Back to Forums






PDA

View Full Version : Lousy DVD Rewritable Media or Drive?

Conan
June 4th, 2007, 13:13 PM
So I have this LiteOn DVD Writer LH-20A1H. I bought some Philips DVD-RW's only to find out that I can only use them once and then I can't erase them. The erase process never finishes whether I use the built-in erase command of Vista or Nero's erase process. So nothing can be burned on them. I think it's just lousy media.

So I find some Imation DVD +RW's and try them out. Same result, can only be used once. And one of them can't be used straight out of the box. Are DVD Rewritable media really shitty or is the LiteOn choosy? The salesgirl at one shop seemed surprised when I complained to her and thinks that the LiteOn is just being choosy. But feedback from other computer stores say that LiteOn is the preferred writer locally.

I already updated the firmware to the latest one out just last April 2.
Reverend
June 4th, 2007, 19:01 PM
Is this under Vista?

Although the drive is recognised in device manager, the firmware may not be vista ready.

Looking on the Lite-On Europe site it says "Compatibility: Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP"

They also recommend the following media brands: TAIYO, MBI, CMC, SONY.
Conan
June 4th, 2007, 23:46 PM
But burning to DVD -R, +R works perfectly.
Reverend
June 5th, 2007, 18:38 PM
Sounds like a sessions problem.

Try one of the brands i listed.
Conan
June 6th, 2007, 04:53 AM
Sounds like a sessions problem.

Try one of the brands i listed.

There aren't many choices for DVD RW's here. I will try to erase them with our office PC using XP and a Samsung drive.
Conan
June 7th, 2007, 11:43 AM
Is this under Vista?

Although the drive is recognised in device manager, the firmware may not be vista ready.

Looking on the Lite-On Europe site it says "Compatibility: Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP"

They also recommend the following media brands: TAIYO, MBI, CMC, SONY.

So I buy a Sony DVD -RW and I get exactly the same results as the other discs. Tried it on my Dad's PC same thing but he's also running Vista with a LiteOn DVD writer. I'm gonna try to restore an image of XP and see if that makes any difference.
Conan
June 7th, 2007, 23:20 PM
Nope changing over to XP made no difference.
Reverend
June 8th, 2007, 18:36 PM
Problem with the burner. How old is the LiteON?
Conan
June 9th, 2007, 01:33 AM
Problem with the burner. How old is the LiteON?

It's about a month old and so is the one in my dad's PC.
bhxtyrant
June 9th, 2007, 02:17 AM
My guess would be an issue with the burner as well.I havent seen your exact problem mainly because i rarely use DVD +/- RW media but just recently i had issues with a Lite-On not reading or writing to various types of media (original DVD's,DVD +/- R's,and even CD-RW).I replaced with a ASUS DVD-RW and works fine with all media that would not work with the Lite-On.In my expierience Lite-On's just seem to be very picky although i cant say thats definently what is causing your problem just thought i would add my two cents.
Conan
June 9th, 2007, 13:02 PM
I bought another DVD writer, LG GSA-H55N. It seems to successfully erase all of the DVD RW's that the LiteOn couldn't erase. Will try to burn files on them.
Conan
June 23rd, 2007, 03:34 AM
LiteOn has some new firmware for my DVD drive, gonna try it out and hope that it makes things better.
Conan
June 23rd, 2007, 03:39 AM
WTF?

http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/5150/dvdyx2.jpg
egghead
June 23rd, 2007, 05:12 AM
you should always have one dvd drive connected when updating firmware or it may not work. If you have just the one hooked up and it is master and you got that message then that is messed up.

weird
Conan
June 23rd, 2007, 07:08 AM
I changed my location on the download site and the Firmware update worked! Still not too good at erasing DVD RW disks though! I also updated my dad's LiteOn LH-20A1P drive and it seems to be working better than mine at erasing DVD rewritable disks.
FastGame
June 24th, 2007, 15:26 PM
I bought another DVD writer, LG GSA-H55N
Thats a real nice drive and not as media picky as the LiteOn.

you should always have one dvd drive connected when updating firmware or it may not work. If you have just the one hooked up and it is master and you got that message then that is messed up.

yep, 1 drive set as master :)
Conan
June 24th, 2007, 16:53 PM
Thats a real nice drive and not as media picky as the LiteOn.


yep, 1 drive set as master :)

Thank God that DVD writers are cheap nowadays!:D But sometimes I feel like yanking the LiteOn and throwing it in the bin!
FastGame
June 24th, 2007, 17:31 PM
Thank God that DVD writers are cheap nowadays!
You got that right, its also the reason why they don't last long....

But sometimes I feel like yanking the LiteOn and throwing it in the bin!
:p I know what you mean, its still a good reader and excellent ripper, or is that part going out ?

Good luck on the LG, suppose to be real nice ;)
Conan
June 24th, 2007, 23:13 PM
You got that right, its also the reason why they don't last long....


:p I know what you mean, its still a good reader and excellent ripper, or is that part going out ?

Good luck on the LG, suppose to be real nice ;)

The LiteOn only stumbles with the rewritable media, it's ok with the DVD R media. But I got a lot of the rewritables.