Lite-On 32X burner problem.

CougTek

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User (far away, cannot visit him for now) has a problem when writing (or at least trying to) cheap Memorex CD-R with its Lite-On 32x/10x/40x. He receives the message "Session fixation error" and "Could not perform Fixation" at the beginnig of the writing session. He had a virus not long ago on his system, but I doubt it is related. I told him to re-install and update Nero, but it didin't fix the problem. He stores his CD-R cylinder in a drawer, so his medias shouldn't have been scrapped by sunlight.

Last thing I haven't tried yet is to update the drive's firmware. Maybe I should since it hasn't been done since last summer when I sold him the box. If his CD-R are relatively new, the drive might have problem to handle them properly if the firmware wasn't made for high-speed medias.

I don't want to replace the burner (it has just expired his warranty) and anyway, Lite-On's drives have been very reliable so far for me so I really doubt it's a drive failure.

He's using Win2K IIRC, if that's of any importance.

Suggestions?
 

Groltz

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From what I was able to dig up, those errors are often caused by bad CD-R media.

Just because media might be new doesn't mean it is any good. I bought a bulk package (shrink wrapped) of the 99-minute CDRs of couple months ago and that only about 1 out of every 8 or so was any good. :cursin:

Have the person retest using high quality CD-Rs such as Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fuji 48X.
 

Buck

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Good point Steve, I had a customer with that problem recently. They purchased a spindle of 99 CDs, and the first 10 became coasters. She returned the lot, received a new spindle, and burning resumed as normal.
 

Groltz

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Thanks, Buck.

I had not run across such a thing before, but the sources for the rare 99-minute CD-Rs are very limited. There isn't much of any choice among them.

From the readings I've done at a couple of the optical drive web sites the Fuji 48X disks* are pretty much #1 in terms of quality. Best of all they aren't typically hard to find or overpriced. Bestbuy carries them. (And it looks like they're on sale. I might need to make a trip there soon.)

*Only the ones manufactured for Fuji by Taiyo Yuden of Japan
 

zx

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CougTek said:
User (far away, cannot visit him for now) has a problem when writing (or at least trying to) cheap Memorex CD-R with its Lite-On 32x/10x/40x. He receives the message "Session fixation error" and "Could not perform Fixation" at the beginnig of the writing session. He had a virus not long ago on his system, but I doubt it is related. I told him to re-install and update Nero, but it didin't fix the problem. He stores his CD-R cylinder in a drawer, so his medias shouldn't have been scrapped by sunlight.

I got that error when i changed my mobo to a K7S5A. I have a panasonic 8-4-32 burner and it does that when i burned at 8X. No problems at 4X though. I never got rid of the problem except when switching the burner to my P2 computer. The CD media I use are rather cheap. But like I said, burning worked with an A7V, a Tiger MP and a P2L97. It did not work with a K7S5A and a KT7A.
 

blakerwry

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Memorex CD-R discs are made by Ritek and Taiyo Yuden (clear wrap w/ paper label... made in Taiwan = Ritek, label on solid wrap.. made in Japan = Taiyo Yuden)

Both disks should be good in that drive.

Has he tried cleaning the drive?

It's possible it's a bad spindle, so testing out some Fujis (sure to be Taiyo Yuden if bought in the USA)

could also have him try a free CD burner... www.webattack.com/freeware look for CDBurnerXP...
 

CougTek

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Thanks all for your reply. I already told him to try the Fuji 48X instead, so I should have some feedback about this later this week-end. I really doubt the problem is related to Nero at this point and I don't think he's familiar enough with burning softwares to install and run by himself a totally new burning program like the free one Blake linked. I'll try it myself though, it's always useful to have an althernative.

IIRC, his motherboard is an Asus nForce 420D. That's what I sold most of the time in Spring last year. It is not a K7S5A. And the burner worked before, so it's also not the motherboard's fault (be it driver or BIOS/setting related).

I guess the bad CD-R lot is the most plausible explication. I'll see.
 

Mercutio

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I've gotten similar errors from burners with serious hardware issues. I think one of my 8x Yamaha units produced that error while it was in the process of dying.

Sometimes it would work for a while after a reboot, though.

Like everyone else, though, I'm almost positive that in this case we have crappy media.
 

blakerwry

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Mercutio said:
I've gotten similar errors from burners with serious hardware issues. I think one of my 8x Yamaha units produced that error while it was in the process of dying.

Sometimes it would work for a while after a reboot, though.

Like everyone else, though, I'm almost positive that in this case we have crappy media.

That's definately the most common problem (beside's user error)

Nero and EZ CD cremator have become pretty reliable.. However, I've had a few problems with InCD 4.x and I haven't even dared to try DirectCD since I started using winXP. I'm still waiting for Mt Rainer support in OS and BIOS. I have a Mt Rainer drive now and want to use it apropriately...
 

CougTek

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Problem fixed by reflashing the latest firmware. The drive couldn't recognize the new media with the old one I guess. Now everything's fine.

Thanks to all.
 
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