Burning problems on a Plextor PX-716A

[tj06]

I am having trouble burning music, Data CDs and DVDs on a Plextor PX716-A.

I originally was using this 3 month old drive on an old P2 350 MHz ASUS with no problem what so ever. I am now using this drive on a new machine.

Win 2K
MSI K8N-Neo4
Atholon 3200 939 socket
Kingston 512 ram

Everything reads OK but up until recently I am getting a clipping and massive static on all music tracks that I burn, the static gets worse as the tracks go up. Burning data or DVDs is as if I never burned them. Although I can visually see data written on the disc surface I get a D:\ is not accessible, Incorrect function message in explorer.

I don't know what is causing this or when it started. I don't know if it was always like this because this is a pretty new machine. Could it be any hot fixes or patches? I seem to remember Windows Media player being not able to play certain copyrighted discs.
I am using Nero 6 and Roxio 6. I burn pretty much MP3s but the same thing happens with everything including copying discs. I have a identical machine using both programs with a TDK burner no problem.

Please help

tj06

 

[montag451]

Could try a cleaning disk to see if that is the problem.

Just to make sure, I would swapping drives with the working one as a troubleshoot.
Then, you would know for sure that the drive is buggered

 

[tj06]

OK I just did a cleaning and a swap of both drives. The Plextor gave me the same symptoms it gave me before the move. The TDK worked fine on my original machine that had the plextor in it. I am unconvinced that there is a problem with the plextor. This drive was bought new and worked fine up to this point. It was manufactured in December 2004. I feel that it is a software issue with some program or software update that I get from Microsoft. No one else has this problem with other burners?

The only way for me to find out if this is software related issue, would be to format my hard drive and reinstall windows with no updates and burn something. Both machines are running windows 2000 with service pack 4 and downloaded upgrades from Microsoft as they become available. If there are any other ideas please let me know.

tj06

 

[montag451]

Sorry -

Lets get this straight.

The drive that didn't work in one machine, didn't work in another machine that had a working drive in.
The drive that did work, also worked in the machine that had a non-working drive in previously.

BAD drive

 

[tj06]

Yes you got it straight

Thank you for your opinion

tj06

 

[tj06]

Just contacted Plextor tech support and they had me run through a self diagnostic check and the drive checked out positive.

It's gotta be a software issue as I guessed before, I will post back when I figure it out!!!

 

[tj06]

OK just got off the phone with Tech support with plextor. It was the firmware upgrade from there website. If any of you have a problem such as this, the upgrade should fix you problem. My drive is now 100% working.


tj06