AOpen 121032A -> crap :(

Wolfram · Post by **Wolfram** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 7:32 am

I´ve had problems with cd burning on my BP6 for some time. Always thought my W2K (> 2 years old) was wrecked, too many burn programs installed, background task etc...

Now I found it was my AOpen 121032 CDRW (in fact a Ricoh drive, IIRC). Had done no research on that drive before I bought it (2 years ago?) But newsgroups and forums seem to be filled with people complaining about "wrong media speed" messages and other errors with that drive. Symptoms on my system were these random "wrong media speed" errors at the beginning of the write process or "write errors" near the end of a CD (CDRWs always worked), the latter accompanied by a slowly rising whining noise, finally the drive spinning down -> coaster.

Would think the laser´s worn out, but there are so many other people having problems with that drive...

I exanged the AOpen with a LiteOn 321240 from another PC. Burns perfectly at 32x...

Post by **Derek** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:37 am

I never buy those super cheap burners (although they probably do the job). But I hear from people that they die rather quickly when used often.

The two burners that I have are by Plextor (CD) and Pioneer (DVD).

How come you bought the 32x version?

Wolfram · Post by **Wolfram** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:43 am

I bought the 32x some time ago.

I used the AOpen burner rather often. What can you expect from a 100 Euro unit (by the time I bought it). But I certainly prefer that to the investment for an expensive drive, like my first Yamaha 4x SCSI burner (about 700 Euros in... um... 1996/97?).

Post by **Derek** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:44 am

And I bet the Yamaha drive is still going

Wolfram · Post by **Wolfram** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:49 am

In fact I had to re-adjust the laser some years ago. Just via trial-and-error on a screw at the laser unit, but it worked...! I still have the Yamaha, but it´s not built in a PC right now. Might check it on my BP6... the only PC that still has a SCSI controller.

Post by **Derek** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:51 am

While we're on the topic of burners, I'm waiting for a firmware update (leaked, or not) that will enable dual layer burning with my Pioneer.

Lemmie find the URL I was looking at yesterday…

Post by **Derek** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:55 am

Check this out!!

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfis ... _en&tt=url

Wolfram · Post by **Wolfram** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:57 am

What´s that, dual layer burning? 9GB on a blank DVD?

Haven´t bought a DVD burner yet, I know it would eat up even more of my time. But I´m tempted. Would go for the LG4040B if I had to choose now, because of DVD RAM capabilty.

Wolfram · Post by **Wolfram** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 12:01 pm

Derek wrote:Check this out!!

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfis ... _en&tt=url

Awesome! But do you have to get special DVD-R´s for that?

Post by **Derek** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 12:03 pm

The LG isn't a very good burner, and you won't use DVD-RAM as often as you like.

Dual Layer burning effectively doubles the capacity of the blank disc (the blank disc needs to be dual layer though). Pop in a large movie (like Lord of the Rings) in your DVD-ROM and look at the size of it, those are dual layer. You can also tell by the gold colour on the read surface.

Post by **Derek** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 12:04 pm

I was typing while you replied, so, yes to your question

Wolfram · Post by **Wolfram** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 12:06 pm

Derek wrote:I was typing while you replied, so, yes to your question

Me too!

Thanks for the info!

Post by **Derek** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 12:09 pm

Wolfram wrote:
Derek wrote:I was typing while you replied, so, yes to your question
Me too! Thanks for the info!

hehehe

The killer will be when blue laser burners are released! 40gigs per one-sided disc!!

Wolfram · Post by **Wolfram** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 12:12 pm

Derek wrote:
Wolfram wrote:
Derek wrote:The killer will be when blue laser burners are released! 40gigs per one-sided disc!!

Ump! Can´t wait to see Knoppix DVDs featuring KDE4, Office suites and full installs of UT2003