Yes I have the latest everything. I am going through the problem with microsoft tech support. It is looking like the computer and everything is OK, (I can plug in my old cd-rw and it works). Either something is wrong with the drive (not likely since I bought 2 and they both are doing this), or there is a BIOS incompatibility. No answers yet though.

(in reply to david b)

To lukester01:

Before ringing the M$' bell, you can try to locate the cause of the problem yourself. That saves you time and perhaps money.

First off, check your CDRW drive with both 40- and 80-pin IDE cables. I heavily suspect that the 40-pin one will fix your problem.

If not, I'll suggest you a step by step procedure to locate the cause of the issue.

(in reply to david b)

** Updated **
Having crashes when burning

OS Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 Clean Install
Software used for burning Nero 5.5.9.13 also latest but no difference noticed.
1ghz amd abit kt7a mobo
Tried Via4in1 drivers Hyperion and an older copy as well.

LiteOn cdrw 52246S Firmware updated to 60c running on secondary ide as master.

Using newer cables, capable of ata133 i think.
Hds on ide1 are both ata100
Only 2 ide controllers onboard.

It does work on an old p2 comp with gigabyte mobo, but i want it running on this system.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

(in reply to david b)

I tried the 80 pin, 40 pin possibility, and it didnt help.

I tried another drive from work in my computer and they worked fine.

I just found the problem though, I brought the 2 drives that would not read into work here and installed them here, and they would not read here either!! Turns out we bought a lot of 4 consecutive serial # drives, and 3 of the 4 are DOA!!! 2 will not read on any computer, and 1 will fail writes and give 'power calibration error'. So only 1 of the 4 even work correctly. Lite-On has some serious quality control problems!!! I guess you get what you pay for.

(in reply to david b)

"Turns out we bought a lot of 4 consecutive serial # drives, and 3 of the 4 are DOA!!!"

Makes sense! Many enough forumers already reported on this.

Not long ago, there was a short discussion on this forum if there are actual differences in quality (hardware, as opposed to firmware) between the native and rebagged versions of the Lite-On drives. QA control was mentioned as the main possible difference. Now I see that the Lite-On personally concludes the sequence...

Oky-talky: good to see you got well now.

(in reply to david b)

ok this is now driving me mad
tried it on ide1 on its own still same thing
even tried aspi update no use
also tried with only one hd and the cdrw

uh!

(in reply to david b)

Mrmartin, have you tried any other software? just to rule out that the problem may not be with the computer, but that Nero may be having problems with the computer.

(in reply to david b)

Tried alcohol 120%
It burned a cd fine, and then windows crashed, talk about messed up.

(in reply to david b)

But it made it throught the burn. Hmm, I have seen many computers become unstable because of bad memory.

Download memtest86 and check the memory. www.memtest86.com

It will create either a bootable cd or bootable floppy that will run your memory throught the paces.

(in reply to david b)

Hi mrmartin,
Let's try to resolve your issue in a one-step-at-a-time manner.

Instead of jumping over several heads and breaking the brains over the Windows environment, let's first make sure from within plain vanilla DOS that your CDRW is not hardware faulty and the system BIOS has no problems with it. As the drive works fine in another system, likely its HW is Okay. However, you'd need to make things certain on the new system. Only if it passes the DOS environment can we talk about the Windows.

Here is what I'd suggest as the first approach:

1. I'm not positive about suitabily of the ATA-133 cable for anything else but HD connection. Does your MB controller explicitly supports the ATA-133 interface?! Does it do this for IDE devices other than HD?! But let's leave this alone for the time being.

2. Get a Windows98 SE bootable floppy.

3. Log on to BIOS Setup Menu and make sure that the BIOS recognizes the CDRW properly.

4. As you will need to check both PIO and DMA mode support for the CDRW, choose one of the settings (working DMA is preferable, of course) in the BIOS. Later on you'll check the other one.
NOTE: On my older PC, there is no setting in the motherboard BIOS to specify PIO or DMA support (for the HDs, I used such settings on the add-on card BIOS). But I believe this is not your case with the new PC.

5. Boot into MS DOS with the CD-ROM support. If the drive can access (read) a data CD fine, you can proceed to the Win2000 boot.
NOTE: You do not specify whether you flashed the FW in the new or old (or another) PC. If you used the new PC, I'd expect the CDRW will pass the DOS Okay. If not, however, the problem is to be solved before it comes to the Windows.

6. Boot to the Windows Safe Mode.

7. Check via the Device Manager if the CDRW is properly recognized.

8. Disable AutoPlay and its Notification. I can't remember how it was under W2K but you always can open the Windows Help.

9. Insert a pressed (also, later on you can try a CDR) data CD in the drive. Open the Windows Explorer and check if the files are properly accessible (just readable).

10. Go to the Microsoft Configurator menu. To do it, open CMD window and issue command "msconfig".
NOTE: If the Service Pack update has misplaced the file MSCONFIG.exe, find it on the hard disk and copy on the search pass, say, to \%SystemRoot% directory.

11. From this menu, temporary disable any programs that automatically start at Windows boot. Later on, you can reenable those of them you agree to keep on a one at a time basis with checking for compatibility with your burning program(s) and other software at every next reboot. So, please keep tracks of your changes to this menu.

12. Exit the MSConfig menu and agree to restart the system.

13. Make sure that the Windows shutdown and consequent boot up go without any issues. If not, please never economize on system reboots!

14. Boot normally and first of all update the Nero to the latest version. Currently, it's 5.5.10.7b but you can wait a few days until the next one released. Also, it is a good idea to download the latest version 1.2.00 of the Nero InfoTool.exe. Keep, under another name, the imbedded in the Nero version 1.0.33 as it has some features omitted in the newer version.

15. Go to the Device Manager and make sure the DMA mode for your secondary IDE channel (i.e. CDRW drive) is enabled.
NOTE: If this mode proves to be inappropriate for you, it is the motherboard manufacturer (VIA Tech) bus master driver issue. You have no choice but to wait until they fix the problem. In the meanwhile you can stick to the PIO mode. It is some loss in performance but is affordable one, especially as it avoids any compatibily problems the VIA drivers are so famous for.

16. Exit the DevMan and restart the system. Make sure the shutdown, then boot are Okay. Recheck if the DMA mode is enabled and AutoInsertNotification is disabled. If not, fix it.

17. Invoke the "three-finger" Windows menu and check for any applications running.

18. If the Nero InCD is present, kill it forcefully.

19. Whether you can do the same with any other annoying program, it depends. But anyway notice any program present in this menu. On one by one basis, get into such program configuration menu and request not to start automatically with the Windows.

20. Go to MSConfig menu and prevent auto loading of any program you do not need for testing the CDRW drive. Exit and agree to restart.

21. Check again everything I've mentioned above. Proceed if Okay.

22. Only now can you talk about using the drive for writing (let's leave the re-writing alone: I don't care about it) in a considerably clean Windows environment.

23. Try to run the Nero and see what happens. If the problem still persists, switch to the PIO mode for the drive. If this fails too, you may start thinking about giving it. But not yet, of course!

Good luck. And please keep us informed.

P.S. Please bear in mind that every time you cut a corner in the somewhat lengthy but correct procedure, this causes an unnecessary post exchange and your still returning to the point where a bobby presented you with a ticket.

(in reply to david b)

Well i tried a lot of things in total.

In the end i reupdated nero to the newest one, which seemed promising with rewriteables, but coastered a normal cd.

I gave in an updated the bios and *fingers crossed* it is working fine now.

Now to get some 48/52x media and have a burning spree.

Thanks for all your suggestions

(in reply to david b)

"I gave in an updated the bios and *fingers crossed* it is working fine now."

Oh, ye: BIOS update is the first thing to do. Good to hear you're fine now.

"...seemed promising with rewriteables, but coastered a normal cd."

Usually, rewriting is more picky. Probably you try to violate the media write speed abilities and limitations. Have you tried to slow down?

(in reply to david b)

I had tried it at 16 - 32x and still same effect, still working at present.

(in reply to david b)

"I had tried it at 16 - 32x and still same effect, still working at present."

I can't understand that terse English.

Anyway, as you provide no technical details, there is nothing to discuss.

Nero CD Speed provide info on the media prewords (that is about a blank media [CDR]) and afterwords (about the written media and errors on it).

Nero Burning ROM informs you along the way, during the writing itself, about how the drive treats the media. Of course, the Nero settings matter too.

(in reply to david b)