DVD Burner has me stumped
 

My DVD burner is a Samsung TSSTcorp TS-H552B Firmware TS08. I used to burn DVDs on it regularly and never had a single problem. I got busy with other things and decided to take a break. I have now started to burn again but have come back to many problems. I am using the same batch of media that I was before. This drive is set as master and I have a CD burner set as slave.
1. The burn times were horribly slow.
I assumed this had something to do with the buffer levels that jumped erratically while burning. I changed my transfer mode to Ultra DMA 2 and that seemed to solve the problem.
2. Burning started to fail with a report of a "write error"
After Googling, I checked with Nero InfoTool and saw that my System ASPI drivers were not configured or "didn't have a green bar." I downloaded Adaptec ASPI 4.72, and it reported my system ASPI drivers were just dandy. Confused and after some more reading, I just decided to kill them and reinstall the 4.6 versions from ForceASPI. Both programs now reported them working correctly. This solved that problem.
3. Discs burned have a ton of errors towards the end of the disc.
I tried to burn 4200mb files instead of 4464mb files and onto a different brand but still had as many errors. I changed the speed from 8x to 4x but while burning, I got a Write Error again..

I ran out of media so now I am left wondering...anyone have any other ideas?? *sigh* And I'm sorry, but I dont have any of the logs...I didn't think to save them..*stupid moment*

Just a wild guess here but did you use a legally purchased video DVD on your computer recently? I heard they are now installing software that prevents your CD/DVD writer from operating correctly.

Check your \SYSTEM32 dir for the file hadl.dll.

They really give us good reasons to not pirate things, don't they?

I'm having a similar problem and after using Nero InfoTool I've realised my DVD-RW drive (Pioneer A03, yes the reeeeeaaaallllly old one) isn't set to DMA mode, and after trying to set it to DMA mode it stays in PIO, is there a reason for this? And anyway to "fix" the problem?

You know, I'm having the exact same problem recently. No idea what's going on at all with my Plextor 716A but it passed the diagnostics test at startup so I'm really at a loss. I don't have anything I need to burn at the moment but I'll trying switching the IDE cable to IDE 2 on the MB. It's most likely set to IDE1 but I'm really out of ideas what's going on, there are times when verification tests actually pass. I'm just glad FFVIIAC was one of those discs and I checked for that .dll and it's nowhere to be found on my system32 folder.

the way i got mine to stay in DMA is I uninstalled the drivers for secondary IDE channel which is what my drive is on then rebooted...windows then wouldnt reinstall it by itself so I used the Dell restore disc I received with the computer and reinstalled them...has worked so far

btw, here's a link to an uninstaller for the anti-pirating software mentioned above
http://uninstall.settec.com/eng/

You should check the event viewer. Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Event Viewer and double click on system. That might help pinpoint where the error is coming from, my OS has been acting weird because of a corrupt page file, no idea how that happened until I received the BSOD. Makes no sense to have the page file enabled if you have 3GB of RAM. :) Also my stupid Audigy 2 card was causing DCOM errors, but all is well now.

I'd boot the PC with Knoppix from a different drive and test the recorder with K3b and a DVD-RW. This way you'll get an idea wether something's wrong with your hardware or some program just fucked up your Windows install.

So T1249NTSCJ , when im looking under Event Viewer, what kinds of errors would I be looking for?

Well any errors of any kind would be the place to start, the problem could be hardware or your OS. If there is at least one error, that should be a flag. Also I would try to burn a DVD with that burner in another PC. Should help you track down the source of your problems.

AMAZING!! i got some new Taiyo Yuden discs in today and they burned like nothing was the matter...guess it really was my media... *does happy dance*

What media was it? Just so people can know for the future.

uh, Taiyo Yuden

I recommend using Verbatim DVD+R 8X media, there have been alot of TY fakes circulating. Buyer beware.

o really...hmm...these seem to be doing very well (13 burns, no coasters) so if they are fakes, im not really going to complain lol....ill be sure to try Verbatim after I run out

You might also want to download a little program which'll help ID your media to see if it's of quality or not.

http://dvd.identifier.cdfreaks.com/

Check the database and see where your media lies.

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia

My media code is MCC.....003.

No I mean the media that didnt work the first time. Unless it was the same brand.

it was Philips 8x dvd-r

Maybe the media went bad. If Phillips DVD+-Rs are made by CMC Magnetics, then he's lucky he didn't burn to those, because I have heard they have an abysmal shelf life. Nothing quite like having an irreplacable file just to lose it on a crappy DVD-R.

hm, good stuff to know....im assuming TY's have better than the aformentioned?

i never knew i sounded like a guy...