DVD burner only pops out coasters...

This is my first laptop with a DVD burner. I'm a late adopter on many things now. Up to now, I have only burned DVDs on my desktop, or I had an external Firewire burner hooked up to my laptops.

No problems. I buy name brand DVDs and they burn. For years, this has been my experience.

Enter my first laptop burner. I've just pumped out 5 coasters in a row on my E1505 with Sony Q58A.

I used Nero 6 and Easy Media Creator 9. Same exact symptoms. Burns about 90% of the disc... I hear a click click click sound every 20 seconds from the burner, then an error message, and poof, I have a new coaster.

"Session Fixation Error writing lead out."

I don't really want to go buy different DVDs. First I have 85 of these Fuji DVDs left and they work fine in my desktop. I also have no interest in the try new media stuff. It might work, sure, but I need the peace of mind that if I go buy 100 name brand DVDs, they are going to burn. What do I do with 85 Fuji DVD-Rs? What do I do if I buy 100 HP DVDs and they don't work? I can't take back 99 DVD-Rs just cuz' my burner is a whiny lil' component. It's 2006 for crying out loud. DVD-R is mature. This is bullpoo.

I checked Dell website, no new firmware. What if the burner is just bad?

It reads fine. I've installed stuff off CD and DVD with it.

[edit] Burner is in DMA mode.
[edit] I'm not using the laptop, even though I don't have a problem doing lite stuff on my desktops while burning.
[edit] I'm using 8x DVD-Rs, but am only offered the opportunity to burn at 4x, and am now doing a burn at 2x to see if that works... 2x would be lame as all get out.
[edit] From what I can tell, I'm using the latest firmware - UDS2

 

You've done your homework I guess. Only thing left is call DELL to send you a new one. I have the phillips drive, and it never gave me a coaster ( more than 40 DVD's burned with no trouble ) it doesn't make any noise, usually burnes @ 6X. I heard NEC drives are good too.

 

Hmm... burned ok at 2x.

That is just lame to the core.

Not quite as lame as not burning at all, but very very close.

Awake:18 hours
Waiting for DVD to burn: 1 hour
Sleep: 5 hours

 

just becuase you already bought a bunch of dvds, you don't want to buy or borrow some others (make sure they are made in japan regardless of brand) ?

that's a silly way to try to resolve your problem.

 

Silly is in 2006, DVD burners still having issues burning name brand DVDs.

Silly is also using 8x media in an 8x burner and only being able to burn at 2x.

Say my burner is finicky about media, well, that makes buying a media a crapshoot. That's pretty silly.

 

Try the firmware from this page: http://codeguys.rpc1.org/firmwares.html
Use firmware "UYS3 - stock"

Direct link to download if you trust me: Download

 

Why UYS3? How did you come to this determination?

The Firmware I have is new as of September, so I read...

 

buying media is not a crapshoot. you just have to make sure the media you buy was made in japan. this is because japan has the highest qa standards when compared to malaysia, taiwan, etc.

example: a buddy of mine who literally burns 4-10 dvds a day always, always, ALWAYS busy dvds made in japan (regardless of brand). last week, i was IMing him and he told me he bought some Sonys made in taiwan. first time he ever did. guess what? 6 out of 8 were coasters. guess how many coasters he had made before that? zero. considering that he's burned about 3000 dvds, that's pretty impressive.

now, what is silly is that you have a very easy way to determine where the problem is that you are having.

there's only 3 places it could be...

1. the drive itself is faulty
2. the media is low quality
3. the software is buggy

guess which one is the easiest to test?

ding ding ding !!! the dvdrs ! you go borrow or buy some name brand dvdrs that are made in japan and test. if it burns ok, then you know it's not the drive.

refusing to test this is silly

 

some light reading for you....

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

 

some light reading for you....

 

Media I used in the past and gonna buy some more:
200 8X DVD-R TDK made in Taiwan, NO coasters
50 16X DVD+R Verbatim made in Taiwan, NO coasters...
90% of those DVD's are movies, I bought the verbatim ones 2 years ago, NO coasters and ALL of them still work fine whenever I throw em in my DIVX DVD player, dvd drive, friends/familys dvd player. It looks like your friend got a bad spindle.

 

LIsten to the info on the firmware upgrade it works I switched to the new firmware at codeguys it works now burning 8x discs consistently at 6x minimum Good Luck

 

The weird thing is, that particular firmware was dated September 2005.

The firmware I have now is dated September 2006.

Is this one of those situations where an older firmware would help?

 

Not a single issue with these very same DVDs in my desktop burner.

They are Fuji, but they might be Taiwanese. But still, the core issue is, I have not had these problems in the past with my desktop burners. For years, I've bought name brand, but on sale spindles and have not had any issues. None. Reliable burns all day and all night. Reliable burns on the sabbath and on holidays. The first time I get and use an 8x laptop burner... it's spitting out coasters at 2x.

Are all laptop burners this picky? I can't live with this fussy media poo. When I buy 100 DVDs, I'm going to expect them to work, as they have in the past, and I'm not getting that vibe from this burner, since it's failing me on day 1.

If I was buying ComUSA or Wal-Mart DVDs, I could maybe understand, but all I buy is Sony, TDK, Fuji, and even lowly Memorex and I've never had problems in the past.

 

I was refferning to drumfu's post about his friend , not you count schemula.

 

Count...

You may not want to hear this. Fuji has been using CMC Magnetics for the past few years. In the past...they build a reputation by using DVD / CD's from a company from Japan called Taiyo Yuden. TY makes the BEST media for all brand burners you can buy. CMC is rated amongst the lowest for quality. If I might recommend...see if you have any friends that have Verbatim (Mitsubishi Chemical) or older Fuji Disks made in Japan.

Right now...I purchase straight Taiyo Yuden brand from Newegg.com. I have the best quality...and even after I burn...the quality of the burn themselves is really good. The better quality the burn...the longer the disk lasts. There are a lot of wholesale brands out there...Verbatim seems to be decent. Taiyo Yuden...Excellent...

Verbatims are made both in Japan and Taiwan...but to a very strict standard. I burn them in my E1505 with a TSST L632D and in my desktops with Plextor, NEC, LG and BenQ drives...quality is pretty standard across the board...Verbatim will score 94-97% burn consistently...TY will burn 95-98% consistently.

You may pay more for TY disks...but as the old addage: "You get what you pay for" The Fuji brand has not done as well since dropping TY to go with CMC. More profit in each package sold...but fewer packages sold.

Also...firmware will determine burn speed. Each DVD maker tests media...all types and also does error testing. Cheaper media will test poorly the faster the burn...so they write into the firmware to burn at the highest speed that will allow for quality. Example. My older Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD+R's will burn at 16X in my Plextor and NEC drives...but only 12X in the LG and 8X in the Benq. At 8X, the Benq will burn the entire disk and it will test 98% quality. When I force the Benq to burn the 8X TY at 16X...I get an 88% quality burn. That is why firmware says no. Each burner has it's own system of error correction during a burn..and the Sony might be a bit over conservative...they always were. I will get a 16X burn out of the Plextor...but during the last 1GB of the burn...it slows the burn down to 10-12X. The faster the rpm...the slower the Plexy will burn. Error tolerance!!!

Try a Verbatim 8X or 16X...or a Taiyo Yuden...if you can find an old Fuji made in Japan...or straight TY disk. If you have a program like Nero...put the disk in and open Info Tool...it will tell you the actual manufacturer of the disk. Most companies purchase disks from TY, Ritek, Mitsubishi, CMC, Prodisc and many others.


Bob

 

Yea. Get Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD+R's. You can get them at newegg for $24 for a 50pk spindle. Look for media code YUDEN000T02 and you will be all set.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817172111

These are the same exact ones I have and they work without issue at all.

 

Why not? You can always flash back. It's worth a try.

 

Your drive sounds like my old pioneer laptop drive.. a real PITA with media and you had to hold your tounge just right. Mine hated verbatim 8x for crying out loud.

I would call dell, nothing to lose and you might mention that most NEC users have been real happy. Mine has been steller with all including DL verbatim media.

 

If you have a Sam's club you can get the Verbatim 100 pack 16x for $32.88.

Wish I could get the DL for the same price

 

If you have a Costco membership, they sometimes have the TDK 100 spindle for $19, you get another for free, so you get 200 disks 8X DVD+R for $19. Those're the ones I have and I never had ANY issues. They're made in Taiwan btw.

 

Hey Count, dvd media does matter. check it out

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10375396&loc=111&sp=1&adid=17662&adid=17662
use google checkout and save 10 bucks... 100 Verbatim 8x for $11.03 before tax and after rebate. Im using these right now and no coasters so far.

 

I know DVD media matters, I remember when Matsui Gold was the word in CD-R.

It's just ridiculous that I've never had any issues with my desktop DVD burners. I late adopted on laptop burners on purpose (this is my first one ever) and it's all fussy about media. I buy media 100 at a time, and if I get a 100 that don't work?

It's 2006. ISO this and ISO that. It's dual layer time and single layer still is not solved?

 

Have you received a new Burner yet? I've never had an issue. The clicking does sound like a burner issue, not a media issue.

(forgive me for not reading all three pages to figure it our. )