My Sony DDU1612/Liteon 166S doesn't read Fuji CDRs right ...

[articulate]

I have a Sony DDU-1612 (which I have also flashed to Liteon LTD-166S and back again) and I'm experiencing a puzzling problem.

I put the drive in my daughter's PC (was my old PC) w/ XP and PII 400 Ghz.

I've discovered the drive has problems reading/installing backed-up games burned on Fuji 40X-48X media. I haven't really tested other CDR media regarding this problem yet.

Even backups of unprotected games don't seem to work, e.g., a Nancy Drew backup. At the same time, while the drive does seem to be able to read the contents of the disc, I've now experienced installation failures, as well as not being able to play an installed game w/ the drive.

All of the above-mentioned CDRs are handled normally by a TEAC 512EB burner also installed in the same PC.

Having established this fact, I assumed the DDU1612 was defective, and replaced it w/ a new identical drive (under the guarantee policy), but guess what...the new drive displays the SAME behavior!

I have DMA enabled on both drives within the system, and am at a loss to understand this problem...I can't believe a Liteon drive could have a reading problem w/ Fuji media....!

I've pretty much decided to get rid of the DDU1612 and get a drive my daughter can use, but I wanted to check w/ the resident experts first.

Surely the chances of getting TWO defective DDU1612 drives in a row must be slim....

I would very much appreciate any help and/or suggestions!

[CDRecorder]

Are your backed-up games copy-protected? Some drives are better than others for reading copies of copy-protected games. This could explain the behavior that you are seeing.

[articulate]

...the funny thing is, as I said, even NON-copy-protected games don't work...I can see and click on the contents of the CDR, but when trying to play the game, the drive acts like there's no CDR present...it acts like it can't handle/recognize a "copy-protected" copy, as you describe.

And this morning, I tried an older CDR game-backup (of a copy protected game) burnt on a CDR w/ a phthalocyanine (goldish-green) dye, and after about 10-15 seconds of not "seeing" the disc, the game was then PLAYABLE!

This would indicate to me that the drive has a problem reading the TY Fujis 100% accurately (w/ the cyanine dye). But that would REALLY surprise me, since the TY discs are among the best, and newer drives are pretty much supposed to be compatible w/ most all blanks these days, or so I thought.

Can you Liteon owners share your experiences with this?

[dodecahedron]

do you have some kind of "hicd CDR media" feature enabled?
CloneCD or Alcohol 120%?
if the game has this protection it won't play the game off a CDR, only off a "regular" pressed CD.

[CDRecorder]

Good, thought, Dodecahedron, but I doubt this is the case because the games will run from a burner (in the same PC) and because DVD-ROM and CD-ROM drives can't read the ATIP, which is how the game determines whether it is on a CD-R or a pressed CD.

Articulate, will other programs (not games) run off of CD-Rs in your DVD-ROM drive?

[articulate]

Are your backed-up games copy-protected? Some drives are better than others for reading copies of copy-protected games. This could explain the behavior that you are seeing.

I think you're right, CDRecorder. It doesn't seem to be the Fujis or the dye. The Sony/Liteon has problems w/ some forms of copy-protection, whereas another drive might not. That's what my testing leads me to believe.

I'm just surprised because I thought Liteons (at least, CD-RW drives) were pretty good about handling copy-protected CD-Rs.

Thanks, all, for the help and your time!

[CDRecorder]

You're welcome.

I hope I was able to help!