very mysterious problem

I'm new (hence the newbie room) but have a weird, frustrating problem. I use an 8x ioMagic dvd writer; dvdDecrypter to rip, then dvd shrink to write the .iso image, then dvdDecryptor to burn the dvd. This has worked perfectly the first dozen times. Then, it suddenly won't work anymore. The problem is with the last step - burning the image to disc. It will only burn at 0.6x speed, will fluctuate between 0.0 bytes/min and say 850 bytes/min (with a regular rhythm), and will always just stop at slightly over 1,005,000,000 bytes written. I have a stack of coasters here, 22% finished. What am I doing wrong? I updated to dvdDecryptor 3.2.3.0 - no better. Help!
Joe

 

What brand of discs are you using?

 

Fujifilm +R's, but it also happens on Ridata dvd+rw.
I would have suspected the media, but the first dozen worked flawlessly.

 

Do you have any other programs or processes running at the same time maybe in the tool bar or background?

 

Sounds like you are going into PIO Mode. Go into Device Manager and check the Secondary IDE Channel and make sure DMA is enabled

 

Deeman, I've got nothing else running in toolbar or background, other than systray stuff sitting there.

Car.Mike, Secondary IDE channel is "DMA if available" on both devices. However, I also checked the primary IDE channel; device 0 is "DMA if available, and Device 1 is PIO only" !?! Should I change it to DMA? Would it screw up anything else on my machine? How would this get switched without me knowing it?
Thanks for the help, guys.

 

Yes you need them in DMA and you will screw up nothing.( My device 1 in Primary IDE is set to DMA if available) When Windows gets more than 5 conflicts it lowers the DMA 1 notch until it reaches PIO where it stays.

 

" When Windows gets more than 5 conflicts it lowers the DMA 1 notch until it reaches PIO where it stays. "
What would cause the conflicts? Should I check the DMA settings before I burn every time?
Joe

 

FYI, once you get it working again, you can rip and shrink with dvd shrink at the same time, no need to use dvd decrypter first.

 

Thanks, sly.
I've tried that several times, but when dvdShrink starts ripping, it gives me the "can't continue, copy protection detected." message. Thus I use dvdDecrypter to rip. I will, however, try it your way again. Cheers
Joe

 

BTW
Is there any downside to flashing the latest firmware to my drive? Or should I leave well enough alone?

 

If your rewriter is now working then leave the firmware as it is. 'Don't try to fix it, unless its broken' springs to mind..lol Try everything else to get things going before messing with firmware, unless of course its an offical update!

 

Update
Just burned a backup of a movie - decryptor said successfully. Write speed was average of 0.5x. It took hours, and the movie is very very choppy. My primary IDE Device 1 was set to "DMA if available" but under 'current transfer mode' it stayed at "PIO Mode". Is there a way to force DMA?
Should I try uninstalling my IDE controller driver? It's Microsoft file version 5.1.2600.1106.

 

realnewbe ,
You can try uninstalling the primary. You might try a re-seating the cables and see if they have somehow come loose. If all of the cable are seated properly and un-installing and then re-booting the computer does not work then you might have to carry it to the PC Doc.
One more thing you might try is to get a registry cleaner because you might be having registry conflicts. Do a Google search for Registry Cleaners and the first one should offer you a 15 free trial . That should be plenty of time to fix the registry if that is the problem.

 

I've already reseated the cable. If I uninstall the driver, do I reinstall from the Windows disc upon rebooting? My xp disc is a dvd, and if I don't have a dvd drive operating, I can't reinstall from it.

 

realnewbe,
Windows when it re-boots will find the hardware and install it for you automatically. You have to do nothing.

 

Update
I removed the dvd burner (which I had done before - no effect); but this time I installed an old cd-rom drive there. Booted up, forcing Windows to recognize it. Uninstalled it, reinstalled dvd burner. This time, the driver loads with DMA working. Backed up a movie, looks great.

Thanks to you guys - I couldn't have done it without you
Joe