Hi, don't know if I have come to the right place, but here it goes. I have a Medion MD8683 Titanium, nice PC good specs. It has two optical drives, DVD rom and DVD+/-rw. The drive in question is the Pioneer DVR109. After visiting Medion's support site and found the new firmware for the drive, I was glad to be doing some "update" to the system. I never thought that it does not write to DVDs after that! Everything seems to be in order, it reads and writes CDs no problem, and it also recoganises DVD+R etc. But it does not write on them any more. I'm using Nero6. The problem only occurred after the firmware was installed. And now because of the problem, I only realise that it had trouble reading general DVDs from the beginning but since there is another DVD drive present, that doesn't seem to be a serious issue. Hope someone can help or advise what could be done to solve it. Sorry for the long posting, just trying to be as detailed as I can. Cheers.
hi, no need to apologize for the "long posting"...you've actually done yourself a FAVOR in being as complete as possible~ if you want to see a "long post", you should read some of my 1-page epics on here~ anyways, back to your issue...first, i'm glad you mentioned you have a Medion PC, i would assume that because of this, your Pioneer dvr-109 is using MEDION firmware? am i right? if i may ask, exactly which one are you using? i would suggest this one right here to see if this helps with your current problem of it not being able to write to dvds anymore... http://www1.medion.de/downloads/download.pl?id=2564&type=treiber&filename=dvdrw109.exe&lang=de this is the newest firmware for the MEDION model, 1.57, when you updated/flashed your NEW firmware recently, did you flash with a standard Pioneer firmware or one specifically designed for the Medion? that could be the issue right there, IF in fact your drive currently HAD the medion firmware on it and you flashed it with Pioneer firmware, this WOULD cause problems similar to that of what you are experiencing... first thing is first though, i need to know exactly which model Pioneer dvr-109 you have, whether it's a standard Pioneer, or an OEM with 8.xx firmware, or if it's a Medion OEM~ i have a Pioneer dvr-109 that i cross-flashed with Buffalo firmware to allow bitsetting (booktyping dvd+r to dvd-rom for better compatibility), so, i have quite a bit of experience with THIS particular Pioneer drive; i'll help ya out as much as i can, but need more details for me to continue... docTy~
Thanks doc. It is 1.57 version from Medion, and I think it is Medion OEM drive but labeled as PIONEER DVR-109 in Device Manager. Now, it has stopped reading CDs too, so is any type of media it's not happy with. Tried to spin, but after several clicks it stops. Has it died? Or could it be a registry fault somewhere? Cheers
hmmm... based on your explanation of it, you obviously have the CORRECT Medion firmware...sounds like the drive is on it's way out unfortunately, what kind of cabling are you using (to connect your drive to the motherboard)? i'm assuming the same cables that came with your computer at time of purchase? the regular 40pin/80 connector IDE flat cables? before completely scrapping the drive, you could try to reconnect and make sure the cable is securely seated...physically unplug the IDE cable & power connector from the drive and re-connect it firmly...your cable might be going bad (it's worth a try, i've had my cables go bad on me b4 when i thought my drive was dying; i simply replaced the cable with a new inexpensive $2 one and it started working again) this MIGHT or might not be the case with your Medion/Pioneer dvr-109, but i would suggest trying it before throwing out and replacing your burner...it doesn't hurt to troubleshoot prior to throwing your drive into the trash~ also uninstalling and re-installing the drive via windows might help too, in ur control panel, go to system...then find ur drive in device manager, click on properties..and uninstall the drive and then reboot, in MOST cases, upon reboot windows will "find" the drive again are reinstall necessary drivers/etc. automatically...this MAY or MAY NOT help with your situation, but like i mentioned earlier, it doesn't hurt to examine ALL possible aspects of the issue before giving up and throwing ur drive into the trash bin~ if the few tips i mentioned earlier do NOT help, then i will have to agree with you in saying that your drive is on it's last leg and is on it's way out...lemme know how things go, good luck, the pioneer dvr-109 is my FASTEST drive and it's very good, for you, i hope that urs is still salvageable and we can get it working again before giving it the "boot" docTY~
Could it possibly need a straight Pioneer firmware?? The fact that it shows as a Pioneer 109 in device manager may suggest it needs Pioneer firmware. One of my burners is a Memorex burner which was made by Pioneer and was actually a 106D. When I first got it it showed as a Memorex drive. I reflashed it to a true Pioneer 106D with proper firmware and it now shows as a Pioneer drive. Just a guess but I'm thinking the Medion firmware may have been wrong. Since the drive is not working anyway if won't hurt to try. Jerry
I'm a bit sceptical and reluctant to open the case up and fiddle with it to be honest. Have contacted Medion support so wait to see what they say, since it is still under warrenty, they might do something about it. And I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling, even install a fresh Windows, but nothing could be done about it. If it was the cable's faulty would it still be recognised by device manager as normal? Also Nero InfoTool detected it and verified that it was a drive as it should be. And I did also try Pioneer's own firmware, flashed with the .exe it came with, target not found. DVRFlashed it, not matching. Naughty me force flashed it anyway, still no joy otherwise I wouldn't be here now! So I flashed it back to the OEM version, just in case Medion agreed to take it back and replace it, in my wildest dream I hope so! Oh well, I was kind of considering to get an external drive to use with laptop when I'm out and about anyway, maybe it is time... Thank you guys anyway, I will post back with any further development. Cheers!
jerry has a very good point, i have just not had any experience with a "branded" drive that was actually manufactured by another company that by "cross-flashing" it to the MANUFACTURER's firmware, the issues were resolved..but, as jerry has stated, very possible as he's done it successfully himself~ well, youandme2, since your computer/drives are all still under warranty, i have a good feeling that Medion will resolve the issue, whether it be a direct swap (replacement of the drive) or something along those lines i can understand your hesitancy in opening up ur comp. and fiddling around; i was very much the same way YEARS ago when i first started building my own computers and upgrading my Dell bought computer by replacing components piece by piece~ i HAVE fried a few mobo's and blew out a few power supplies in my days, but, as with anything else in life, i just wanted some "hands-on-experience" with computers in case i ran into any troubles/issues later on that i could remedy myself i wish you the best of luck w/ Medion and their customer support dept., if everything is under warranty, you should have nothing to worry about; most computer builders will run you through a barrage of "troubleshooting" tests (on the phone or via email) to try to pinpoint where the problem could lie, but if that doesn't help, they USUALLY send you out a replacement part for the defective component in question (this is only under warranty of course) if you can get an RMA # from medion and they are willing to ship you out a new drive, then great! please let us know how things work out... docTy~
Hi just to let everyone know that Medion sent out an onsite engineer the other day and fitted a replacement drive, and it's now back to perfect working order! Yeepee! Thank you for all your suggestions and advise. Very much appreciated!
great news buddy, i'm glad it all worked out for ya in the end~ wow, had someone come out and put the replacement drive in for ya huh? now THAT is what i call SERVICE~! docTY~
I know it's pretty cool! I was expecting to fit the drive myself but since they sent someone out, I could sit back and relax! Cheers mate!
