SONY DVD RW DRU-720A, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive

I've had this drive for months, and haven't been able to burn squat on it yet. Now it's in a state where NeroLinux doesn't even recognize any media.

I'm on a Fedora Core 3 box, kernel 2.6.13.1. Do I need to turn this into a dual boot and install Windows, just to burn DVDs?

This is not about your problem but a general thing I wanted to say:

Why is everyone complaining about software not working if he/she is always updating the OS to the latest, sometimes even bleeding edge, revisions?
Say: "Oh, I updated to the newest glibc beta-batch that has just appeared on the cvs about 15 minutes ago. Why the hell is NeroLinux so damn stupid and does not even see my writer!!"
Wouldn't it be sometimes not better to just stay with a working system for a little while? I could emerge my Gentoo boxes several times a day, but what for? If I would do so, I know from experience, I would run into more trouble than good (since it's not just NeroLINUX refusing to work after some updates).

If updating is what a lot of people need, precompiled software like NeroLINUX will never be what you need. Give the devs a little time to react and adopt to new Linux base-system software. Otherwise get yourself a windows box .. which by the way you for some reason do not update every day ... may that be the reason windows or even mac software just works sometimes?

Never give up Where is your sense of adventure and drama.

Late at night, after 3 hours of making another attempt to get thingd working, I poorly worded my message. But I don't think I complained about software not working. I stated that "The drive was in a state where NeroLinux wouldn't regognize media".

K3b also fails to work, so I'm pretty aware it's not NeroLinux per se.

I've failed to be able to burn with:
Fedora Core 1, 2 and 3
Kernels ranging from 2.4.21-2.6.13 with at least 14 stops in between
Every NeroLinux available since September
A year's worth of K3b
A year's worth of dbd+rw-tools

Why have I been upgrading things? To find something that works Trust me my friend...if I could burn a dual layer DVD and start using this hardware I bought specifically to back up the 1.3 TB of music I have in my system, I'd never upgrade again.

If you are using a 720A successfully, please let me know what version of kernel/tools you are using. Thank you.

~Jeff

I don't know, but it's a "simple' atapi device which should be recognized anyways. Did you tried stock kernels with fc3 (2.6.13 is not an official fc3 kernel right?). Else you might try to upgrade to fc4 (which rocks imho )

Yah...I went to F3 specifically to try and get this working. When the stock kernel didn't work, I started playing upgrade games to see what I could get working. I have a lot of hassles when I upgrade getting th antiquated Cisco VPN software required for work functioning, and the ATI Radeon drivers inevitably are a hassle as well. But maybe I'll try FC4...it couldn't work less than FC3 is.

This is my fresh install of Fedora Core 4 and my DRU-720A. Nerolinux will read the capacity of a Dual Layer DVD no problem. When I burn, it will take a minute or so, then pop up a box telling me that I need to put the correct media in (CDR, CDRW, DL+DVD), and that I currently have in a DL+DVD. It simply will not accept that the correct media is there, no matter how many times I reload.

K3b reports this:
--------------------
:-[ READ DISC INFORMATION failed with SK=4h/ASC=08h/ACQ=03h]: Input/output error

Have you tried flashing the firmware of your device? Sometimes, when a DVD+R DL is not correctly recognized, it is a firmware problem....
BtW, I have an external Sony DRU-720A on my desk. No problem at all, in USB2 or FireWire...

I've considered it, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do that. I don't have a box running windows other than a laptop, and Sony doesn't support Linux, so I don't have any clue how to go about flashing it

Ain't that a pain? They should ALWAYS provide a DOS image or something for a floppy or USB-stick....that way you can always flash firmware. I have a couple of Plextor drives...I still have Windblows on there so I can update the firmware...they have a Windows and MAC version...but no Linux version. If they did it the old way, it wouldn't matter. Time to petition? Firmware is the key, I bet...in this case..

Yes I think it's firmware too. You could ask matf nicely if he can give you his firmware version nummer and see if he uses a newer one then yours!

Update for those who care:

I went through the hassle of installing W2K on an old box we had laying around. Pulled the DRU-720A out of my linux machine, put it in the W2K box, and flashed it to the latest firmware from Sony. Moved it back into my linux box, and rebooted.

Here's some results of trying to burn:

Burn onto a DVD+RW media: Nero tells me it's not blank (I just pulled the shrinkwrap off of it), and asks if it should blank it. Attempting to hangs nero until I kill it. Any attempt to use the "Erase rewritable disc" silently fails with no good information

Burn onto a DVD+R disc: click 'Burn'. Nero spends a full minute before coming back and telling me that I need a DVD+R/RW or a DVD-R/RW, and the DVD+R I have in there won't work.

Burn onto a DVD+R-DL. Same result. doesn't like my media, says it wants a DVD+R/RW or DVD-R/RW.

FYI, attempts to burn with K3B still give me:

:-[ READ DISC INFORMATION failed with SK=4h/ASC=08h/ACQ=03h]: Input/output error

Any more bright ideas? We know it's not firmware now, and these results are consistent with a variety of 2.6.11-2.6.13 kernels.

Well something must be different between your pc and the one from matf, mayb do some comparing? Maybe kernel (would not be the first time they changed again something in kernel)?!?!

just some guesses;

does any other burner work in the linux system ?

does the Sony burner burn in the win2k system ?

how are your IDE cables (try new) - and jumpers

Yup...TDK CD Burner works like a champ...this is the only DVD Burner I have to experiment with though.

Yes

Broke open a brand new one last night prior to experimenting

Didn't check them last night, good idea...time to shut down this box and pull it out and look! I'm suspecting it's correct though, since I *can* read off this burner just fine...I'll check it out though

Thanks,
~Jeff

Nope. Verified the jumper was set correctly (slave), no change.

Trying to compile a 2.6.9 kernel now to see if it works any better.

I finally found the translation for this (Someone says it's the "Mt. Fuji Spec"? IAC...) The error I'm getting translates to:

LOGICAL UNIT COMMUNICATION CRC ERROR (ULTRA-DMA/32)

FWIW....

dang - i'm too new to linux to tell ya exactly for diagnosing (only fiddled with knoppix so far)

some other thoughts -
commands like ' lspci ' (in a console) to list all the pci devices / hardware and others i can't recall if that might help -- b/c i'm thinking along the lines of a Bad UDMA mode on None at all (as in FPIO/PIO mode) - be certain the BIOS lists it as "Auto" - or ATAPI/CDROM, in other words - you do NOT want it using Multi-sector/tranfer (16 usually) or LBA like HDDs do -- though you DO want DMA mode 4/Multiword and UltraDMA Mode 2 or 4 (I just don't know for that burner)

- a long shot - but try the burner as Master (don't forget the jumpers )

-also
Logical unit is reminiscent of an scsi lun (logical user number - iirc) - and a CRC is a "cyclic redundancy check" error - atapi/cd/dvd drives are seen as scsi devices by the system...though no help in that info, i know

using KDE as desktop ? - if so - can Control Center and/or InfoCenter yield any pertitnent info ?

also - i'm thinking that it's the mt. rainier standard, if any standard that's borking you, since that's the ms/sony/hp/philips consortium (+ media (?)) -- mt. fuji is more toshiba/pioneer/matsushita (- media (?)).

for kicks, i d/l this 796 page PDF, concerning the mt. fuji standard from pioneer's ftp site
HERE - PDF or ZIP available...I grabbed the latest ["Fuji6r095_diff.pdf 6639 KB 9/15/05 1:03:00 AM"]. The d/l server is like dialup though

as best i can tell on quick perusal, those hex error numbers you posted (03h,08h, 4h) - if related to mt. fuji can be tracked down somehow amongst all those pages - guesses from me include MSF (Minute/Second/Frame) info - Write-Protect info - and Removable Media info....but perhaps other stuff as well, like PCA (power calibration area) - but these are just off-handed guesses.

Same problem here, i have Debian Sarge with the 2.6.8 Kernel. When i want to burn i get the mesage please insert a blank CDR(W) Disk. So the disk are blank. K3B works fine, i only want nerolinux tu burn bin/cue images of svcds, because with k3b i have problems. On an other computer with Suse Linux 9.3 Nero Linux works fine, so it is a question of the kernel? I dont want to upgrade my kernel in Sarge or is there no other chance? I hope the next Nerolinux version works fine. I think many have the problem with the mesage in Nerolinux that the media are not blank. In this Forum are 4 posting about that problem i think. So it cant be a matter of the Firmware. Hope some of you have an result.

Can you guys Burn succeessfully when Booted to a Live CD ?
btw - most ppl frown upon thread hijacking - i make no accusations though, especilly due to relevance - it's entirely up to the OP

hmmm...any info worth-while/applicable here ?
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=146044

Running as root doesn't give me any different behavior

This is the first piece of hardware I've completely failed at getting to work....Damn it's frustrating!

after a quick review -- and since you said

and this

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ this earlier statement has the necessary gusto for a NEW thread Tiltle (maybe mention linux ) in another forum (specific SONY perhaps - do we have one here ? )

In an effort to find a way to flash my DRU-720A without using Windows I stumbled on this thread. My DRU-720A works flawlessly in Slackware 10.2 (testing kernel 2.6.13) using K3b. I previously had a DRU-710A which had internal problems and Sony replaced it with the DRU-720A. Hope that helps!

P.S. You might have said if the drive burned in Windows above, but if not, see if the drive will burn anything in Windows...might be a hardware problem, as was my DRU-710A.