Plextor 48/24/48A burning slow

[alien236]

Ok, I am using "48x certified" discs so it is not them. I am running a Pentium III system at 600mhz, 392mb RAM, and my harddrive can send the information much faster than needed(like 26MB/s when I tested it, and that's like 173X). so what I dont get is why the burner will not burn at 48X. it takes about 4.5 minutes to burn a 650MB cd, or at least that's what I think it took. either way it ended up averaging like 16X. Why is this, and has anyone had a similar problem? could it be my computer setup? i have made it so nothing runs in the background except necessary stuff. oh yea, and it's Windows XP, the latest Nero usually(but i've tried with clonecd, fireburner, and many others that i just uninstalled because they're worthless). It does not change any if it's from an image file, separate files, or a CD copy.

please help, it's very annoying that I paid for a 48x drive and only am getting 16x. (those darn extra minutes i have to wait!)

[tlotz]

Ok, I am using "48x certified" discs so it is not them. I am running a Pentium III system at 600mhz, 392mb RAM, and my harddrive can send the information much faster than needed(like 26MB/s when I tested it, and that's like 173X). so what I dont get is why the burner will not burn at 48X. it takes about 4.5 minutes to burn a 650MB cd, or at least that's what I think it took. either way it ended up averaging like 16X. Why is this, and has anyone had a similar problem? could it be my computer setup? i have made it so nothing runs in the background except necessary stuff. oh yea, and it's Windows XP, the latest Nero usually(but i've tried with clonecd, fireburner, and many others that i just uninstalled because they're worthless). It does not change any if it's from an image file, separate files, or a CD copy.

please help, it's very annoying that I paid for a 48x drive and only am getting 16x. (those darn extra minutes i have to wait!)

This definitely sounds like a common problem, and could be one of two things.

1) Check your DMA settings! You need DMA to be enabled. Go into Device Manager, double click the IDE controller containing the Plextor drive, and click Advanced Settings. *If* the drive is running in PIO mode, enable DMA and reboot. If the drive is running in Ultra DMA mode 2 or Multi-Word DMA mode 2, you are fine and should not change anything.

2) Plextor drives are picky about media compatibility. Just because the media is 48X certified, doesn't mean that the Plextor drive will burn it at that speed. You should use Taiyo Yuden (TY) made or Verbatim (Mitsubishi Chemical) media with this drive for best results. However, your problem is much more likely to be #1 above, so do check the DMA setting first! Best Buy and CompUSA sell great Fuji 48X (made by TY) media in spindles, or you can buy Maxell CD-R Pro or Fuji 48X media sold at Walmart in jewel cases.

If your problem is not the DMA issue (#1) and you've switched your media to TY or Verbatim media (#2), then post back to the forum, and we'll give you other suggestions. Your CPU should be fast enough for that CD-RW drive, so that should not be the issue.

[tlotz]

Ok, I am using "48x certified" discs so it is not them. I am running a Pentium III system at 600mhz, 392mb RAM, and my harddrive can send the information much faster than needed(like 26MB/s when I tested it, and that's like 173X). so what I dont get is why the burner will not burn at 48X. it takes about 4.5 minutes to burn a 650MB cd, or at least that's what I think it took. either way it ended up averaging like 16X. Why is this, and has anyone had a similar problem? could it be my computer setup? i have made it so nothing runs in the background except necessary stuff. oh yea, and it's Windows XP, the latest Nero usually(but i've tried with clonecd, fireburner, and many others that i just uninstalled because they're worthless). It does not change any if it's from an image file, separate files, or a CD copy.

please help, it's very annoying that I paid for a 48x drive and only am getting 16x. (those darn extra minutes i have to wait!)

Not that this should have anything to do with your problem (see my above post!), but be sure to upgrade your firmware to 1.04, if you are not already using the 1.04 firmware. Be sure not to run anything else during the firmware upgrade, and make sure there is no media in the drive when you upgrade the firmware. It is best to upgrade the firmware after you have just booted Windows. After upgrading the firmware and rebooting, check to make sure DMA is enabled using the directions I gave you--sometimes the drive can be reset to PIO mode after a firmware upgrade.

[dodecahedron]

check out the FAQ:
How to enable DMA in Windows XP (with pictures)

[alien236]

ok, i'm using Verbatim cd-r's (i wouldn't have it any other way because I have used them since my old 2X Phillips burner!). I am almost positive that DMA is enabled because I don't think i can disable it on the controller it's on. here's my motherboard: http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Pr ... X2000+.htm. I have it on the "2 x Ultra DMA 33/66 Bus Master IDE ports on board " IDE connectors under I/O on that website(it is set at secondary master). I also have tried different configurations along these lines(changing master/slave, primary secondary, all different controllers, on same controllers as my HD, on different, etc) to no avail.

I would blame it on my CPU because i use Nero a lot to burn MP3 to audio cds(requiring more cpu power) but it just doesnt make sense when it is slow on things like burning from image files or burning file requiring no processing except copying to the buffer or whatever. any other ideas?

thanks

[dodecahedron]

you can verify you DMA settings using Nero InfoTool
from the Start button -> Ahean Nero -> Nero Toolkit -> Nero InfoTool.

if for some reason you don't have it you can download it from www.cdspeed2000.com

run Nero InfoTool and select the Configuration tab, it will tell you if DMA is enabled.