I recently bought an Emprex 4x DVD +/- R/RW drive. I understand from reading other messages that this is the same as the BTC drive.

I have been able to read and write CDs with this drive, and read DVDs with no probelms. However, all attempts to write DVDs have failed. The program never seems to write any data to the drive and after a few minutes I get an error message. I've used both Roxio and DVD Decrypter to attempt to write. All I have is a stack of coasters.

I've been using Memorex DVD+R disks (RICOHJPN-R01-02) plus the DVD+RW that came with the drive (now dead, so no ID).

I've read all of the relevant messages in this forum and I've tried all the troubleshooting pointers that seemed applicable. I've upgraded the firmware, and all of my drivers seem up-to-date. I don't seem to have any of the problem software that others have mentioned.

Does anyone have another suggestion?

Thanks. Below is some further information about my hardware and software:

Hardware/Software Environment
------------------------------------------
VIA chipset motherboard (IWill KK266)
AMD Athlon 1.13 MHz
768MB RAM
Windows XP Professional with SP1
Emprex 4X DVD+/-RW (DVDRW IDE 1004)
Firmware version 0047
DVD is attached as Master on Secondary IDE Channel
(no slave) with ATA-100 cable
Secondary IDE Device 0 transfer mode: Ultra DMA Mode 4
All IDE and DVD drivers are Microsoft, dated 7/1/2001


Results from DVD Identifier
----------------------------------
Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R:RICOHJPN-R01-002]
Disc Type : [DVD+R]
Manufacturer ID : [RICOHJPN]
Media Type ID : [R01]
Product Revision : [002]
Disc Application Code : [General Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [2.4x - 4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [Not Supported By Method 2]


Results from DVD Decrypter
----------------------------------
Attempted to write an ISO file to the DVD.
Program never seemed to write any data to the
disc. After about 3 minutes, it displayed
an error mesage with this info:

I/O Error!
Device: [1:0:0] DVDRW IDE1004 0047 (W:)
ScsiStatus: 0x02
Interpretation: Check Condition
CDB: 2A 00 00 00 06 C0 00 0 10 00
Interpretation: Write (10) - Sectors: 1728 - 1743
Sense Area: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 21 02 00 00 00 00
Interpretation: Invalid Address for Write


Results from Roxio Easy CD Creator 6
-----------------------------------------------
Attempted to write an ISO file to the DVD.
Program never seemed to write any data to the
disc. After about 3 minutes, it displayed an
error message. Here's the log file contents:

E80041898: Write Error - [03/0C/00]
E80041899: Write error - buffer underrun occurred - [06/C5/00]
E80041925: TrackWriter error - Command retry failed - [T7118]
E800418ac: Fixation Error

I got the same results when trying to write
a data disk with miscellaneous files from my
hard drive.

When I tried to write files to the DVD+RW that came
with the drive, no data was ever written. The time
remaining kept increasing, so I don't think the program
completely locked up, but it never finished. I finally
cancelled the program.
The disk is marked RiData 2.4x DVD+RW.
I can no longer read the disk ID with DVD Identifier.

I had similar problems with the Emprex Dual DVD 4x. I could not burn DVD's but CD's worked fine. My problems began when I installed the included bundled software. After that I could not burn anything at all, I just got errors saying "The device is in use by another program". I also tried everything in the forums. I tried using the XP system restore to go back to before the bundled software was installed and had some success, I could again burn cd's but not DVD's. Finally, I performed a fresh install of XP on my system, Only installed Nero 6, PowerDVD, and DVD Shrink (Use DVD Shrink to fit a DVD movie onto 1 4.7GB DVD). Now my system is working great, I can burn anything on all of the supported media types. I just wanted to let you know this because out of all of the forums I reviewed, I never saw anybody suggest reinstalling Windows. Hope this helps.

I also wanted to mention that there Firmware version 047 has been released and is available at http://www.allsupport.net/Downloads/dvdrw/dvdrw.html

I have not yet updated my firmware, but it may help.

Thanks for the suggestion. I already updated my firmware to 0047 and that didn't help. I'm also not getting the error message "Device in use".

I was hoping for a solution less drastic than re-installing windows XP. Anybody have any other thoughts?

Hi,

I have read in other post about incompatibilities between Nero and Clone.

I think reinstalling it's worthwhile because you will know for sure there aren't any software incompatibilities.

Just install essential programs as Nero or whatever program you use to burn DVDs.
If it works (if you can copy a DVD), you continue installling other programs.

This way you ensure a clean Windows (BTW, why so much people in this forum has XP: It's a crappy OS. Try Win2k ) .

If you reinstall and are unable to copy any DVD then try newer firmware.

Hope you fix your problems...

So have I - but they dont work with firmware 0047 (or the upcoming 0048 business as usual )

For this media, you have to use firmware 0045. If you haven't got it, feel free to send me a PM including your e-mail and I'll send it to you. Please let me know if you want Win or DOS version.

Cheers,
Peter

Thanks for your suggestions, but I'm still not having any success. I tried loading the 0045 firmware but it did not make any difference. I also tried loading the latest set of ASPI drivers (4.71.2) from Adaptec, again with no effect.

One thing looks a little strange. After loading the ASPI drivers from Adaptec, the aspichk utility shows only 2 of the 4 components loaded. The WOWPOST.EXE and WINASPI.DLL are shown as "Not Installed". Is this normal for XP?

I'm still operating under the assumption that I have some sort of software conflict, since the hardware works fine for most purposes. Here is a listing of the drivers reported by Windows Device Manager for my system on the relevant components. Does anyone recognize a problem driver in this list?

Drivers Loaded for DVD Device
-----------------------------
c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdr4_xp.sys - Roxio
c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdralw2k.sys - Roxio
c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys - Microsoft
c:\windows\system32\drivers\impai.sys - Microsoft
c:\windows\system32\drivers\mxlw2k.sys - MusicMatch
c:\windows\system32\drivers\pwd_2k.sys - Roxio
c:\windows\system32\drivers\pxhelp20.sys - Sonic Solutions
c:\windows\system32\drivers\redbook.sys - Microsoft
c:\windows\system32\storprop.dll - Microsoft

Drivers Loaded for Secondary IDE Channel
----------------------------------------
c:\windows\system32\drivers\atapi.sys - Microsoft
c:\windows\system32\storprop.dll - Microsoft

Drivers Loaded for VIA IDE Controller
-------------------------------------
c:\windows\system32\drivers\atapi.sys - Microsoft
c:\windows\system32\drivers\pciidex.sys - Microsoft
c:\windows\system32\drivers\viaide.sys - Microsoft
c:\windows\system32\drivers\viaidexp.sys - Via Technologies

This is quite normal.

The message is not quite correct. My firmware is updated to 047. AnyDVD +elby CloneDVD can write the media successfully.

Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID RICOHJPNR01
Format Type UDF 1.02
Volume Name TOYSTORY2
Application id LBY CLONEDVD
Implementation id Stefan ID
Recording Date/Time (mm/dd/yyyy) 12/30/2003 10:57:32
Format Capacity 4.37GB(4.69GB)
Book Type DVD+R
Media Type DVD+R
Media Id Code Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 2.0x 2770KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 1.0x 1385KBps
Data area starting sector 30000h
Data area end sector 22ECE0h
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1

Still no success. I de-installed all Roxio software and installed the demo version of Nero. It tries to write to the DVD, but never gets beyond the lead-in phase. Then it gets a write error.

Can anybody help? If I can't solve this problem by Friday, the drive goes back to Fry's on Saturday.

Here's a copy of the log from Nero:

John Matushek
The Matushek Family

Windows XP 5.1
IA32
WinAspi: File 'Wnaspi32.dll': Ver=4.71 (0002), size=45056 bytes, created 7/17/2002 10:03:20 AM
ahead WinASPI: File 'E:\DVDUTILS\Nero\nero\Wnaspi32.dll': Ver=2.0.1.59, size=160016 bytes, created 12/16/2003 7:18:06 PM
Nero version: 6.3.0.2 (Nero Express)
Recorder: <DVDRW IDE1004> Version: 0045 - HA 1 TA 0 - 6.3.0.2
Adapter driver: <atapi> HA 1
Drive buffer : 2048kB
Bus Type : default (0) -> ATAPI, detected: ATAPI
CD-ROM: <ATAPI DVD-ROM 12X >Version: 221Q - HA 1 TA 1 - 6.3.0.2
Adapter driver: <atapi> HA 1

=== Scsi-Device-Map ===
DiskPeripheral : WDC WD600AB-00BVA0 atapi Port 0 ID 0 DMA: Off
DiskPeripheral : WDC WD1200AB-00CBA1 atapi Port 0 ID 1 DMA: On
CdRomPeripheral : DVDRW IDE1004 atapi Port 1 ID 0 DMA: On
CdRomPeripheral : ATAPI DVD-ROM 12X atapi Port 1 ID 1 DMA: Off

=== CDRom-Device-Map ===
DVDRW IDE1004 W: CDRom0
ATAPI DVD-ROM 12X V: CDRom1
=======================

AutoRun : 177
Excluded drive IDs:
CmdQueuing : 1
CmdNotification: 2
WriteBufferSize: 83886080 (0) Byte
ShowDrvBufStat : 0
EraseSpeed : 0
BUFE : 0
Physical memory : 767MB (785904kB)
Free physical memory: 483MB (495028kB)
Memory in use : 37 %
Uncached PFiles: 0x0
Use Static Write Speed Table: 0
Use Inquiry : 1
Global Bus Type: default (0)
Check supported media : Disabled (0)

7.1.2004
Burn DVD Image
8:04:30 PM #1 Text 0 File Reader.cpp, Line 118
Reader running

8:04:30 PM #2 Text 0 File Writer.cpp, Line 124
Writer DVDRW IDE1004 running

8:04:30 PM #3 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 3101
Turn on Disc-at-once, using DVD media

8:04:31 PM #4 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 240
Last possible write address on media: 2295103 (510:01.28, 4482MB)
Last address to be written: 1890547 (420:07.22, 3692MB)

8:04:31 PM #5 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 245
Write in overburning mode: FALSE

8:04:31 PM #6 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 2085
Recorder: DVDRW IDE1004, Media type: DVD+R
Disc Manufacturer ID: RICOHJPN, Media Type ID: R01, Product revision number: 2
Disc Application Code: 0, Extended Information Indicators: 1

8:04:31 PM #7 Text 0 File DlgWaitCD.cpp, Line 406
>>> Protocol of DlgWaitCD activities: <<<
=========================================

8:04:31 PM #8 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 779
Setup items (after recorder preparation)
0: TRM_DATA_MODE1 (2 - CD-ROM Mode 1, ISO 9660)
2 indices, index0 (150) not provided
original disc pos #0 + 1890548 (1890548) = #1890548/420:7.23
not relocatable, disc pos for caching/writing not required/not required, no patch infos
-> TRM_DATA_MODE1, 2048, config 0, wanted index0 0 blocks, length 1890548 blocks [DVDRW IDE1004 ]
--------------------------------------------------------------

8:04:31 PM #9 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 948
Prepare recorder [DVDRW IDE1004 ] for write in CUE-sheet-DAO
DAO infos:
==========
MCN: ""
TOCType: 0x00; Session Closed, disc fixated
Tracks 1 to 1:
1: TRM_DATA_MODE1, 2048/0x00, FilePos 0 0 3871842304, ISRC ""
DAO layout:
===========
__Start_|____Track_|_Idx_|_RecDep_|_CtrlAdr_
0 | lead-in | 0 | 0x00 | 0x41
0 | 1 | 0 | 0x00 | 0x41
0 | 1 | 1 | 0x00 | 0x41
1890548 | lead-out | 1 | 0x00 | 0x41

8:04:31 PM #10 Phase 24 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Caching of files started

8:04:31 PM #11 Text 0 File Burncd.cpp, Line 4073
Cache writing successful.

8:04:31 PM #12 Phase 25 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Caching of files completed

8:04:31 PM #13 Phase 36 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Burn process started at 4x (5,520 KB/s)

8:04:31 PM #14 Text 0 File ThreadedTransferInterface.cpp, Line 2264
Verifying disc position of item 0 (not relocatable, no disc pos, no patch infos, orig at #0): write at #0

8:04:31 PM #15 Text 0 File Cdrdrv.cpp, Line 7941
---- DVD Structure: Physical Format Information (00h) ----
Layer: 0, Address: 0 (0 h), AGID: 0; Length: 2050
Book Type: DVD+R (10), Part Version: 1
Disc Size: 120 mm, Maximum Rate: <not specified> (F h)
Number of Layers: 1, Track Path: Parallel Track Path (PTP), Layer Type: recordable
Linear Density: 0,267 um/bit, Track Density: 0,74 um/track
Starting Physical Sector Number of Data Area: 30000 h (DVD-ROM, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW)
End Physical Sector Number of Data Area: 26053F h
End Sector Number in Layer 0: 0 h
Data in Burst Cutting Area (BCA) does not exist
Media Specific:
00 01 52 49 43 4F 48 4A - 50 4E 52 30 31 02 38 23 ..RICOHJPNR01.8#
54 37 09 00 3C 67 00 AC - 62 16 18 0B 0B 0A 0B 01 T7..<g..b.......
19 1B 0B 0B 0E 0F 01 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 ................

8:04:31 PM #16 Text 0 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1658
Set remaining time: 11:54,864 (714864ms) -> OK

8:04:31 PM #17 Text 0 File DVDPlusRW.cpp, Line 564
Start write address at LBA 0
DVD high compatibility mode: Yes

8:08:06 PM #18 SCSI -1135 File Cdrdrv.cpp, Line 1431
SCSI Exec, HA 1, TA 0, LUN 0, buffer 0x046D0000
Status: 0x04 (0x01, SCSI_ERR)
HA-Status 0x00 (0x00, OK)
TA-Status 0x02 (0x01, SCSI_TASTATUS_CHKCOND)
Sense Key: 0x03 (KEY_MEDIUM_ERROR)
Sense Code: 0x0C
Sense Qual: 0x00
CDB Data: 0x2A 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x08 0xE0 0x00 0x00 0x20 0x00 0x00 0x00
Sense Data: 0x71 0x00 0x03 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0A
0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x0C 0x00

8:08:06 PM #19 CDR -1135 File Writer.cpp, Line 301
Write error

8:08:06 PM #20 Text 0 File ThreadedTransfer.cpp, Line 229
all writers idle, stopping conversion

8:08:06 PM #21 Text 0 File ThreadedTransfer.cpp, Line 223
conversion idle, stopping reader

8:08:07 PM #22 Phase 127 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Generating DVD high compatibility borders

8:13:44 PM #23 Text 0 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1658
Set remaining time: 0:00,000 (0ms) -> OK

8:13:44 PM #24 Phase 129 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Generating DVD borders completed successfully

8:13:44 PM #25 Text 0 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1658
Set remaining time: 0:00,000 (0ms) -> OK

8:13:44 PM #26 Phase 38 File dlgbrnst.cpp, Line 1800
Burn process failed at 4x (5,520 KB/s)


Existing drivers:
File 'Drivers\ASPI32.SYS': Ver=4.71 (0002) built by: WinDDK, size=16512 bytes, created 7/17/2002 9:05:10 AM
File 'Drivers\PXHELP20.SYS': Ver=2.02.62a, size=20016 bytes, created 10/28/2003 4:02:00 AM (Prassi/Veritas driver for win 2K)
File 'Drivers\atapi.sys': Ver=5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920), size=86912 bytes, created 8/29/2002 3:27:50 AM (Adapter driver for rec)

Registry Keys:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\AllocateCDROMs : 0 (Security Option)

Reinstall Via4in1 driver(latest version), and then try it again.

I think you missed my point - I can write to this media with firmware 0047 but write quality/readability sucks big time. Only the BTC can read the disc - not any other device. Unless I use firmware 0045. Other users have no problem with firmware 0047, others have to use 0045 to make ut work. Guess the Ricoh media is very different in quality depending on origin (Japan or Taiwan)

Cheers,
Peter

Did you install Nero InCD? This app have a tendency to lock the drive.

I believe I have installed all of the latest software and drivers on my machine. I have installed the latest VIA4in1, the latest BIOS, and the lastest ASPI drivers. Still no luck.

Also, I have de-installed (or not installed at all) any software that might cause conflicts. Right now, the only CD burning software I have is Nero. I did not install any of the other software from their package. The list of device drivers for the DVD includes only Microsoft components now.

But, after all that, I still can't burn DVD's. I'm stumped.

Has anyone from BTC seen a similar problem? Marco?

Finally, after 12 coasters, I burned my first DVD!

I decided to try 1x speed in Nero and it worked. It took a long time (almost an hour) to burn the DVD, but it works fine in other drives and my TV's DVD player. I had never tried this before because Roxio only seemed to support the 4x option.

So does this mean that I've merely got some bad media? I've been reading a lot of conflicting results about the RICOHJPN media. Some have good luck with them, others don't.

Should I just try the drive with different media? Is it possible that I'll be able to use the 4x speed with some different disks?

Your media is fine. However there seem to be different batches of this RICOHJPN01 media - some work @4X with 0045 others at @4X with 0047/0048. You can check which firmware to use by checking the number on the back of the media

Works with 0047+0048
D1109Axxxxxx

Works with 0045 but not 0047+0048
D0402Axxxxxx

I'm not sure what this number means, maybe factory outlet - however I intend to find out. There might be even more batches/numbers. Let me know if your media starts with something different.

Sure. However please check what media worked for others before buying larger amounts. However the Ricoh is fine as long as you use the correct firmware.

Cheers,
Peter

I have not been able to burn this media at 4x with ANY version of the firmware. I've tried 0043, 0045 and 0047. The ONLY success I had was burning at 1x with 0045.

BTW, the ID number on this disk is D0403Axxxxxx

After reading this thread and everything you have tried, thought I' d toss in my experience with the Emprex(DRW1004).

My grandson installed a Pacific Digital version of this burner in his maternal grandmothers computer and has burned several disks with no problems. I believe it has FW Ver 0038. He used Fuji media and Roxio software.

He wanted a burner for his own computer so I gave him an Emprex from Fry's for xmas. I gave him 5 Memorex +R and 5 -R disks. His has FW 0043. I suggested he try it as it came out of the box before he made any updates or changes. He uses DVD X Copy Platinum software. He has copied 5 or 6 movies, some to +R , some to -R and some to both so he could compare them for quality.All burned okay, all playback okay on 4 different brands of DVD players and 3 DVDRoms, except For 1 El Cheapo no brand dvd player he bought at Circuit City for $27.00. It would not play any of the copies but will play the orginal commercial disks. He does not plan to upgrade his firmware unless he starts having problems.He has also burned some +RW disks using Fuji media.

Before I bought the Emprex I did a lot of research on many different forums. Some people seem to have a lot of problems with this burner while others seem to have little or no problems at all.From what I could glean from all the various forums was that media was most often the cause of the problem. Marco and BTC seem to be doing a great job at supporting this burner and resolving problems. If you check the other brands you will find they are having similiar problems and don't seem to have as good support.

If you can find some Fuji media marked on the package "Made in Japan"you might give them a try or perhaps some Maxell. They get good reviews on several forums.

Memorex is generally considered to be decent media but they have recently had some of their disks made in different plants. Ricoh like several of the other media manufacturers have been adding new plants to increase output to keep up with the increased demand for dvd media. Their new machines will probably need some fine tweaking before they get them all to turn out the exact same media as their older machines.

I have read a couple of posts that Memorex was having some bad batches of media. It could be you happened to get a bad batch.

The other thing I noticed,you are using DMA Mode 4. I believe I read one or 2 posts of guys having a problem using Mode 4 and after they changed modes their burners worked fine. I can't recall what mode they changed to.I'll look around and if I can find that post I post back with a link.

Don't know if any of this helps, but I 've been messing with computers for over 30 years and learn something new every day.

Good Luck,
John

Thanks for your input, blasterman. I too have been working in computers for over 30 years - and I'm still having fun. I guess we old guys just have to stick together.

I'm surprised that DMA Mode 4 could be a problem. Please let me know if you find any information to the contrary.

Tomorrow I'm going to find some other media besides the Memorex and see what happens. I'll post the results here.

In rereading your post you said you were in DMA mode 4. Do you mean DMA mode or PIO Mode 4 ? DMA Mode bypasses the cpu, PIO mode 4 passes info thru the cpu and slows down the transfer.

I searched around these forums and found numerous posts saying you had to be in DMA mode for this burner to work right.
XP has a habit of resetting the mode to PIO. I believe that was the post I saw previously, the guys had a problem and were in PIO mode 4, but when they switched to DMA mode everything was okay.

Suggest you go to BTC Forum>First Aid Kit For DRW1004>2nd post>Item #2.

Hope this helps.

You might check out this page. It seems this is generally a good drive once you get everything configured right.

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdwriters.p...list=#comments

My drive is definitely connected as DMA Mode 4, not PIO.

I actually got it to burn another disk - a PRINCO (CompUSA label). I know these disks don't have a good history on this forum, bu the MID codes are not on the outside of the package.

Anyway, it burned OK, but only at 2x. Also, it kept stopping and refilling the buffer, so the actual speed was something like 1.5x. The final disk is OK though - it plays in my commercial DVD player OK and the KProbe results were very good.

I'm going to keep trying different media. I just don't want to pay $40 or $50 for a spindle to find they don't work any better than the Memorex.