Hey guys, I have had my EW1621 for a while now, since about February, but I have not used in for about 4 months.
I have recently brought it out of storage (my drawer) and am having major problems.
I am using DVDShrink 3.2, and DVD43 with NERO 6 Ultra Edition.
I recently tried burning Longest Yard, and it encoded and analyzed fine (all in my dvd drive on my comp), and then when it got to writing, it failed. The first about two chapters work, but after that nothing.
I tried out The Family Guy Movie, and again analyzed and encoded fine, but as soon as it tried to burn, there was an error, where Nero just froze at wouldnt write the movie. It just so happened that I tried saving a Word document at the same time and both apps froze. I could not end either one, even with Task Manager.
After I got that fixed, my BenQ is totally screwed. I hit open, and it opens part way, very slow, then I hit open again and it goes the rest of the way out, then open again and it closes for about 2 secs, then pops back open.
Anyone know what the heck is going on???
Thanks guys
Brian

to add to this, when I open the BenQ drive, without anything in it, it opens, and the drive opens with the disk spinning very rapidly. Please, any help would be appreciated, or some guidance as to where to look.
Brian

Hi Brian,

- What kind of media you are using? Please insert your blank dvd, run Nero CD-DVD Speed, click the "Disc Info" tab and let us know the MID (media ID).
- What is the drive's firmware? Try updating the firmware to 47L9 or 47P9.
- Are you using firewire or USB2.0?

here is the info:

MID

Manufacturer : Ricoh
Code : RICOHJPN R02
Disc Type : DVD+R
Usage : General
Recording Layer : -
Recording Speed : 2.4 X - 16 X
Capacity : 4.38 GB
4700375040 Bytes
Additional Capacity : -
Overburn Capacity : -

The firmware is:

47L9, which I flashed to back in March. I try to access the drive through My COmputer, but it says it is not accessible.

I am using USB 2.0

Side note, the errors starting occuring when I tried to burn "Family Guy presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story". I looked at the back of the case, and it says it is copy protected. I am not sure what this implies, can it mean that it will mess my drive up if I try to burn it?

Brian

This drive has updated their firmware to 47P9 since you updated but I aqm sure that is not your problem. I think you need to use a better decryptor like AnyDVD and you will have success. You can download the 21 trial version of AnyDVD form the Slysoft website and see if it makes a difference. It is a very small download and if you deciede to buy it at 39.00 it is very cheap for what it does.

I just flashed to the newest firmware, but I am still having the problem. The biggest thing now is the drive itself.
I am not sure how to describe it, but it seems totally screwed. I press the eject button, and it ejects about two inches. I hit eject again and it goes all the way out. If I press eject again, it closes, spins for about a second and then spits back out.
The same happens if I put a disk in there. I put a dvd in the drive and closed it, but it got spit out, spinning very very fast.
One thing that I just remembered, and might be worth mentioning is that when it was jammed and would not open at all or repsond, I stuck a paper clip in the manual eject hole and made it open that way.
Any ideas?

Unplug the power, and restart, I hope you did that when you flashed?

yea right after, you mean, right?
Brian

Yes after the flash when the computer reboots, also unplug the power supply to the external drive and replug it.

Try disconnecting the USB cable from the drive while it's poweered off and power it on. Then try operating the tray. To be honest it sounds like you're going to need a replacement though...