Help Please. Teac CDW500E Problems...

[esoffer]

Hi,
I have some strange problems with the Teac CDW540E CDRW , I wondered if someone else has/had the same problems or just mite be able to help me out.
The drive is recognized ok and reads data well.
When I burn a cd, the program doesn't report any errors, but the data is corrupted. (I used the "fc /b" command of winxp(NT) to test, and it reported differences.) at first I thought maybe it's because of the old cdr media that I used from my older 6X cdr drive. So I tried burning at 8X and 4X, the same problem persisted. I bought some new cdrs (40X). And the same problem occurred.
It should be noted that some times the cds were burned ok. Some times with just several bits (3-8 bits) were wrong. And most of the times a lot of bits were wrong.
I tried comparing the files on several computers and CD-ROMs. It's doesn't seem to be a reading error because every time I compare the same cd with the source the same bits are found to be different.

Did this ever happen to anybody?
Can someone help me, please?

Thanks
Elad Soffer

[Harrier]

אלעד,

look, if there's a prob' like this i think instead of dealing with it i think you should giev it back and replace where you bought it.

[Han]

I don't think Teac is faulty. Test your system memory with Memtest86 for errors. If everything is fine, check/change the IDE cables and master/slave configuration.

I assume you've set DMA mode for Teac in Device Manager.

[Harrier]

I don't think Teac is faulty. Test your system memory with Memtest86 for errors. If everything is fine, check/change the IDE cables and master/slave configuration.

I assume you've set DMA mode for Teac in Device Manager.

Han's answer seems good...

Though if you find it not working after, you should replace it instantly.

[NeilPeart]

Elad,
I have the same drive and not encountered any error. I use Nero Burning Rom 5.5.9.14. Have you tried flashing the firmware to 1.0F? Also, try some certified 40X media (I prefer Fuji because they are manufactured by Taiyo Yuden - but I question its availability in Israel). Good luck.

P.S. Dodecahedron, a frequent visitor of this forum, also resides in Israel.
I am also from Israel - I immigrated to the US when I was 5. Ani medaber everete tov, ve ani menavin tov meod. Yeshli mishpachat b'Israel. Welcome to CDRLabs.

[esoffer]

Thanks for your advice, everybody. I will try "memtest86" I'll post back the results.

About the IDE cables and settings. I have a WD 40Gb HD and a CR-Rom drive, I've tried connecting the drive together with the HD and together with the CD-Rom. and there was no difference, right now the burner is alone on the 2nd IDE channel. so I don't think it's the cables. the new media that I bought is 40x certified (manufactured by GPT, I don't know if it's an Israeli based company or is it an import). I burned the same media at my uncle's computer (LG 24X burner) his drive worked great. Our systems are very similar (P4 256Mb Ram same mother board, same HD).

Could it be that the drive has problems with DMA? I just found out that the first cd I burned with this drive is burned ok; it was burned without DMA enabled. After that I turned on the DMA because it had many buffer under runs.

Thanks
Elad

[esoffer]

Does anyone know if this drive should support UDMA2 (33Mb/s) or only DMA2(16Mb/s)?
My bios and windows recognized the drive as UDMA2. I forced the Bios to disable the UDMA, and now the drive works with DMA2. It seems to be OK (2 perfect 80min cds at 32X). But if the drive should support UDMA2 I still want to be able to use UDMA2.

Thanks

[esoffer]

PS,
memtest86 showed the "loading......" and just rebooted my system, weird. I've know of this software for some time now. it never worked for me. it either rebooted my P4(today) or stuck an old Pentium 166(about a month ago).

[Han]

Teac supports UDMA2 (33 MB/s) and you should set it to this mode. You're saying it's alone on the secondary channel. Have you set it as master and put it on the middle connector of the 40-pin IDE cable?

I'm sorry to hear that Memtest86 doesn't work for you. Well, if your uncle's PC has the same board and the same memory sticks, then we should exclude memory errors. But, if you installed the Intel IDE bus accellerator software, that could cause problems. (Btw, the LG drive doesn't support UDMA2 mode!)

Anyway, before taking Teac for replacement, check it in your uncle's machine to make sure it's faulty.

P.S. Before the firmware flash, set Teac to PIO mode!!!

[dodecahedron]

hi Elad.

i'm not familiar with DOS so i didn't know about 'fc'. looks to me simialr to Unix 'diff'.
i recommend CDCheck (http://www.elpros.si/CDCheck) for comparing files.

like Han said, the Tead CD-W540 does support UDMA33. check out Ian's review: http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=115

About the IDE cables and settings. I have a WD 40Gb HD and a CR-Rom drive, I've tried connecting the drive together with the HD and together with the CD-Rom. and there was no difference, right now the burner is alone on the 2nd IDE channel.

i recommend you put both CD-ROM and the Teac on the Secondary IDE Channel, the Teac as master (this is probably the better setup, unless you do a lot of on-the-fly copying from CD to CD).

the new media that I bought is 40x certified (manufactured by GPT, I don't know if it's an Israeli based company or is it an import).

hmm...i didn't know there already was 40x media in Israel. i haven't seen any. however i think the GPT is a junk brand, not very good. you can use CDRIdentifyer (http://www.gum.de/it/download/english.htm) to check out who manufacturers this media. from the media i've seen in Israel, i think the best is Verbatim DataLifePlus (available up to 24x) and also TDK.

I prefer Fuji because they are manufactured by Taiyo Yuden - but I question its availability in Israel

No, none to be had here AFAIK

as for trying to enable DMA, check out this topic in the FAQ:
Problems enabling DMA in Windows XP
maybe this trick (the reinstallation of the drivers) will solve your problems.

good luck. let us know if you managed to fix the problems.

[esoffer]

I tried playing with the Primery/secondery, Slave/Master settings... doesn't make any difference, if UDMA2 is enabled it producces errors on the cds.
I took the drive to a different computer P3 733... the bios recognized the drive as ATA 33, just as the P4. but windows recognized it as UDMA Mode 1!!! (not Mode 2!!! as the P4 did.)
what is the difference beween the two modes? could this be the problem?

I checked the GPT media with the program you suggested...

ATIP: 97m 28s 27f
Disc Manufacturer: Multi Media Masters & Machinery SA
Reflective layer: Dye (Short strategy; e.g. Phthalocyanine)
Media type: CD-Recordable
Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
nominal Capacity: 702.82MB (79m 59s 67f / LBA: 359842)

[Han]

UDMA1 = 16,6 MB/s (that's still more than adequate for smooth recording)

You have to delete the drive and its IDE channel from Device Manager to force Windows recognize it properly...

[dodecahedron]

Elad, what software are you using to burn the CDs?
did you try a different burning application?

try the trick of uninstalling the IDE channel to get windows to recognize the drive correctly as UDMA mode 2.
upgragde to the latest firmware, like Han suggested.

[esoffer]

I mainly use Nero, I installed the latest update to it today. I tried all the tricks with the windows IDE, I even installed the SIS ide drivers (my mother board is abit sa7). nothing helped. I think I'll give up, I saw that the drive worked ok on the other computer (with UDMA). So it is likly that the drive isn't the problem. It works OK (with multi-word DMA (16Mb/s) at all burning speeds) on the computer I want it on. maybe, If i'll find an extra 80wire IDE cable I'll try to connect the drive with it. right now I tried different 40wire cables, at it didn't make any difference.

About the firmware, I always forgot to mention. the drive came with the latest version 1.0f.

anyway, I'm out of ideas, I don't want to mess up my uncle computer with juck... so I won't install the drive there. I think I'll just leave the drive as it is.

Thank you all, very much for all your advice. you've helped me a lot.
Elad Soffer


PS.
UDMA1 is 25Mb/s and UDMA0 is 16Mb/s.

pps.
when I use the nero scandisk feature to check the writing quality, is acceptable to get some yellow dots??? (about 0.5%)

[esoffer]

I just browsed around and saw this thread "P4S533 and Plextor, not happy?" seems like it's a simmilar situation... I have a sis chipset too. bad for me .

[Han]

40-pin cable is better for current CDRW drives.

Now that you've mentioned you have a SIS chipset based mobo, some of us will see things in a different perspective.
Check out this thread about Plextor and SIS...

P.S. Sorry about wrong UDMA1 speed.

[esoffer]

Now that I've read this other thread I can come down, the drive probably would have made the same problem at my uncles computer, we have the exact same mobo. I guess the disabling the UDMA in the bios won't allow windows to go past multiword dma which probably works ok with sis chipsets. does this make any sence to you??? I think you understand more about computers then I do, hopefully this could be the solution for sis-cdrs combos.

[Han]

Yes, disabling UDMA in bios usually tells Windows MW-DMA is the fastest and best mode for data transfers...

Why don't you guys who own SIS based mobos write to SIS and your motherboard manufacturer a complaint about all this?

[NetUnix]

Now that I've read this other thread I can come down, the drive probably would have made the same problem at my uncles computer, we have the exact same mobo. I guess the disabling the UDMA in the bios won't allow windows to go past multiword dma which probably works ok with sis chipsets. does this make any sence to you??? I think you understand more about computers then I do, hopefully this could be the solution for sis-cdrs combos.

hi, i don't think that the problem is so nearly related to the SiS chipset. Infact i have an Asus Tusl2-c (with intel 815EP chipset...the best,with 440bx, for pIII) and i have the same problem: nero burns correctly but the verification fails . Now i'm trying to burn cds disableing some devices. Try also to update the ASPI driver(www.adaptec.com) and to install only Nero Burning as cd writing software(if you have installed EasyCD or directCD this may be your problem..) The cd writer firmware doesn't matter. I suspect that my problem come from my lg cdrom. This is set on ide0 as slave with a maxtor hd. The writer is set on ide1 as slave with a quantum hd. Well i inactivated th cdrom by device manager and now i've done 15 burnings ok.. the lg cdrom is a crap.. it doesn't support udma2(33mb/s)..

[javier]

i really think you should get the two HDs on one IDE and in the other set the CD-RW as master and the cd-rom as slave (though by doing this you risk of the cd-rw getting stuck in pio, you should check that)

[NetUnix]

i really think you should get the two HDs on one IDE and in the other set the CD-RW as master and the cd-rom as slave (though by doing this you risk of the cd-rw getting stuck in pio, you should check that)

i don't think my actual configuration is a problem . Infact i also tryed burning after haveing left the only cdrw on the secondary ide as master after have uninstalled the quantum hd. ..and nothing changed.
Why do you think that the better setting is that with both hd on ide0 and cdroms on ide1? (the hd are ata133 and ata66) On thjis setting i can't burn on the fly. isn't it?

[CDRecorder]

Why don't you guys who own SIS based mobos write to SIS and your motherboard manufacturer a complaint about all this?

I have two Daewoo CB649M-SI boards with the SiS 620 chipset, and they've never had this problem, AFAIK.

[CDRecorder]

Now, I'm interested, so I just ran a test. I burned an Imation 16x disc at 32x on my LTR-32123S, which is attached to one of the boards mentioned in my above post. I burned 74min of data. Using CDCheck, I compared the data and everything was copied accurately.

Oops, I just remembered; I don't even have that burner attached to the motherboard; it's on a PCI IDE card (and it actually works that way).

I still have burned many discs on my other machine containing the Daewoo board (its burners are attached to the mobo), and I never remember any problems there.