Slow Burning speeds using LTR-52246S

[Steph]

I just bought a LTR-52246S today. I installed it and it works fine until I burned my first 80 min which took 8-9 min at 48x. After doing some research, I enabled DMA on the drive and brought my times down now to around 5 min ( better but still not fast enough ). The firmware has been updated to the latest version. I enabled the write speed check within NERO to see exactly what was going on and noticed that I burn on average at 20x-21x all the time. I've seen many posts related to the type of media used which could cause this, I've used 3 different brands and still ended up with the same times ( 5 min ) including the CD-R which comes with the burner. Does anyone have any suggestions on what steps I can take next or maybe point me to some documentation which could help me out ? Thanks for your help.

[CDRecorder]

Welcome to CDRLabs, Steph!

I would like to compliment you on thoroughly researching your problem!

What media are you using? Does the drive read at its maximum speed, too, or is only its writing that's slow?

I hope that helped!

[Steph]

Thanks for the quick reply. I've tried the following media ( verified using smartburn ) :

- Gigastorage ( 40x ) ( Really called Maxmax )
- Mr Platinum ( 52 x) ( Really called Perfect Media )
- Ritek ( 52x ) ( CD-R which came with my burner )

My read speed is said to be at 12x using the NERO Drive Speed utility.
I have no idea what I'm doing wrong at this point for this burner to perform badly.

[vinnie97]

Make sure that the drive is actually staying in DMA mode once you change the setting via the device manager. You may need to delete whatever IDE channel you've placed it on and restart (thereby having Windows automatically re-install it) for the drive to be fully recognized as DMA-capable.

[KCK]

Steph:

Instead of Nero Drive Speed, use Nero CD Speed with several discs of good quality, e.g., pressed discs, etc. If you don't have its help file CDSpeed.chm, download it from the Nero download page at www.ahead.de (look at the lower right corner on the page) and put it in C:\Program Files\Ahead\Nero Toolkit.

I have never heard of your Maxmax and Perfect Media discs (but my experience is quite limited), so I would advise to try media that are known to work well with your burner; see the thread

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6005

Also, to isolate media issues, and to save on the number of coasters made, instead of burning you may try the simulate option in Nero.

Finally, please provide basic info about your system (version of Windows, processor speed, memory, motherboard, IDE configuration, etc.).

[Steph]

I've already uninstalled the IDE channel for my burner and had it re-installed automatically to resolve the DMA settings issue.

I used Nero's CD Speed and my tests so far show a average speed of 16x

My system :

Windows XP Professional ( sp1 )
Athlon XP 1700
256 megs DDR
Motherboard : Asus A7V266-E
IDE Channel settings :

Multi-Word DMA mode 2 ( DVD-ROM )
Multi-Word DMA mode 2 ( LTR-52246S )

Using the NERO Info tool :

Primary IDE Channel : Hard Drive
Seconday IDE Channel :

Master = DVD-ROM
Slave = LTR-52246S

I'm always running my tests in Simulation mode concerning coasters but thanks for the tip.

The only thing I still haven't tried so far is to pick up one of the top CD-R's
to use within the suggested list for my burner. I will do that next but I don't have too much faith as I should still be burning at higher speeds with the other media I worked with. If there's anything else someone can suggest which I haven't tried yet, please let me know.
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[Action Jackson]

You got a 52x Ritek? I got a 52x CMC with my LiteON.

What are you trying to burn anyways? and from what source?

Why not try switching the drives on your secondary channels?

[elpipetuanis]

I had the same problem with my liteon. I had to take the other drive off the ide channel to get it to work right. So I have my liteon 5224 on one channel and my dvd on my ultra ata 133 card. It would burn a whole cd in about 6-8 min before and 2-3 after. Try it.

[Steph]

I burn a avi file of 700 mb or a Audio CD with 13-15 tracks but they both take from 5-6 min to burn. All source files are on my hard drive. ( Maxtor 60 gig ). I've already tried switching the drives within the secondary channel but it didn't help.

I would like to try taking off my DVD-ROM from the IDE channel and putting it elsewhere to see if it would help but I don't currently have a
extra card for IDE connections ( ultra ata 133 card ... ).

In the meantime, I'll remove my DVD-ROM temporarily off the IDE channel and run some more tests to see if it helps. Thanks.

[CDRecorder]

Optical drives rarely work well with IDE connections other than those built in to the motherboard. If you are going to get an ATA133 card, I think that it would be best to put your hard drive on it and then put your optical drives on the motherboard's IDE ports. This is how one of my systems is configured.

[tazdevl]

You don't have enough IDE devices to warrant a controller card. As LO Guy indicated, optical drives don't play nice with PCI controller cards.

Is the audio CD from MP3s or a disc to disc copy?
Are you making an image before you burn?
Are you caching the files before you burn?

Using Nero correct?

I'd recommend putting the two drives on separate channels.

Hard drive and DVD on Primary (Master & Slave)
CDRW Master on Secondary (jumper it to master, don't set it to cable select).

Also, what kind of IDE cable are you using 40/80pin (latter has a blue terminus on one end)?

Might want to head over to www.viatech.com and install the latest Hyperion drivers. Install the AGP and inf drivers, do not install the IDE driver.

Along the lines of media, I'd say pick up some Fuji 48X media, made by Taiyo Yuden. Will burn @ 52X fine and there are specials all over the place.

[Steph]

I burn Audio CD's using MP3's. I don't make a image first before I burn.
I've tried enabling caching and vice versa but it didn't help. I am using NERO at the latest version. I've already re-installed the latest Hypeion drivers for my motherboard ( I also re-installed the IDE drivers, would that be a issue ? ). I will do the following as you recommended :

Hard drive and DVD on Primary (Master & Slave)
CDRW Master on Secondary (jumper it to master, don't set it to cable select).

Could you please give me a quick briefing on how to do this or confirm what I'm about to do is ok ?. The way I see it, I'll use the IDE connector which is currently only connected on my hard drive and also connect it to my DVD. I'll then setup the Primary Master and slave within the BIOS. The second IDE connector will only have the burner connected to it and I will set it as a Master on Secondary again within the BIOS.
I'm not sure about "jumper it to Master, don't set it to cable select" .Does that mean that I will basically set the jumper for this on the motherboard only ? Thanks

[Steph]

I forgot to mention, I'm using a 40 pin IDE cable for the DVD and burner and a 80 pin for my hard drive. Thanks

[CDRecorder]

Can you try burning a full data CD? You can use the "Transfer Rate Test" function in Nero CDSpeed to run a simulation of a burn, or you can use the "Create Data CD" to actually burn a full data CD. I am wondering if your CPU can't decode the MP3s as fast as the burner is trying to burn.

When you burn, does the light on the drive ever turn orange, or is it always red?

[CDRecorder]

BTW, I don't think that you need to change which IDE cables your drives are on. They should be fine as they are. You already have the correct cables attached to your drives, so nothing needs to be changed there.

[Steph]

I've already burned a couple of CD's ( some Audio and some data ) with no errors. It's just slower than I expected from this burner ( between 5-6 min ). I've already ran many tests using NERO CD Speed as you suggested and always had a speed of 16x to 21x consistently. When I burn CD's, the light often switches from red to orange and vice versa. Figured it was normal. Still not sure what to do next at this point.

[CDRecorder]

What CPU do you have, and how fast is it? How much RAM do you have?

The light should be solid red. When it switches from red to orange and back, it means the computer is not sending information fast enough and the drive is experiencing a buffer underrun. (This is only true with recent Lite-On drives; it might not apply to other models.)

[Steph]

I use a AMD Athlon XP 1700 with 256 DDR Ram. Like I said previously. I've tried to enable and disable caching to help with speed but it didn't help either way.

[Steph]

I just burned a avi file of 700 mb again. I set the speed for 40x and it basically was burning between 16x-20x. My light does often flash from red to orange but only in the begining of the burn (first 20-30sec ). It is steady red after through out the burn. The "used read buffer" is always at 100% and the "Recorder buffer" level is always at 98%.

[Action Jackson]

Are there any programs running in the background while burning?

Are you running any memory or disk cache programs?

[CDRecorder]

Are you using the MS IDE drivers or the ones that the motherboard manufacturer provides?

[Steph]

I am running a few programs in background :

- Firewall Software
- Norton Anti-Virus
- Asus PC Probe
- Windows Messenger

I've disabeled most of them but it didn't help. I'm not running any memory or disk caching programs. Concerning the IDE drivers, I installed the Hyperion drivers which came with IDE drivers. Are those ok ?

[CDRecorder]

Could you try the MS IDE drivers? It is possible that the Hyperion drivers are causing the problem, but I wouldn't say that they are definitely the problem.

[Steph]

Dumb question ... Using Windows XP, how would I re-install MS IDE drivers ?

[CDRecorder]

Steph, that certainly isn't a dumb question! Actually, I'm not sure myself. I have a guess, though. If you go the IDE Controller properties in Device Manager and click the "Driver" tab, there is a button marked "Roll Back Driver". This may allow you to go back to using the MS driver. I hope this helps.