Plextor PX-W2410A data burning problem.

[bdasp1]

Hello all,

Okay, I've tried everything I can think of, but I'm now stumped. A
couple of months ago, my new PlexWriter PX-2410A worked fine. Now, EVERY
SINGLE burn attempt turns out as a coaster, whether I'm trying to burn
an ISO or even just copy some files from a hard drive. CDs the unit
burns can be "seen" by Windows in that the file directory can be
browsed, but the files themselves cannot be read.

Because a couple months passed (during which I didn't do any CD burning)
between the last good CD I burned and my recent LONG, unbroken string of
coasters, I have no idea what might have changed on my system that has
resulted in this current inability to burn anything successfully.

Checklist:
* My CD-R is the master on the secondary IDE channel.
* It (and the other drive on the channel, which is Toshiba DVD-ROM
drive) are both in DMA mode (specifically UDMA-2).
* The burner's firmware is upgraded to v1.04 (it came with 1.02)--the
current version for that drive.
* The drive is recognized by CD burning software, and all burns complete
without errors--but the CDs cannot be read.
* I have tried three different supported blank media types, not just
cheap media, and all burns have failed (this is getting expensive, by
the way!).
* No anti-virus running while burning. No CPU loading.
* Auto-insert notification off
* CD-burning support in Windows XP disabled.

Relevant System config:
Asus A7V333 w/KT333 chipset
AthlonXP 1800+
512Megs PC-2700 333MHz RAM
PlexWriter PX-2410A


Things I've tried:

I've uninstalled ALL CD-R applications and then reinstalled the latest
NERO Burning ROM version (which worked fine before SOMETHING changed on
my system to pork it up).

Re-installing or rolling back the firmware to v1.02 (unsuccessful). When
either trying to re-install the v1.04 or install v1.03 of the firmware,
I get an error. The error returned from trying to install v1.03 to
replace v1.04 is one that Plextor support pages report as being fixed by
installing the Via IDE tool (bus mastering), but it didn't work on my
system. The firmware update executable finds the drive, but cannot write
the firmware update to it. This might be related to my burning problem,
but I don't know how to address it!

I've tried updating the Via 4-in-1 drivers (v4.43) and installing the
Via Bus Master IDE filter (v5.1.2600.3014). The 4-in-1s have to be
installed for my Windows XP Pro system to recognize the graphics
adapter. The IDE bus master filter improves performance but does not fix
this problem.

After discovering that something had installed ASPI 4.71, I've used
ForceASPI to force that back to v4.60 and when that didn't work I
uninstalled all ASPI drivers completely (and verified using ASPIcheck).
Neither effort made any difference.

Nothing that I can think of, or find suggested on the Web anywhere seems
to work. Is there ANYTHING else to try or is it time to consider that my
Plextor drive is defective?

I would REALLY like to avoid blowing away my C: drive and using your
re-install disk to return my system to it's default, out-of-the-box
configuration, as I've got all my standard software installed and the
system configured exactly how I like it...

Thanks for your suggestions,

bdatws1

 

[technonerd]

Try GEting software to recalibrate the drives laser, i did this with an old 2x/2x/6x phillps cdrw i have that was doing the same thing and it seems to have fixed it

goto

http://elby.ch/english/products/clone_cd/download.html

for a piece of good cd copyng software that can do it "You Cant Run From Death Forever, But You Can Make The Bastard Work For it

 

[bdasp1]

Thanks 'technonerd',

I don't see any setting for "calibrate laser" or anything like that in CloneCD (I pulled down the latest version today). So, how do you do this? Thanks again!

bdatws1

 

[ANFPS26]

Have you contacted Plextor? For the amount they charge for their drives they should have good technical support. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....."

 

[Hungster]

Are you running the latest Nero ? 5.5.9.9 ?
after you un-install Nero, have you try to reboot before you re-install Nero ?

you can try e-mailing Craig @ Nero, i am sure he can help you out, he is a great guy.
he can point you to the right direction to find out if your Plextor has problem

Hung

 

[bdasp1]

nobrain,

I have indeed contacted Plextor. Their suggested fixes are listed above. All have been tried without success

Hungster,

Yes to all of your questions above. I have contacted Nero. I have also contacted my PC maker(Falcon NW). Unfortunately to no avail.

I've been using this forum for quite a while and I always find my answer. At this point, I'm willing to try just about anything.

Thanks again, guys.

bdatws1

 

[Hungster]

bdatws1

i will not give up helping you, bare with me dude
can you get a CDRW and try a few things out ?

leave only the video card and your burner in
take out the dvd rom and try to the iso to the cdrw disc

 

[ANFPS26]

Looks to me like a bad burner. How is your warranty on this thing? You could try it in another PC or try another burner in yours. If that works, it's a duff burner. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....."

 

[Optimusprimerib]

Tried XP sp1, have you?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q320174