Pioneer Japan Acknowledges Trouble With DVR-A12 Series

[Ian]

Pioneer Japan has finally issued a statement about the problems people have been having with their latest series of drives. Essentially, if your drive was manufactured before March, they'll repair it for you.

http://pioneer.jp/oshirase/dvr-a12/
http://www.st-trade.co.jp/info/DVR-A12J/index.html

This seems to only cover the DVR-A12 series. Nothing is said about the OEM (DVR-112) or SATA (DVR-212) versions of the drive.

[Ian]

Two of Pioneer Japan's OEM customers have issued statements as well:

Logitec - http://www.logitec.co.jp/cgi-bin/qa/qa.cgi?id=0881

Buffalo - http://buffalo.jp/support_s/20070828.html

[Ian]

Pioneer USA also has an announcement on their website. It doesn't mention anything about manufacturing dates but at least its a reference for those that are having trouble with their drives.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v ... 29,00.html

Pioneer is aware of a potential issue with the above drives’ CD (not DVD) read/write capability. Under certain environmental and heavy use conditions, the above drives may become unable to read or write to CDs. To address this issue, for any of the above model drives that become unable to read and/or write to CDs, Pioneer will provide a replacement unit (which may be a newer model number) at no extra charge, shipping prepaid, subject to the terms and conditions of Pioneer’s standard limited warranty(excluding duration).

Again, we anticipate that most drives will not be affected. However, if your DVR-1810, DVR-2810, DVR-X122, DVR-112D, DVR-112DBK, or DVR-112DSV drive becomes unable to read or write to CDs, please contact Pioneer Customer Service by one of the following methods:

[SithTracy]

Brad-Pioneer at CDFreaks is a rep from Australia Pioneer... He confirmed issued with the x12 series drives manufactured before March of 2007. People with issues may want to search for his comments in the Pioneer CD-DVD Forum at CDFreaks.com. I've got two DVR-212D's from MFG date March 2007 and both work great. I did have to RMA the one I got from MFG date December 2006 because it could not burn CD-R's.

[apvm]

I've contacted Pioneer Canada but I have to pay for the shipping to them so I think I'll bring it to the shop that I bought it from and let them handle it.

[LoneWolf]

Pioneer USA also has an announcement on their website. It doesn't mention anything about manufacturing dates but at least its a reference for those that are having trouble with their drives.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v ... 29,00.html

Pioneer is aware of a potential issue with the above drives’ CD (not DVD) read/write capability. Under certain environmental and heavy use conditions, the above drives may become unable to read or write to CDs. To address this issue, for any of the above model drives that become unable to read and/or write to CDs, Pioneer will provide a replacement unit (which may be a newer model number) at no extra charge, shipping prepaid, subject to the terms and conditions of Pioneer’s standard limited warranty(excluding duration).

Again, we anticipate that most drives will not be affected. However, if your DVR-1810, DVR-2810, DVR-X122, DVR-112D, DVR-112DBK, or DVR-112DSV drive becomes unable to read or write to CDs, please contact Pioneer Customer Service by one of the following methods:

Interesting that Pioneer doesn't mention the DVR-212D here either.

[Ian]

Interesting that Pioneer doesn't mention the DVR-212D here either.

Yeah, I know. I swear I've read of people having problems with the 212 series. Sith?

[SithTracy]

Yep... I had issues with my first DVR-212D... It had a MFG date of Dec 2006. Brad-Pioneer said they had heard of issues but they were not as widespread as the 112/IDE drives... Probably because they sold or made fewer SATA drives... No idea for sure. I am happy with it today... I have two of them now... but the Samsung SH-203B is better overall.

[Scour]

Only the older versions of 112/212 have probs or also the newer ones?

[SithTracy]

Only the older versions of 112/212 have probs or also the newer ones?

My understanding is it has all been corrected since the March 2007 drive batch.

[Scour]

Sounds good

[LoneWolf]

Mine were both January of 2007. They worked fine until I went from an nForce4 to an Intel 975X mainboard; apparently they don't work with with an AHCI-enabled SATA interface.

I put my pair of DVR-212D's on Craigslist today; they were sold by the time I got home.

[SithTracy]

apparently they don't work with with an AHCI-enabled SATA interface.

My drive works with AHCI on my Asus P5B Deluxe WiFiAP board (bios 1216, Intel P965 chipset) with the latest Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers (7.6.0.1011).... and believe it or not, I put the drive in a Galaxy Metal Gear eSATA/USB enclosure (5202AUAS) and it works off my Jmicron SATA controller (set as AHCI in the BIOS)!!! Didn't keep it there long, just wanted to try it out though. Replaced it with my LG GSA-H62N until I get my third Samsung SH-S203B... and when Golden Hawk CDRWIN supports the Sammy .

I know you have been having trouble with AHCI for sometime.... Perhaps you need Intel to provide a BIOS update.

[LoneWolf]

apparently they don't work with with an AHCI-enabled SATA interface.

My drive works with AHCI on my Asus P5B Deluxe WiFiAP board (bios 1216, Intel P965 chipset) with the latest Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers (7.6.0.1011).... and believe it or not, I put the drive in a Galaxy Metal Gear eSATA/USB enclosure (5202AUAS) and it works off my Jmicron SATA controller (set as AHCI in the BIOS)!!! Didn't keep it there long, just wanted to try it out though. Replaced it with my LG GSA-H62N until I get my third Samsung SH-S203B... and when Golden Hawk CDRWIN supports the Sammy .

I know you have been having trouble with AHCI for sometime.... Perhaps you need Intel to provide a BIOS update.

Intel provided one (not specifically at my request, they just did an update during August) and did release updated Matrix drivers, but by that time I was kind of fed up. Their tech. support told me that the drives themselves must be incompatible with the board (which I do not believe), but then even after telling me they had tested many SATA drives, wouldn't tell me which drives they had tested for compatibility. That was part of the problem --the inability to overburn CD's with the Pioneer drives was my second issue. Going back to a not-new-but-very-reliable NEC 3550A has solved my issues, and the two SATA ports I opened up will probably serve for additional hard disks down the road.

I'll wait until my next mainboard upgrade to look at SATA burners again.

[Bhairav]

Still having issues with my 212D.. reads fine, but no writes going through.
Any idea how to disable AHCI in a DFI Expert 939 motherboard BIOS?

[SithTracy]

Any idea how to disable AHCI in a DFI Expert 939 motherboard BIOS?

nForce4 does not have AHCI... I have one of my Pioneer DVR-212D running fine on an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe... Does your board also have Silicon Image 3114? Some people are using SATA ODD drives on there with SiI's IDE drivers. I have not tried it. I am using the latest nVidia (including IDE) drivers on my board.

[LoneWolf]

Still having issues with my 212D.. reads fine, but no writes going through.
Any idea how to disable AHCI in a DFI Expert 939 motherboard BIOS?

As Sith said, no AHCI on the nForce4.

My DVR-212D's worked great on my nForce4 Ultra board (MSI K8N Neo 4 Platinum non-SLI) for both reading and writing. I had them on ports 3/4 of the nForce4 controller, not my secondary Silicon Image 3114.

[Bhairav]

Any idea how to disable AHCI in a DFI Expert 939 motherboard BIOS?

nForce4 does not have AHCI... I have one of my Pioneer DVR-212D running fine on an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe... Does your board also have Silicon Image 3114? Some people are using SATA ODD drives on there with SiI's IDE drivers. I have not tried it. I am using the latest nVidia (including IDE) drivers on my board.

Yep, it has a SIIL 3114 as well.
Oh well, will try that as well. Thanks for the help.