CD-R writing problems

Slingshot

Slingshot

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I've got a problem with writing data to CD-R. I bought a 50 CD spindle of PrinQ blank CDs and getting fail after fail. Out of 10 discs, only one had a successful write. Every time the job completes without errors, but when I check the disc afterwards there's nothing on it and Windows acts as if I can add stuff to it. However, when I try to burn files to it again the software tells me the disc is not empty. The disc surface doesn't look like there's anything burned to it.

I've tried both my laptop drive as well as a brand new DVD writer on my pc.
I've tried Infrarecorder as well as CDBurnerXP.
I've tried max speed as well as 10x.
I've tried burning different types of files and different sizes.
I've tried closing the disc as well as leaving it open.
I've tried Google to find a solution but no luck.
The only thing I haven't tried yet, is to throw the spindle against the wall to see how many pieces I end up with. I'm very close to doing that, though. :mad:

Is there anything else I can try?
Seeing as these are consumables, the place I bought it from will not replace it or even test it themselves.
 
I found that certain drives don't like certain brand disks.
Maybe a firmware update on the drive will fix it.
 
Firmware meaning the drivers? or can you actually update firmware on the drive?
 
@Slingshot : I have used the PrinQ CD-R Printable to burn over 10 000 disk in June-July last year for something we do every year and have not a had a single failure , those discs are manufacturers by Moser Baer who is one the largest manufactures of blank media in the world, I know this as we have been to the factory and seen that they manufacture for some of the most famous brands such as S… and V…

I don’t think it has anything to do with the firmware as we have written too many on different drives including duplicators with multiple drives.

I can suggest that you clean your drive out with a CD lens cleaner or if you can get hold of compressor blow out the dust from the drive. We clean over 10 drives per day from clients that come in with “faulty” drives that don’t read or write and they leave with the same drives working again.

You can take those PrinQ CD’s to our branch in Durban if you purchase it from us and speak to Derek to swop them out as I would like to check those CD’s out for myself If they are faulty so I can send them to the factory to evaluate.
 
mercurial said:
The firmware of the drive itself. What brand drive do you have? Samsung has a utility that can install the newer firmware.
Click to expand...

It's a Samsung 22x drive.

Esquire said:
@Slingshot : I have used the PrinQ CD-R Printable to burn over 10 000 disk in June-July last year for something we do every year and have not a had a single failure , those discs are manufacturers by Moser Baer who is one the largest manufactures of blank media in the world, I know this as we have been to the factory and seen that they manufacture for some of the most famous brands such as S… and V…

I don’t think it has anything to do with the firmware as we have written too many on different drives including duplicators with multiple drives.

I can suggest that you clean your drive out with a CD lens cleaner or if you can get hold of compressor blow out the dust from the drive. We clean over 10 drives per day from clients that come in with “faulty” drives that don’t read or write and they leave with the same drives working again.

You can take those PrinQ CD’s to our branch in Durban if you purchase it from us and speak to Derek to swop them out as I would like to check those CD’s out for myself If they are faulty so I can send them to the factory to evaluate.
Click to expand...

The drive is brand new, I bought it together with the CDs from your Durban branch yesterday.
Thanks for the return offer, I will take them to the Durban branch tomorrow so Derek can test it. I think it was him I spoke to on the phone when I asked if they could test or replace them. Will refer him to your post if there's issues.
 
Slingshot said:
However, when I try to burn files to it again the software tells me the disc is not empty. The disc surface doesn't look like there's anything burned to it.
Click to expand...
It seems drive fails on calibration writing. Definitely I would try another brand first, not waste your time. It could be a bad batch. Had the same problem with some cheapo DVD media.
 
Last edited:
I updated the firmware to a newer version, but still the same problem. I'll take the discs to Esquire for testing. Thanks guys.
 
Hah, I just burned two successful discs! I installed ImgBurn as a last desperate option, and it worked with default settings. I guess it did something different than what CDBurnerXP and Infrarecorder did. What's strange is that the other two burning software never gave me any problems, so maybe this batch of discs are just super finicky.
 
What you did wrong? Some shed of light, please as I never used above software. What kind of burning; ISO disk image or other image? If compilation, then was it data or Video CD, multisession or maybe audio? You had one successful burn, so it shoudn't really depend on software, unless you have changed options in meantime.
 
I don't know what, if anything, I did wrong. I tried the other two burning programs with my usual settings as well as other possible settings, with no luck. When I tried ImgBurn with default settings, it worked right away.
I burned mp3 files successfully, but also tried various other filetypes to see if the problem was with the files. It was burned as a normal data CD.
I had 2 out of 2 successful burns with ImgBurn.
 
Slingshot said:
It was burned as a normal data CD.
Click to expand...
OK, Normal data CD, no special settings required. Just remember two things. If you are not planning to add more files, burn track in mode 1 and close disk. Otherwise it must be mode 2 (for multisession disk) and leave disk open. Most programs do it automatically.

BTW, Never use packet writing mode...
 
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