Plextor Question

[Kayaker]

Based on the raves on this board, I recently picked up a Plextor Plexwriter 24/10/40U (factory refurbished from the Plextor website). The problem is the type of CD-r's that it accepts.
I started with Maxell (700MB 40X) which they (Plextor) recommended. I burned about 20 CD's - all coasters now - skipping and static.
Tried Verbatim (700MB 24x),they worked fine but no longer made.
Next tried TDK (700MB 40x), they also worked fine but also no longer made.
However, I just purchased a spindle of TDK (700MB 48x) and am making coasters again. (Did TDK change manufacturers?)
Before I waste more money testing CD-r's I need to know from others who have Plextor's (hopefully the same machine as me), what CD-r's won't fail in my burner and where to get them? (The Plextor website has not updated their list of acceptable media for this machine in a year.) (Yes I updated the firmware.)
Conversely, Is there something wrong with my machine?

Thanks,
Kayaker

[Sckott]

How are you making copies of discs? Please be as blunt, yet elaborate as you can be.

Sounds like the rips are bad, but before I blame the drive, please continue.

You've listened to what you're ripping BEFORE you record, right? You're not burning from CD to CDR using drive-to-drive are you? You do need to rip to the HD 1st ALWAYS!

I don't know if you have experience with making CDRs, so these things do make a difference. If you know already, my apologies.

[Kayaker]

Copied direct from (other) CD-rom drive to Plextor, from cd-rom to hard drive to Plextor and from Plextor to hard drive to Plextor. Burning at 4x (should have mentioned that before) through USB1 port. Burn proof is checked. Use both Roxio and Nero. Latest editions of both.
Yes - I only rip commercial CD's from my own library (nothing wrong with them)- no cd-r's.
Using two year old Sony Vaio laptop, Windows 98SE.
Thanks

[Sckott]

Good, ok.

Answer me this, then. Have you listened to the wav files from the rips you've done thus far. Do they sound OK once they've ripped to the HD?

[Kayaker]

Sorry - edited the last message during your post -
using both Roxio and Nero - latest versions. Copy both direct, and song by song.
No I have not listened to the wav files from the rips.
Strange that some of these CD's don't skip when played back on the Sony CD-rom drive and Plextor, but only on my Meridian, Linn players at home and on my car player.

[Sckott]

Rip two songs from two points of any cd, watch where they go, and then listen to them using your media player of choice. If they sound absolutely fine, it's the writer doing strange things.

You have a few strikes against you though. You're using a laptop to do this, and many CD ROMs in lappies don't rip well, trying to do it through USB 1.1 is close to rediculous because of bandwith restrictions (USB+Laptop). Burning from USB is very scary at best.

It's infinately less expensive to do this sort of thing from a desktop PC than a laptop if you have that option. Doing something even remotely accurate from a laptop CAN be done, but it's not going to be easy or inexpensive.

I've done a rip from an internal CD ROM from a laptop and burned into an external CDR drive from paralell port at 1X burn speed ONLY (can't do it any other way back then).

Let me know how those rips really are.

[Ed Bishop]

If I may ask, what burn speed are you using?

ED:cool:

[Sckott]

He's burning at 4X at opportunity. That will cap USB 1.1 easilly. If he has poor bandwith on the lappie, plus HD activity in the background, his buffer correction from Burn Proof is working overtime, I can guarantee.

[Sckott]

OK so I read ya now.

The CDs sound fine in some players, not in others?

Your drive is not burning a good impression. Drive bad, game over. This has existed in my experience. Not boasting, but I work on potentially 13 computers a day, many virus and CDR/DVD-R oriented stuff.

If what you say is right, it plays fine on some, bad drive. I had the same experience with an orphaned Acer drive. Played fine in my Sony, everywhere else, it coulnd't track worth a damn. NO it's not the blanks! :(

Do you have a desktop unit? Look into doing it that way. If you don't, either way return the drive if you can. Don't waste any more frisbees.

[Kayaker]

Ed - Burning at 4x (USB1.1 speed limit)

Sckott - Laptop only computer these days. (Tough enough fitting a new wife and new baby in a small NYC apartment.) I did not know about USB 1.1 or laptop limitations. Will buy a PCMCIA card to upgrade to USB 2.0 tomorrow and see if it works better. Will try to write to HD - good simple test. Much thanks.

[Claviusb]

What operating system, CPU, available RAM, hard drive space? Do you do other stuff on the computer while burning? I use whatever media I want with a Plextor and have never had any issue that wasn't operator error. Either there is too much pressure being placed on system resources or the unit is bad. Just to hedge your bets, you may want to request swapping out the drives anyway. Have you had a previous burner that worked for you? Hey, I'm nosy-- what can I say?

[Kayaker]

Just read your second thread - Will call Plextor in the AM. Thanks again.

[Sckott]

Is the drive a 2.0? Sounds like it is from burn speeds it's capable of.

Good luck either way, but at this bird's eye, it won't matter. The power after laser calibration when it starts a burn is too light. You will get wimpy burns no matter what you do, voodoo or otherwize. It's gotta bear down some heat on that dye or you're making lousy pits.

Good luck regardless... :)

[Kayaker]

Originally posted by Claviusb
What operating system, CPU, available ram, hard drive space? Do you do other stuff on the computer while burning? I use whatever media I want with a Plextor and have never had any issue that wasn't operator eror. Either there is too much pressure being placed on system resources or the unit is bad. Just to hedge your bets, you may want to request swapping out the drives anyway. Have you had a previous burner that worked for you? Hey, I'm nosy-- what can I say?

Windows 98SE, Pentium II (400??), Nothing else running. 192MB RAM. This is the first burner with this machine.
Thanks.

[Claviusb]

You have enough horsepower then...

[Sckott]

Agreed.

[lukpac]

A lack of "horsepower" wouldn't cause these kinds of problems. If your computer is fast enough, you'll burn a whole disc. If it's not, you'll get a buffer underrun (which isn't even an issue here, since he's got Burnproof). The basic point is, if you burn a complete disc, your computer's speed isn't an issue.

It's either *really* bad luck with blanks (I've had similar problems, but only a handful of times), or (much more likely) a problem with the CD-R itself. The only solution is to deal with Plextor.

[PMC7027]

Have you been to the Plextor Web Site (http://www.plextor.com) to check for firmware upgrades?

I have a Plextor 40/12/40 in a Pentium II 450 MHz desktop machine and am able to burn at up to 40X with ANY brand of 40X capable blanks. Have you tried Plextor's DiscDupe 2000 software. A copy came with my drive (and my older Plextor 12/10/32 drive) and it has always copied audio CDs flawlessly. It allows you to create a disc image (called a Plextor Image File) on the hard drive, remove the source disc, insert the blank, set the burning speed, and off it goes. Ir supports burn-proof of course.
HTH.

[BradOlson]

I even made sure my CD-RW firmware from Mitsumi (www.mitsumi.com (http://www.mitsumi.com)) is up to date although the old firmware I had worked well. Better to be safe than sorry.

[stereo71]

FWIW, my Plextor burns anything I put in it,
doesn't seem to care if it's name brand or
Office Depot stuff. And the CDRs play on
anything except the earliest CD players. I'd
bet you got a bad one...:(

[Kayaker]

Thanks for all your help - esp. Sckott
Plextor agrees that this unit is probably defective. Sending it back tomorrow.

- Kayaker

[FabFourFan]

While we're on the subject of Plextors ;) ,
does anyone have an old used internal SCSI Plextor drive that they would like to sell?

This would be for an older pc whose really old 2x2x6 burner has pretty much worn out,
and so I really need an old used SCSI burner for it,
and an old Plextor would sure fit the bill, even a slow one!

(FWIW, I can't use an IDE burner on the old machine because it's full up with hard drives - which is why it has a SCSI card in it.)

Help! Help! Can anybody help me?

TIA.


FFF

[lv70smusic]

FabFourFan:

I have an old Yamaha 4260 SCSI drive that's been sitting in a closet for the past two years. If you're interested in that, PM me.