LITE-ON LTR-52327S

[vinnie97]

This guy must be 6 years old by now? Anyway, I hadn't used the burning feature in a while and this week I discovered that it was burning blanks! The burning process completes fine but upon trying to read a Verbatim CD-RW disc created from an ISO in IMGBURN (in both the LTR-52327S and a NEC DVD-RW), it was still seen as blank (the verify feature also failed). I tested with another CD-RW with the same result. I then tried the burn with the NEC and the disc was readable.

To further diagnose, I burned a CD-RW data disc using CDBurnerXP. The 52327S read the contents of this one thereafter but the NEC still saw it as a blank.

I've never used a disc drive long enough to see it degrade (I love this LIte-On too much!). Is this typical of a weakening laser? The drive is quite old in silicon years but it's seen relatively little use over this time (a fair amount of audio ripping on some occasions).

If this one's on its way out, is there a BD burner on the market that is adept at CD-audio ripping and burning to CD-R/W as this model was? Between the latest LG, Pioneer and Plextor (which is apparently a branded BDR-205, not yet reviewed here) as reviewed on this site, which has the best writing quality? It looks like all 3 of them have a little trouble with DVD+R DL and this may say something as to the quality of the media more than anything.

[Ian]

That's weird. It's almost if its not writing the TOC correctly.

BD drives aren't great at ripping audio CD's and burning CD-R/RW. You'd almost be better off buying a Lite-On DVD writer or something.

[vinnie97]

Thanks, I won't need much in the way of burning CD-R/W but ripping audio may be important. I guess those Lite-Ons are still the fastest accurate rippers in the east. Any particular model? I kind've wanted to use this as an excuse to upgrade to a BD drive even though it won't be 100% used for that. How's that new LG shaping up for audio ripping?

[Ian]

The LG isn't nearly as fast as one of Lite-On's DVD writers, but it at least rips at 40x.

LG WH10LS30 CD Speed Pressed DAE 1.png (16.32 KiB) Viewed 28070 times

LG WH10LS30 CD Speed CD-R DAE Adv.png (6.78 KiB) Viewed 28060 times

[vinnie97]

That looks to be on par (average speed) with the Plextor, Pioneer, LG and Sony you've reviewed, with minute differences in speed at best. Correct?

[Ian]

That looks to be on par (average speed) with the Plextor, Pioneer, LG and Sony you've reviewed, with minute differences in speed at best. Correct?

Yep, pretty much the same.

[vinnie97]

Thanks for your report. Wow, tell me if you've heard of anything like this with your years of disc drive experience: I've been having unexplainable bluescreens (with various and sundry errors) for the past 1+ month. It's still early days but I just disconnected the offending drive (it still reads discs fine apparently and the HP drive on my laptop was able to read the contents burned to a CD-RW using the same drive) and so far, the PC is behaving (it was not due to failing memory, as I've already done several reading/writing tests using Win7's utility).

[Ian]

Weird. If it was me, I'd have it dump the memory when it blue screens and open it up with debugger.

Other thoughts... could be a crappy cable. Maybe your power supply can't provide enough juice for your system?

[vinnie97]

Like lightning you are. Yea, that Windows debugger is a bit of a PITA to use, lol. I don't think that it's a power supply issue (unless it's failing also), as I've added no new components in some time (2 HDs, 2 disc drives, vid card, USB mouse and keyboard). Indeed, the cable could be the culprit...I will just monitor the situation with only the NEC drive connected (via the same cable). So far, so good...I'll give it about a week of problem-free operation before declaring victory. I did a cursory Google search and saw a similar report of someone clearing up their bluescreen anomalies with a disc drive replacement.

[vinnie97]

To follow up, so long as I leave the Lite-On disconnected AND refrain from using the Hibernate feature, my PC doesn't bluescreen. I suppose I should next just try with the Lite-On connected where the NEC is to fully rule it out.

[vinnie97]

Meh, maybe it is the IDE cable (or the IDE channel)...still having random program crashes and bluescreens with the NEC connected. It go so bad tonight, I just disconnected the drive's power. It seems the problem is resolved but that will definitely take more time to definitively determine. I'll give it a week to see if sailing remains smooth and then find a new cable if so.

[SkaarjMaster]

I finally now have an LTR-52327S and will have to paint the bezel before installing in my Dragonslayer system. Now where is that paint I used a while back on the Kenwood 72X CD-ROM?:)

EDIT: bezel painted, now I just need to install.....although, I may try painting the volume dial a little better......never had to on the Kenwood as it was already black.

EDIT AGAIN: all that work to get it and now my Mom has the computer.;)

[vinnie97]

I thought this player had met its demise (it was no longer making burns readable by other devices in my PC setup nor did it seem to be "erasing" properly, or so I thought; the NEC that was connected to the same IDE channel had no qualms with burning). I recently upgraded to an LG BD burner and decided to retire this one. I went ahead and performed one last test with it connected to my laptop (by way of USB adapter), and it made 3 good CD-RW burns. What a workhorse after almost 10 years (though not used all that frequently). I don't think I can let it go as long as I'm using CD-RWs.

Whoa, I never followed up to explain the source of the blue screen problem. I'm pretty sure it was the memory in the end (finicky mobo apparently that required exact DIMM matching, down to the same manufacturer/model #)! I still noticed behavior with this burner as described in the OP earlier this year (well after I had replaced the offending memory), but given my latest findings, this burner must possess 9 lives.