Plextor 48/24/48A problem fixed

[tlotz]

Well it looks as though my bad luck with the 48/24/48A drive is finally over. This is my second 48/24/48A drive--it has the TLA #0001 and was made in October 2002 and Assembled in China. I posted to this forum concerning write to/erasure (full erasure, that is) problems with the 48/24/48A drive and Verbatim Ultra Speed CD-RW media. To help better diagnose the problem, I called Verbatim and requested replacement discs. I needed a different batch of Verbatim 24X CD-RW media to test the drive, and because of my conversation with another person experiencing this problem, I thought my media was defective. Because of how long Verbatim is taking to send the replacement discs, I drove a 120 mile round trip to Microcenter and back to buy my own replacement Verbatim Ultra Speed 24X CD-RW media. I could not wait for Verbatim's discs anymore, and I could not wait for new media from an online vendor to come. Since the second pack of 24X CD-RW media (a 5-pack) didn't work any better than the first 10-pack of 24X CD-RW media, I figured that the drive was most *likely* the issue. Which is what I initially thought, until my conversation with another person who appeared to have the same problem. This week, I decided to take on Plextor for warranty support. After getting a *lot* of *grief* from Plextor, I finally got someone compotent, intelligent, and even helpful. Yes, Plextor support, both on the phone, and their online support, has been absolutely horrible. My software setup and the Verbatim media has been blamed by Plextor's tech support. But never the drive. Well, this helpful individual happened to be a head engineer working at Plextor America's California headquarters. He issued a call tag for my TLA #0001 drive. So I didn't pay a cent for the FedEx overnight shipping to the west coast--Plextor payed for it. Plextor received the drive yesterday, and today it was determined that the issue that I experienced with the Ultra Speed CD-RW media was a problem with the drive. Yes, the drive failed intermittedly for the Plextor engineering team no matter what Ultra Speed CD-RW media was thrown at it, in exactly the same fashion that I described. One of the things that made the clueless Plextor technical support think that the problem was with the media or my system was the fact that the drive's diagnostic test passed, not once, but twice. But that test was with CD-R media (which the drive worked great with), so I knew that the test may not be able to diagnose this problem!! Nonetheless, the clueless tech support at Plextor put all their faith in that diagnostic test, and blamed the problem on my software setup and my Verbatim Ultra Speed CD-RW media. Well, now the engineering department at Plextor has examined the drive and has confirmed that the drive is defective, despite the dumb diagnostic test. Just like I thought originally! I will get a *new* retail drive shipped to me next week--no refurbished crap! Plus, I will get all new Ultra Speed CD-RW media from Plextor to replace all of my Verbatim 24X Ultra Speed CD-RW media--not that my media was at fault! This should be the end of my problems with Plextor.

[cfitz]

Let's hope so. Good luck!

cfitz

[tlotz]

One other thing: Plextor's engineers do not yet know what is wrong with my TLA #0001 drive--they only know for sure that the problem is a faulty drive. So whether my Plextor 48/24/48A problem is:

1) a single defective unit

or

2) a defective batch, where all drives made in the same time period at the same plant are effected

or

3) a defect with all TLA #0001 drives

is *unknown*. What is known by me is that my TLA #0001 unit came from Best Buy, and I noticed *after* buying the drive (unfortunately) that all the 48/24/48A TLA #0001 drives in stock at at least two different Best Buy stores had their tamper seal broken. A Best Buy employee admitted (after I bought the drive, unfortunately) that Best Buy opens the retail drive kits before placing them on the shelf to do something with them. So it is possible that some idiot employee at Best Buy mishandled my drive, causing my problem with the second drive. I only bought the drive from Best Buy so I would be guaranteed to avoid the TLA #0000 version of this drive, which I bought from an online retailer. So I was screwed with this drive buying it both ways--from Best Buy, or online. In short, if you buy a Plextor 48/24/48A:

1) Do *not* buy it from Best Buy!

2) Buy it from an online retailer (possibly the Plextor online store) that you know will sell you recent stock. Remember: getting the best price is not the most important thing! Since many of the TLA #0000 drives sound like jet engines, you must go for an online retailer who you know sells a lot of these drives so they can sell you recent stock. I can only recommend a TLA # > 0001 and made after October 2002, since my defective second drive was TLA #0001 and made in October 2002. So the goal is to buy a 48/24/48A with a TLA # > 0001 and newer than October 2002. Those not up to the challenge of getting newer stock of the drive should consider another CD-RW drive. It's hard to get newer stock for sure, since online retailers don't allow you to specify what hardware revision (TLA #) you will accept.

[tlotz]

Oh, one other thing I would like to mention. The Plextor engineering staff that has been testing the drive still has no idea what is wrong with the drive--they just know that the drive is faulty. The intermittent nature of the problem makes diagnosing a cause difficult. In short, the drive that has driven me crazy for the past 1.5 months is now Plextor's problem. And it will continue to be their problem for a while, because they need to figure out what is wrong with that lemon of a drive.