks just fine
though, just not blank disks.

Yousuf Khan

Rod Speed · Feb 7, 2012

Yousuf said:
I had a pair of DVD burners, both of which have stopped writing (they
can still read them though). They were IDE drives, and they were
connected to each other on the same cable. One of them had started to
spew out random errors in the event log, but the other one was fine.
Then all of a sudden I noticed that the random errors had stopped.
This would've been good if it meant that everything is working again.
But after I tried to burn a disk it didn't seem to work in either drive. I tried removing the drive that had
previously been shown as giving the errors, but it didn't help, the other drive still won't write either.

Is it possible that one drive could've damaged the other drive by being connected to the same wire as the other?

Not that so much as prevent the other drive from working properly.

The obvious test for that possibility is to have only one drive on
the cable at a time and see if you still cant burn with either drive.

If you cant, try a new cable.

If that doesnt help either, try a different IDE connector
on the motherboard if there is more than one. From
memory you do run pretty elderly systems, but maybe
that was Ant, not you.

The software I'm using ImgBurn, shows a lot of diagnostics messages, and all it shows when I try to start a burn on
the drive is that there is no medium inserted,
and the drive is not ready.

I'd also try burning with something else like Roxio EMC or Nero.

Arno · Feb 7, 2012

Yousuf Khan said:
I had a pair of DVD burners, both of which have stopped writing (they
can still read them though). They were IDE drives, and they were
connected to each other on the same cable. One of them had started to
spew out random errors in the event log, but the other one was fine.
Then all of a sudden I noticed that the random errors had stopped. This
would've been good if it meant that everything is working again. But
after I tried to burn a disk it didn't seem to work in either drive. I
tried removing the drive that had previously been shown as giving the
errors, but it didn't help, the other drive still won't write either.

Is it possible that one drive could've damaged the other drive by being
connected to the same wire as the other?

Not really, at least not without killing it completely. IDE
bus buffers are pretty robust.

The software I'm using ImgBurn,
shows a lot of diagnostics messages, and all it shows when I try to
start a burn on the drive is that there is no medium inserted, and the
drive is not ready. The drive can detect other types of disks just fine
though, just not blank disks.

Have you tried these with a different computer? Also note
that dust and time kills writing-lasers, these may just have
reached EOL. This may also be a software problem.

Arno

Yousuf Khan · Feb 7, 2012

Not that so much as prevent the other drive from working properly.

The obvious test for that possibility is to have only one drive on
the cable at a time and see if you still cant burn with either drive.

As I said above, I've already removed the troublesome drive. It still
made no difference.

If you cant, try a new cable.

If that doesnt help either, try a different IDE connector
on the motherboard if there is more than one. From
memory you do run pretty elderly systems, but maybe
that was Ant, not you.

Nope, I'm fairly uptodate on my system. Only had the one IDE channel to
work with. I could try another cable, but I'd have to look around for
one, not much requirement for IDE cables anymore.

Yousuf Khan

Yousuf Khan · Feb 7, 2012

Have you tried these with a different computer? Also note
that dust and time kills writing-lasers, these may just have
reached EOL. This may also be a software problem.

Don't have another desktop to try it with. Could maybe ask a friend to
put it on their desktop, maybe.

The two drives are about a year apart in age, but they both went at the
exact same time. Can't see them both reaching EOL at the same time.

Yousuf Khan

Arno · Feb 7, 2012

Don't have another desktop to try it with. Could maybe ask a friend to
put it on their desktop, maybe.

The two drives are about a year apart in age, but they both went at the
exact same time. Can't see them both reaching EOL at the same time.

If it was exactly the same time, than I agree. Maybe a power spike or
something like it that damaged them both.

I don't think one could have damaged the other. That would require
frying bus-drivers or the like, and these are permanently short-circuit
proof for IDE and something like that would also kill reading.

Arno

Rod Speed · Feb 7, 2012

Yousuf Khan wrote

Arno wrote

Don't have another desktop to try it with.

Do you dispose of your previous machines ?

Could maybe ask a friend to put it on their desktop, maybe.

The two drives are about a year apart in age, but they both went at the exact same time. Can't see them both reaching
EOL at the same time.

Yeah, much more likely to be a failure with something common to them.

Could very easily be the cable and thats cheap to try.

Could also be something like bad caps or power supply in the PC too.

In theory it could be just that the lense needs cleaning if you are a smoker,
but that wouldnt normally see both drive stop writing that the same time.

Frank Williams · Feb 8, 2012

I had a pair of DVD burners, both of which have stopped writing (they
can still read them though). They were IDE drives, and they were
connected to each other on the same cable. One of them had started to
spew out random errors in the event log, but the other one was fine.
Then all of a sudden I noticed that the random errors had stopped. This
would've been good if it meant that everything is working again. But
after I tried to burn a disk it didn't seem to work in either drive. I
tried removing the drive that had previously been shown as giving the
errors, but it didn't help, the other drive still won't write either.

Is it possible that one drive could've damaged the other drive by being
connected to the same wire as the other? The software I'm using ImgBurn,
shows a lot of diagnostics messages, and all it shows when I try to
start a burn on the drive is that there is no medium inserted, and the
drive is not ready. The drive can detect other types of disks just fine
though, just not blank disks.

Yousuf Khan

CD & DVD burners have a limited life..

Rod Speed · Feb 8, 2012

Frank Williams wrote

CD & DVD burners have a limited life..

You hardly ever see both fail to write simultaneously and still read fine tho.

Yousuf Khan · Feb 9, 2012

Yousuf Khan wrote

Do you dispose of your previous machines ?

No, my basic modus operandi is to keep upgrade an existing machine until
it's bleeding edge modern again. I do it piece by piece though,
disposing of individual pieces as needed.

In theory it could be just that the lense needs cleaning if you are a smoker,
but that wouldnt normally see both drive stop writing that the same time.

No, not a smoker, but I did have a friend who used to be, and I know
what you mean about things getting cloudy inside. Also if lens that
writes gets cloudy, you'd think that the read lens would too. There's
not a lot of scenarios where only one function goes, but not the other.

Yousuf Khan

Yousuf Khan · Feb 9, 2012

Frank Williams wrote

You hardly ever see both fail to write simultaneously and still read fine tho.

I'd like to know if there's a test utility that sends ATAPI commands the
drives and displays their results back?

Yousuf Khan

Rod Speed · Feb 9, 2012

Yousuf Khan wrote

Rod Speed wrote

No, my basic modus operandi is to keep upgrade an existing machine until it's bleeding edge modern again.

I do too, but with the significant changes in cases and power supplys
and motherboards, I still end up with obsolete machines that can be
used to test something like the problem with CD/DVD drives.

I do it piece by piece though,

Sometimes I do, sometimes I dont.

disposing of individual pieces as needed.

I dont bother to dispose of them myself. Handy for testing like now in your case.

No, not a smoker, but I did have a friend who used to be, and I know what you mean about things getting cloudy inside.

And you can always pick a smokers PC when you open it, the stink alone is enough.

Also if lens that writes gets cloudy, you'd think that the read lens would too.

They are different lasers, so the write one is usually affected first.

There's not a lot of scenarios where only one function goes, but not the other.

There is with those, the write laser is quite different to the read one.

But you'd be VERY unlikely to lose the write function
on both drives at the same time even with a smoker.

Bet the problem is the cable or what the cable plugs into at the motherboard end.

Rod Speed · Feb 9, 2012

Yousuf Khan wrote

Rod Speed wrote

I'd like to know if there's a test utility that sends ATAPI commands the drives and displays their results back?

Likely there is, I just use substitution myself, particularly
with that sort of fault where you lose the write function
on two drives at the same time and not the read fuction
so its unlikely that the problem was that both drives were
over voltaged at the same time by a power supply fault etc.

GMAN · Feb 10, 2012

Yousuf Khan wrote

bleeding edge modern again.

I do too, but with the significant changes in cases and power supplys
and motherboards, I still end up with obsolete machines that can be
used to test something like the problem with CD/DVD drives.

Sometimes I do, sometimes I dont.

I dont bother to dispose of them myself. Handy for testing like now in your
case.

mean about things getting cloudy inside.

And you can always pick a smokers PC when you open it, the stink alone is
enough.

Usually , i can salvage the drives and stuff, but oh my god, the Power Supply
is always the first to go.

Rod Speed · Feb 10, 2012

GMAN wrote

Usually , i can salvage the drives and stuff, but oh
my god, the Power Supply is always the first to go.

I buy decent ones in the first place, so dont need to operate like that.

The format does change and the capacity does too over time and the power connectors too.

And I keep a spare on hand too.

GMAN · Feb 11, 2012

GMAN wrote

I buy decent ones in the first place, so dont need to operate like that.

The format does change and the capacity does too over time and the power
connectors too.

And I keep a spare on hand too.

No, i meant when i work on someone elses PC to repair , i usually cant stand
working on it with their power supply attached. I usually hook one up
temporarily while i repair their pc.

Franc Zabkar · Feb 11, 2012

I had a pair of DVD burners, both of which have stopped writing (they
can still read them though).

Have you tried different media, eg CD-R rather than DVD?

- Franc Zabkar

Rod Speed · Feb 11, 2012

GMAN wrote

No, i meant when i work on someone elses PC to repair , i usually
cant stand working on it with their power supply attached.

Why ?

I usually hook one up temporarily while i repair their pc.

Mad.

GMAN · Feb 11, 2012

GMAN wrote
your case.

connectors too.

Why ?

I dont want my basement smelling like ass.

Mad.

Its not crazy. If i am working on a pc of a smoker friend , i dont want that
smell permeatting the room for hours while i work on the pc. Maybe you like
the smell, i dont.

Yousuf Khan · Feb 15, 2012

Well, here's an update on this problem. I've now had a chance to test it
out with different configurations. It's been suggested that I should
test it with different IDE cables, I've now tried 3 different IDE
cables, each one had the same problem with this drive. I then tested
whether it was the motherboard IDE connection that was the problem here,
so I remembered that my eSATA PCI-e adapter also had included its own
IDE connector, so I moved the connection over to that connector. Same
problem here as well, in fact, on this connector it can't even detect
the DVD drive's model name!

So I'm thinking I've done sufficient due diligence and I can declare
this drive dead. The only other thing I could possibly try is to put an
IDE-SATA converter adapter on it, and try to run it through SATA. I've
had success in the past with old IDE hard drives that looked like they
were dying under native IDE, but after the SATA conversion they ran much
better, but I think that may be getting little too pedantic at this point.

Yousuf Khan