(Dead) OfficeMax president day (2-16) ads are up: Verbatim 48X CD-RW $9.99 AR & 200 CDRs free ARs = "you make $15"

[Caveman2001]

BTW,

I did update the firmware of my drive to A.YZ and it still performed badly.

It is a great deal to get the drive for free, but when the performance is so bad it's not worth keeping really.

Here is the NERO CD SPEED TEST I did to show all of you the really horrible results.

Tak a look, it's disappointing to say the least.

 

[White Widow]

To everyone who is having trouble with this drive, let me share with you my own expereince. I got OM to give me the I/O Magic 48x16x48 in replacement of the Verbatim that was advertised for $29.99 - $20 rebate. It had model#BCE4816IM which is a BTC model number, and is an identical drive to at least the Benq, MSI, and Optowrite drives. I took it home and it performed like crap. You can see my own CDSpeed results HERE. It would freeze my system before ever writing a byte in Nero.

After some research and a little spilled blood, I got it working great. What you *must* do with this drive is make it a MASTER device, and set the little jumper in the back to MASTER and not CABLE SELECT. It is also very particular about the media you put in it. I have some generic silver 99min CDR's that burn at 48x on another burner, but the I/O drive will only burn to them at 16x. However, with both TDK and Optimum 48X media it writes at full speed. Since I set it to master it has been flawless.

NOTE - Even now CDSpeed gives a terrible report card, but actual burns in Nero are flawless and impervious to other system stress - I've tested the buffer underrun protection and it works 100%.

Over 20 consecutive burns without a coaster, all at 48X. Now, as for long-term durability, not to mention the quality of the rebate department, your guess is as good as mine, but at least it's been working to spec.

 

[gaius]

Well, my BenQ is Cendyne... And i cant flash it right.
I used the one from Benq's website

 

[DaveR]

I went to the Verbatim site and when I navigate to the firmware downloads, it shows a BENQ 48x12x48. But, when you go to click it, the bottom of the screen shows the file is a 48x16x48 AYZ.exe

I will try that when I get home.

Originally posted by: gaius
I have the BenQ drive too. But for the life of me, i can't flash the firmware!
Its A.UZ right now. I ran the firmupgrade to A.YZ by pessing the "upgrade now" button. after 30 seconds, it would say its done. I would reboot it. But its still at A.UZ
I tried it like 6 times. same result.
I am using WinXP.

Anyone got it working, please let me know!

 

[Caveman2001]

Originally posted by: White Widow
To everyone who is having trouble with this drive, let me share with you my own expereince. I got OM to give me the I/O Magic 48x16x48 in replacement of the Verbatim that was advertised for $29.99 - $20 rebate. It had model#BCE4816IM which is a BTC model number, and is an identical drive to at least the Benq, MSI, and Optowrite drives. I took it home and it performed like crap. You can see my own CDSpeed results HERE. It would freeze my system before ever writing a byte in Nero.

After some research and a little spilled blood, I got it working great. What you *must* do with this drive is make it a MASTER device, and set the little jumper in the back to MASTER and not CABLE SELECT. It is also very particular about the media you put in it. I have some generic silver 99min CDR's that burn at 48x on another burner, but the I/O drive will only burn to them at 16x. However, with both TDK and Optimum 48X media it writes at full speed. Since I set it to master it has been flawless.

NOTE - Even now CDSpeed gives a terrible report card, but actual burns in Nero are flawless and impervious to other system stress - I've tested the buffer underrun protection and it works 100%.

Over 20 consecutive burns without a coaster, all at 48X. Now, as for long-term durability, not to mention the quality of the rebate department, your guess is as good as mine, but at least it's been working to spec.

I have the drive set to master and on its own cable and it still performs horrible.


NERO CD SPEED TEST

 

[MOONKEY]

I have the drive set to master and on its own cable and it still performs horrible.


NERO CD SPEED TEST[/quote]

Did you set it as master drive of Primary IDE Channel?

 

[WallyKid]

My samsung SW-248F doesn't work with CD creater when i need to burn data, and when i tried using nero, it only allows me to burn at 32X. Why is that happening?

 

[gwlam12]

and people wonder why unemployment is on the rise...

 

[anotherworld07]

hi, problem about my order
i order verbatim CDRW, but its backorder
they say they will call me or email me in 7days
and they will have it, but after 7 days,
the rebate expired on 2-22. WTF would i want it if no rebate?
that sucks.........should i cancel all my orders
becuz i only got $8 discount out of $25 ($25/$100)
and i only got some craps....CDr,canned,surgeprotect.....
thanx

 

[bletzinger]

Originally posted by: Nickb2b
The benq packed by Verbatim can not be upgraded with the benq firmware utility. The Benq packaged by Cendyne can be upgraded with the benq utililty. Seems the Verbatim modified the firmware and Cendyne did not.

NickB

I have a Benq drive packed by Verbatim and successfully flashed to rev A.YZ

 

[Kelemvor]

When I pop open Nero, the top speed it gives me for writing to a CDR is 24x even though it's supposed to be a 48x drive. Does that mean the drive is crap or Nero is messed up?

 

[wmansir]

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
When I pop open Nero, the top speed it gives me for writing to a CDR is 24x even though it's supposed to be a 48x drive. Does that mean the drive is crap or Nero is messed up?

It's the media. The drive can detect crap media and will lower the max writing speed accordingly. Pop in quality 48x media (I like Fujifilm) and it should let you burn at 48x.

 

[MOONKEY]

Originally posted by: anotherworld07
hi, problem about my order
i order verbatim CDRW, but its backorder
they say they will call me or email me in 7days
and they will have it, but after 7 days,
the rebate expired on 2-22. WTF would i want it if no rebate?
that sucks.........should i cancel all my orders
becuz i only got $8 discount out of $25 ($25/$100)
and i only got some craps....CDr,canned,surgeprotect.....
thanx

You should e-mail OfficeMax, see what they say? I had a backorder which was credited amount of rebate, since it was too late to met the deadline.

 

[DaveR]

Did you let it run? Mine starts at 24x and goes to 48X. Also, I use Nero 5.5.10.0. I also got the latest 1.02, I think speed test from Nero.

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
When I pop open Nero, the top speed it gives me for writing to a CDR is 24x even though it's supposed to be a 48x drive. Does that mean the drive is crap or Nero is messed up?

 

[DaveR]

No problem flashing from A.WZ to A.YZ on my XP.

Originally posted by: DaveR
I went to the Verbatim site and when I navigate to the firmware downloads, it shows a BENQ 48x12x48. But, when you go to click it, the bottom of the screen shows the file is a 48x16x48 AYZ.exe

I will try that when I get home.

Originally posted by: gaius
I have the BenQ drive too. But for the life of me, i can't flash the firmware!
Its A.UZ right now. I ran the firmupgrade to A.YZ by pessing the "upgrade now" button. after 30 seconds, it would say its done. I would reboot it. But its still at A.UZ
I tried it like 6 times. same result.
I am using WinXP.

Anyone got it working, please let me know!

 

[anotherworld07]

 

[anotherworld07]

i bought the combo, and they have many rebates
most of rebates are from officemax, although they say they want orginal reciept from their rebate center
but do they take copy of reciept??
otherwise i dont have that many reciept to send to them.....
thanx

 

[Kelemvor]

I let it run and it definitely wasn't anywhere near 48. THe media I have is the stuff I got with the burner from OM. The eWorks 48x CDs. Says 48 on the spindle so I'd think it should write at 48.

I'm using Nero 5.5.10.7. Even whern I put in some old CDs from a long time ago (maybe 4x CDs) Nero doesn't change and still shows me the option for 24x

When I go to Nero and go to Choose Recorder, it says CDRW 48x24. It then says Maximum Speed 24x. According to Nero it's Firmware Version D.IC whatever that means.

Hmmm

 

[DaveR]

Do you have the BENQ 4816P? If so, the firmware version does not make sense. I tried a nero speed test on a verbatim 10X cd-rw and got 12X!! I then tried it on the media that came inside the Verbatim box and it started at 23x and rose, quickly, to 48X.

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
I let it run and it definitely wasn't anywhere near 48. THe media I have is the stuff I got with the burner from OM. The eWorks 48x CDs. Says 48 on the spindle so I'd think it should write at 48.

I'm using Nero 5.5.10.7. Even whern I put in some old CDs from a long time ago (maybe 4x CDs) Nero doesn't change and still shows me the option for 24x

When I go to Nero and go to Choose Recorder, it says CDRW 48x24. It then says Maximum Speed 24x. According to Nero it's Firmware Version D.IC whatever that means.

Hmmm

 

[cdrw]

I have the same problem.

After got tech support email back from Cendyne, I upgraded to latest firmware, but it got even worse.
Before upgrade, I made a 470Meg VCD copy at 14mins. Now, it failed at 30%.
I have it set to master at 2nd IDE.

The slave is a HiVal 24x. the same VCD copy only took 5mins on this 24x burner.

Originally posted by: Caveman2001

Originally posted by: White Widow
To everyone who is having trouble with this drive, let me share with you my own expereince. I got OM to give me the I/O Magic 48x16x48 in replacement of the Verbatim that was advertised for $29.99 - $20 rebate. It had model#BCE4816IM which is a BTC model number, and is an identical drive to at least the Benq, MSI, and Optowrite drives. I took it home and it performed like crap. You can see my own CDSpeed results HERE. It would freeze my system before ever writing a byte in Nero.

After some research and a little spilled blood, I got it working great. What you *must* do with this drive is make it a MASTER device, and set the little jumper in the back to MASTER and not CABLE SELECT. It is also very particular about the media you put in it. I have some generic silver 99min CDR's that burn at 48x on another burner, but the I/O drive will only burn to them at 16x. However, with both TDK and Optimum 48X media it writes at full speed. Since I set it to master it has been flawless.

NOTE - Even now CDSpeed gives a terrible report card, but actual burns in Nero are flawless and impervious to other system stress - I've tested the buffer underrun protection and it works 100%.

Over 20 consecutive burns without a coaster, all at 48X. Now, as for long-term durability, not to mention the quality of the rebate department, your guess is as good as mine, but at least it's been working to spec.

I have the drive set to master and on its own cable and it still performs horrible.


NERO CD SPEED TEST

 

[DaveR]

I actually have seen only one problem so far. I hope it is media related and will test tonight.

I tried a cd-rw that I got from FRY's. It is a 10X cd-rw (GQ) and my Lite-on and NEC like it Ok.

The 4816P is OK with it as well, and I tried some tests and did an erase without a problem.

BUT, if I erase it again (NERO) it takes a while and ends with a Power Calibration Area Full message. If I put it in my Lite-on and erase it again, all is Ok. I can put it into the 4816P and even do another erase OK.

I need to see if this is a media issue or a drive issue. I must say, so far the 4816P is not bad, but is much more media dependant that the Lite-on ltr24102B.
Anyone else see this error?

P.S. A CloneCd erase also failed on this media and the 4816P..

 

[Kelemvor]

Well I used the Nero Speed test thing and here's the results. Not sure what the yellow line signifies but anyway....

CD that came with the Burner: Start: 22.57, End: 49.47, Avg: 37.65, Time: 2:31
eWorks 48x CD, FAR from President's Day: Start: 22.69, End: 23.92, Avg: 23.88, Time: 3:36
IO Magic 48x CD, FAR from President's Day: Start: 22.75, End: 49.75, Avg: 37.88, TIme: 2:27

So I thought maybe it was a bad CD from the eWorks stack so I tried another one... 23.85 Avg.

So my Expert Analysis is that the eWorks CDs SUCK. Better get my damn rebate or I'm taking them back to OfficeMax.

 

[Caveman2001]

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Well I used the Nero Speed test thing and here's the results. Not sure what the yellow line signifies but anyway....

CD that came with the Burner: Start: 22.57, End: 49.47, Avg: 37.65, Time: 2:31
eWorks 48x CD, FAR from President's Day: Start: 22.69, End: 23.92, Avg: 23.88, Time: 3:36
IO Magic 48x CD, FAR from President's Day: Start: 22.75, End: 49.75, Avg: 37.88, TIme: 2:27

So I thought maybe it was a bad CD from the eWorks stack so I tried another one... 23.85 Avg.

So my Expert Analysis is that the eWorks CDs SUCK. Better get my damn rebate or I'm taking them back to OfficeMax.

Here's what CD-R Identifier 1.63 said about the CD that came with my drive.


ATIP: 97m 15s 17f
Disc Manufacturer: Ritek Co.
Reflective layer: Dye (Short strategy; e.g. Phthalocyanine)
Media type: CD-Recordable
Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
nominal Capacity: 702.82MB (79m 59s 70f / LBA: 359845)

As we all know, Ritek is a cheapo brand.


Here's what the E-works brand says.

ATIP: 97m 26s 53f
Disc Manufacturer: Lead Data Inc.
Reflective layer: Dye (Long strategy; e.g. Cyanine, Azo etc.)
Media type: CD-Recordable
Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f / LBA: 359849)

Now, just so you know, the Lead Data brand has the same characteristics as Taiyo Yuden discs.

Here's a Taiyo Yuden

ATIP: 97m 24s 01f
Disc Manufacturer: Taiyo Yuden Company Ltd.
Reflective layer: Dye (Long strategy; e.g. Cyanine, Azo etc.)
Media type: CD-Recordable
Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 73f / LBA: 359848)


I could be wrong, but my guess is that the E-works brand is pretty comparable to the Taiyo Yuden brand. Anyone disagree? If you do, why?

 

[DaveR]

Hey, for FREE who cares, but I will try mine as well.

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
Well I used the Nero Speed test thing and here's the results. Not sure what the yellow line signifies but anyway....

CD that came with the Burner: Start: 22.57, End: 49.47, Avg: 37.65, Time: 2:31
eWorks 48x CD, FAR from President's Day: Start: 22.69, End: 23.92, Avg: 23.88, Time: 3:36
IO Magic 48x CD, FAR from President's Day: Start: 22.75, End: 49.75, Avg: 37.88, TIme: 2:27

So I thought maybe it was a bad CD from the eWorks stack so I tried another one... 23.85 Avg.

So my Expert Analysis is that the eWorks CDs SUCK. Better get my damn rebate or I'm taking them back to OfficeMax.

 

[DaveR]

Does anyone know why some ads show the Samsung sw-248 as 16X rewrite and others show it at 24X?