alien236 wrote: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.