Hi Folks, I haven't been on the AfterDawn forum for years, "Hi there!" I need help if you anyone of you could. I have a DELL Inspiron 1000 laptop, and a new CD/DVD drive. It's an Optiarc AD-5530A CD/DVD drive, I bought it on ebay, a couple of months ago. It was a local ebayer in Seattle area. But it needed a firmware for that CD/DVD drive so it can burn well on CD and DVD so that other computers and players would recognized of what was bruned on the AD-5530A CD/DVD drive. The local ebayer doesn't know where I can find a firmware from. When I went to the Optiarc's website, they provide a tool called "DriveBoost" tool. I downloaed from their site, and installed onto the DELL inpiron 1000 latop, and didn't know that it scans the whole computer. I thought the DriveBoost is a firmware for the AD-5530A CD/DVD drive, apparently it isn't. Once after it scanned my laptop, then it asked me to type in the registration key that don't have. An order for DriveBoost to fix my laptop by providing drivers, it wants me to type in the registeation key. Or buy DriveBoost tool. Is there any way that I could find a registration key to continue with DriveBoost. Or maybe I don't really need DriveBoost, and only just need a simple fimrware for my AD-5530A CD/DVD drive?? The drive is made by Optiarc, I think. Could anyone help me on what're really necessary for me to have??? All I'm asking is for a firmware for that CD/DVD drive. And not have to have a tool that scans the whole laptop. Whether is it really true that I would need to have them to provide drivers onto my laptop. They say that my drivers that I provided for other devices are "OUT-DATED". And I don't know whether to believe such thing on whether DriveBoost provides updtated drivers???? Overall, am I screwed up ending up using the DriveBoost that I may NOT really need??? And I only need a firmware JUST for that AD-5530A CD/DVD drive??? Thank for reading my concern and I hope that if anyone in the forum has answers. Thank youy, Eugene Seattle, WA.
Have you attempted burning a CD/DVD and failed, hence your thinking you need to update the firmware? What are you trying to achieve? Go to this page and download Nero InfoTool: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cd_dvd/dvd_tools/nero_info_tool.cfm Run the infotool.exe file and tell me what version your current firmware is. I think it should tell you on the configuration tab. Regardless, from my limited searching, I imagine the version will be AX23 and there don't appear to be any updates available. Couldn't find much info on "DriveBoost" but did find something called "DriverBoost" - is this what you mean? If so, you don't need it, it's not firmware for your drive. Be wary that flashing (aka installing) the incorrect firmware or drivers for a DVD drive can render it useless.
that is a 8x DVD±RW DL drive. who makes the disks you are trying to burn & what burning program are you using?
Hi Ripper, Thanks for your fast response. YES, CD/DVD does sometimes failed by using the Optiarc AD-5530A drive. Bow?? I tried uisng Essy CD Creater, DVD Drcrypter, Roxio DE, and etc. It failed on DVDs, but not with CD. When I used CD-RW, I took that dis onto a different computer to see whether would it comply. It didn't.... It did NOT recognized the burning or finalized by the Optiarc AD-5530A drive. Same situation with DVDs. This has nothing to do with whatever brand makes the DVD or CDS OR CD-RW were made by. It's just that other computers doesn't recognize the finalized disc by the AD-5530A drive on my DELL insprion 1000 laptop. However, CD-R itself, the other computers were able to comply to that CD-R that was burned by the AD-5530A drive. Just DVD-R, DVD-RW, and CD-RW weren't recognized by other computers. YES, the AD-5530A does burns CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RWW. It's strange that other computers does not recognize those discs that were finalized by the AD-5530A drive. Now get this, oter CDs or DVDs that were burned on a different computer, you try to load or play those disc on the AD-5530A drive, it does recognaized them. Now isn't that stange??? YES, about that driver I downloaded, it's called "DriverBoost" from Optiarc website. If you believe that I don't need them, should I uninstall it from my laptop??? Finally,about the Nero Infotool, what am I suppose to do once after I install it??? What would it do for me?? Would it check my AD-5530A drive??? Hope this helps with answers. Eugene
Having multiples burning engines installed, eg Roxio, can cause them to interfere with one another. It might be wise to uninstall the majority of them and familiarise yourself with a program called IMGBurn for burning purposes. This isn't true; the two are not mutually exclusive. If you are using media that your burner's firmware does not support proper write strategies for, then you won't have much success playing back any discs you burn because it won't have burned successfully or done a very good job. Like ddp said, your drive only supports writing media up to a certain speed (8x). Not particularly - writing and read errors are sometimes caused by separate issues. "DriverBoost" is not firmware for your drive - from what I gather, it is a program that supposedly finds and updates drivers for all your PC hardware. Could you perhaps link me to where you downloaded the software from? Nero InfoTool would just tell us both what version your drive's firmware is to establish if there are any updates available for it, to potentially fix the problem - it would not fix the problem itself.
Hi Rippoer, YES, here's the link to where I downloaded that "DriverBoost". http://www.driverboost.com/lp/drivers/update/Optiarc-Drivers.php?gclid=CKncy6Cy_a8CFSo0QgodHDboRA And I found out about my blank discs with write sppeds. SONY DVD-R 16X Memorex DVD+RW 4X Memorex DVD-RW 4X Memorex DVD+RDL 8X Memorex DVD-R 16X Memorex CD-RW 12X Memorex CD-R 52X There are the blank discs I have, now. In fact I posted note on each one of them with written write speeds on the note for each one of them, so that I would recognzie them. : - ))) Does this all help??? Okay, I'm going to uninstall the "DriverBoots" from the DELL Inspiron 1000 laptop. Eugene
Yes, uninstall that software; it isn't going to help with this. As mentioned, your drive only supports writing DVD media up to a maximum speed of 8x, so the following discs aren't supported properly: SONY DVD-R 16X Memorex DVD-R 16X Ideally you would use 8x media, but try burning these discs at 4x speed. What speed have you been burning your DVDs at currently? They might just not burn properly at all. Your drive also only supports writing CD-R at 24x and DVD+R/-R DL at 6X/4X, so same story with these with these: Memorex CD-R 52X Memorex DVD+RDL 8X You can read all of this information for yourself on the spec page for your DVD drive here. Some general points: - Media rated at a higher speed than is supported by your drive is not going to provide good end results. The drive's firmware doesn't support it, so as a result will probably try to use a "default" write strategy (if it works at all) and not be successful. - The manufacturer of the media you are using (Memorex) is not very reliable (in most cases). It might be cheap but what you get is what you pay for. Recommend brands include Verbatim and Sony.
Hey Ripper, I want to send you "Print Screen" of "Nero Info Tool" outcome on my laptop. How do I send you photos attachment, so that you could see it yourself???? I could send it in WINZIP attachment. There are 5 photos to show you. Let me know how I can send photos for you. Thanks, Eugene
You are welcome to show me, but I've already answered your problem in my previous post: - You're using the wrong media so you aren't going to have much success burning discs - There are no firmware updates seemingly available for your drive to improve that Upload them to a site like tinypic.com and post the links here if you really still feel the need.
Okay Ripper, Try this edited by ddp I uploaded 3 or 4 images for you. Let me know if you couldn't get it. Or they're not uploaded. Eugene
Yes, those screenshots don't shed light on any new information; you just need to follow the advice I've given you.
post edited & others deleted as per forum rules. get some more ram as your are at 256meg which is not enough when doing burning & other things at the same time.
Well it's a laptop (and judging by the spec, a reasonably old one) so sourcing additional RAM might be a bit of an issue (if the board even has space for more, I don't know). But obviously I agree, it's not enough.
512meg total http://www.ehow.com/list_7274805_dell-inspiron-1000-specifications.html http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=1955
That's the other issue... The current BIOS A07, which is the OLD BIOS, wouldn't accept extra RAM. Someone mentioned that in order to add exrra RAM, is to get BIOS A08 that might accept additional RAM. Hmmmmm, I didn't expect to come across this in this forum. But thanks for the suggestion on the RAM. I agree with that one. Eugnee
Hi Everybody, PROBLEM SOLVED!!!! Here's how. I bought a TDK 50 pack of DVD-R 1-16X. It includes 8X as one of you members suggested. So, instead of just 16x DVD-R disc I already have, I went out and bought a TDK brand name, DVD-R 1-to-16X Guess what???? It works!!! I burned a short video onto DVD-R 1-16X disc on a AD-5530A CD/DVD burner drive. I played that burned DVD disc onto another computer and stand alone DVD player, they recgonzed the signature from AD-5530A DVD drive. Than it didn't recognized with a DVD-R 16X. This depends on which DVD drive you're using and that would it be recognize by other DVD players. Righ now, problem solved. Get a DVD that's 1-16X. TDK brand mostly have them. Thanks for your help. Eugene
