Plextor 16/10/40A Problems >=|

[leapingfrog0]

My Plextor CD-RW drive will not burn any CD's. I pop in a blank CD and go through the Easy CD Creator program, putting the songs I want on my CD into my playlist, and then I click "Create CD" and it will start "creating" the CD:

http://www.iw.net/~aaak/stuff/plext_01.gif

It stays at "Preparing to write the track" for some time until it finally does this:

http://www.iw.net/~aaak/stuff/plext_02.gif

It skips the first track and goes directly to closing session. It will get 100% done with closing the session when it will:

http://www.iw.net/~aaak/stuff/plext_03.gif

It says that errors have been reported by the output device. Here are the errors I've received:

Easy CD Creator 4:
D0100: I/O error (05/2C/04) - Read error - cannot read from blank area on the CD

Easy CD Creator 5
E80041882: CD error - power calibration area error - [03/73/03]
E80041934: TrackWriter error - Flush failed - [T7127]
E80041925: TrackWriter error - Command retry failed - [T7118]

I've gotten similar errors with both versions.


But strangely it wil read from CD's just fine, but for some reason I've never been able to plug my headphones into the front of the drive and hear audio music.

I think I've done everything I can think of:

- Checked IDE Connections, Drive Configs (master, slave, etc.)
- Updated Firmware
- Reinstalled Windows XP Driver
- Upgraded to Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.0 (Windows XP support)
- Attempted to "clean" out drive with compressed air
- Used CD-R media included with my Plextor drive

Thanks for any help.

 

[Tates]

leapingfrog0,

The exact same thing happened to my Plexwriter 16/10/40A. Your cdrw is pooched. That power calibration area error is the culprit.

You need to RMA this unit back to Plextor.

 

[leapingfrog0]

Okay, thanks. How do I go about doing this? Do I need to get to get some sort of permission from Plextor to send it back? What do I all need to send?

So once you RMAed your unit back to Plextor your drive has worked just fine?

EDIT: How long does it usually take for Plextor to validate your request, look over the drive, give you a replacement, and send it back?

 

[bozo1]

Don't know how long it takes but you can go here to start the RMA process.

 

[Tates]

From the Plextor RMA site:



<< Warranty: RMA Request


The policies, instructions and forms downloadable from this page apply to U.S. customers only. If you are a Canadian customer, please contact Memofix for warranty service.

Please fill out the RMA request form below and attach it to your e-mail to rmasupport@plextor.com (make sure to save it on your computer first) or fax it to 303-708-0709.
Standard turn-around time is 10 business days. >>



The new drive has worked fine since 3/01. It's now in my daughters PC.

Plextor used to allow crossing shipping where you would send the bad drive and they would send the replacement at the same time. Not anymore. You'll apply for a RMA, they will e-mail you back with the instructions. Once they receive the bad drive, they will ship the replacement. 10 business days equals 2 weeks.

 

[leapingfrog0]

Bah, this sucks. I'll be without a drive for at least two weeks!

So did you contact Plextor support ever? What did they say? How do you recommend sending my drive?

 

[Tates]

When I RMA'ed my cdrw, Plextor had just stopped the practice of cross shipping. After talking with a service rep, I was able to talk them into cross shipping. Anyway, I shipped FedEx, so I could track it online. They were pretty good at getting me a drive in about 3 days.

 

[leapingfrog0]

Okay, cool.. any packaging suggestions? I don't have a Mail Boxes etc. around here since I live in a small town, so I'd like to package it myself good enough so it doesn't break during shipping 🙂

Did Plextor ever tell you what the problem was or what was causing it?

 

[Tates]

<< any packaging suggestions? I don't have a Mail Boxes etc. around here since I live in a small town, so I'd like to package it myself good enough so it doesn't break during shipping >>



Just do the best you can.



<< Did Plextor ever tell you what the problem was or what was causing it? >>



When I described the error message to the tech, he immediately said the drive was pooched and sent me to RMA.

 

[leapingfrog0]

Okay, I'm about to send in my request for an RMA number... I send this in, wait for them to validate my request and give me a number, and then ship the drive with the RMA number somewhere in my package or what?

I suppose Plextor will give me instructions once I send out the RMA request, huh?

Oh, and, do I need to worry about ESD with this drive during shipment?