slow burn

[HankScorpio]

I have a cendyne lighthing iv 48x16x48 with the version of Nero that came with it. Sorry I don't have the exact version number. My o/s is windows xp, processor is an amd 1800+, shuttle ak32l motherboard and 256 mb of pc2100 ddr ram.

My problem is that when I select a burning speed and then start burning, nero shows the speed selected and the actual burning speed. The actual speed is always slow (under 12x) even though I chose a higher speed. I have verified that DMA is enabled. Just copying a regular music cd takes 7 or 8 minutes. My old 32x10x40 sony was much faster. Anyone have any ideas how I can fix this?

[cfitz]

How fast can the drive read CD-R and pressed CD media?

cfitz

[HankScorpio]

I'm not really sure about that. How can I find out this information? Once I find out I'll be glad to tell you.

[cfitz]

Put a full or nearly full CD-R into the drive, and run the transfer rate test in CD Speed (available at www.cdspeed2000.com if you don't already have it). Do the same for a pressed CD.

cfitz

[HankScorpio]

the pressed cd started at 14.83 and ended at 2.39, the cd-r stated at 12.69 and ended at 1.47. pretty unimpressive.

[cfitz]

the pressed cd started at 14.83 and ended at 2.39, the cd-r stated at 12.69 and ended at 1.47. pretty unimpressive.

The transfer rates went down, ending at only 1.47x and 2.39x? Something is definitely wrong there. I'd say there is a chance you have a bad drive. But just for fun, try the same tests with the drive in PIO mode.

cfitz

[HankScorpio]

I did the test and then I tried burning a cd with nero using some songs I had on my HD. The odd thing is that it burned that cd with 14 songs on it in about 2:30. That it much faster than my old sony.

Maybe I didn't do the test correctly? My original results were from audio cds. When I tried the test using my original windows xp cd and a copy of that, the results were much better. I think the average was around 27 or 28.

[cfitz]

Yes, drives are often slower when reading audio discs (DAE) than when reading data discs. Still, the graphs you describe and the results you describe don't sound good. Any chance you can post screen shots of your tests?

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8826

cfitz

[HankScorpio]

I'll try to put them up this weekend.

[HankScorpio]

I ran the test again and on a pressed cd. I consistantly got 37, DAE was 10, random seek 132ms, 1/3 seek and full seek 80ms. Do those sound like the numbers I should have gotten before?

[cfitz]

I ran the test again and on a pressed cd. I consistantly got 37, DAE was 10, random seek 132ms, 1/3 seek and full seek 80ms. Do those sound like the numbers I should have gotten before?

Average 37x and DAE quality 10? Yes, those are good numbers. As for the seek times, they sound correct if you rearrange them to be full = 132 ms, random & 1/3 = ~80 ms. Did you mis-type them? Anyway, it sounds like it is working properly, at least in your last set of tests.

cfitz

[HankScorpio]

Yes, it looks like I did mess those up. Sorry. Glad to hear that those numbers are normal. I'm having an issue regarding the mfg of my drive. I don't know if you know much about this area. It was in a cendyne retail box and the model was lightning IV. The speeds are 48X16X48, on the cendyne website they only list 48X12X48. I have looked the drive over and have not found any indication of who it was made by.

[cfitz]

What is the drive identifier string and firmware version number (both available by running Nero InfoTool)?

cfitz

[dodecahedron]

do you still have the box it came in?
Cendyne drives' boxes have a code from which one can figure out the menufacturer.

[HankScorpio]

I figured out it is a Benq. Not really familiar with the brand. Since I got my earlier issue woked out, it seems to do a pretty good job burning cd's.