CDR Writer problems

[rhumber]

This is my 1st post here so I hope someone can suggest something before I tear my hair out !

I bought an internal Samsung CDRW drive recently, the only problem is I can't write cdr's properly!

I've tried Nero, CD Creator, Windows Media Player & Realplayer s/w to burn the cds at x12, x8 & x4 but no luck so far.

I've got a Pentium III 504 Mhz (overclocked), 256MB DRAM, but still cannot write mp3's to a cd properly (of course I'm using audio cd option).

The best result I get so far is with Nero (latest version), it writes the cdr (as all the other s/w), but when I play it back it starts off with the 1st track half way through and goes from track 1 to track 2 halfway into track 2 (if that makes sense?) - very strange, seems the start and stop of the tracks is out of sync.

Cheers for any help !

[lechumbl]

Hi rhumber,

First, let me say, :D :D WELCOME :D :D to Liquid Ninjas!
Good to have you aboard and posting.

Secondly, sounds like a bad CDRW.
Do you have another CDRW to test your burning software with? If it is a hardware issue, you will know it real quick. And if it is a software problem, which I doubt, you will know also real quick.
I doubt it is a software issue, since you have tried several progs.

Try moving it from primary to secondary or visa versa, try moving it from master to slave, or visa versa.

Let us know how these ideas go and we will go from there.

Take care, and Welcome again.

[rhumber]

Could it be the cheap cdrs that I have bought ?

I've bought some more today, so will try them and also I've just downloaded the new s/w for the drive to see if that will help.

Its strange as the drive is a brand new drive (was in a sealed box from a store), I will also take up your suggestion and swop it to the master drive, thanks so far for your help.

[WackyComputer]

Welcome rhumber,

Make sure that no other programs ,including anti-virus, are running in the background, I have burned plenty of coasters with my 900Mhz that way!

What speed are your cd-r disks rated for? Have you tried different brands of cd-r disks?

Also make sure the CD burner and the harddrive are on different ide cables.

[WackyComputer]

Also I personally don't like to have too many burner/player programs installed, it has caused problems with me.

[rhumber]

Originally posted by WackyComputer
Welcome rhumber,

Make sure that no other programs ,including anti-virus, are running in the background, I have burned plenty of coasters with my 900Mhz that way!

What speed are your cd-r disks rated for? Have you tried different brands of cd-r disks?

Also make sure the CD burner and the harddrive are on different ide cables.

I'll try not running my Norton Anti-Virus.

The disks are rated x1-48, so no problem there, slowest I can burn is at x4.

The cd burner and harddisk are on seperate cables, I've used seperate cable for the cdrw & the other cd rom, but I haven't changed the drive to a master etc.. yet so will try that next, thanks for your help

I only had Nero installed and it still didn't work, will try and delete easy cd also

[WackyComputer]

I just had another thought have you downloaded the latest drivers "if there are any" for your cd-rw drive, or the latest software updates for your burner programs?

Best of luck!

[rhumber]

Ok I've now tried everything, I've closed down all programs, the cdrw drive was on a seperate cable anyway, but I tried it on the primary slave (on same cable as harddisk), also tried it as secondary master (and slave).

I've also downloaded the latest drivers for the cdrw.

Another option I've been told by a friend is to remove the overclocking on the processor, could this be a problem?

[rhumber]

Ok folks I took back the Samsung CDRW drive today, and went out and bought a LG DVD/CDRW drive (which was priced a little more but I can now watch dvd's on my pc) it burns my cdrs fine so it must have been the Samsung cdrw drive that was the problem, I can also burn at x8 so no problems now! :D

Cheers for your help anyway folks!

btw with the drive I got an audio cable, why do I need this?

I have 3 connectors on my motherboard that will fit this connector but can't see a reason to use it, whats it for ?

[WackyComputer]

Glad to hear everything turned out ok.

See the play button and headphone jack on the front of the drive?

You plug the audio cable from the back of the drive to your sound card or your motherboard so you can use it as a cd player.
when you do this you don't need software just to play a cd.

[lechumbl]

Hi rhumber,

Just what I thought.
It really sounded like a hardware prob, when you started.

I found out a long time ago, just because it is new does not mean it works.

Many companies now do not use a decent Quality Control Department, so when you get their products, it seems like the "bad" ones are getting to be more and more.

It is cheaper to have a few returned back to the factory, than to have a full time QC Department, and employ many folks and have to buy equipment to monitor and check all the devices.

Glad to get you on line and working again.

Take care.........