Suddenly getting errors while burning with NERO

[creolechowder]

Hi. I've been using the same drive and media for the last year without any problems. Now, all of a sudden, I'm encountering an error in the burn process (one in every 5 burns completes, but the other four cut out at some point in the burn process). After reading other similar problems, I've 'flashed' my drive to Benq, updated the firmware successfully, but still have the same problems. Here is a copy of the error log. Any ideas at all what the problem could be? Thanks in advance!

(i've attached the error log as a word doc, as i can't seem to figure out how to paste into this message box...sorry!)

[Chewy]

let's update the firmware to B7W9

yours is over a year old

http://support.benq.com/front/BenqMain.asp?MenuHead=128&ShowType=program&FileURL=service/driverlist.asp&Dataid=16041&downloadclass=Driver&product=3731&langu=null&ops=null&GenMenu=&RootId=undefined

and lets try a burn at 8x

[creolechowder]

worked once, but second time encountered an error

Thanks for the help, Chewy! I updated my firmware using the link you provided, and set the burn settings to 8X. And it worked, so I prematurely celebrated thinking the upgrade had done the trick. But unfortunately, I tried a second time, and I encountered errors again. I've attached the new error log. Any thoughts?

[LT. Columbo]

try a 4x burn

[creolechowder]

worked once, but second time encountered an error

Edited due to accidental double post. I will try a 4x burn as you suggest, Columbo. But I wonder why all of sudden this is happening? As mentioned earlier, I've been using the same machine, software, and media for at least a year (and burning at max speed), and this just suddenly started happening about four days ago.

I will post results of 4x burn.

[Chewy]

nero 7 was just released, but you've had it for over a year?
your new firmware is still not identifying your media, that's bad!
What are it's exact name and speed?
eg memorex 16x

[creolechowder]

Actually, I should have given a little more information initially. I was using Nero 6 for the past year. As one of the fix attempts when my problems started a few days ago, I uninstalled Nero 6 and installed Nero 7 (demo), but that didn't seem to do anything. Regarding media, which has been the same, it's TDK DVD+R. Has always worked great for me, so I'm assuming it's not a media issue. My previous burn speed was always set at Maximum (not sure if it was 12X or 16X).

I have just successfully burned two discs in a row at 4x. I will now try a third and post the results. While hopefully the slower burn speed will solve the problem, it doesn't explain why the problem suddenly started happening (but I guess that doesn't really matter too much, as long as I stop making all these coasters!). Thanks for your time and help with this - it's greatly appreciated! I will post third attempt at 4x results later.

[LT. Columbo]

i don't suppose you know if it's the same id code of media as you have always used?

[Chewy]

If that firmware didn't recognize it in nero 7? something is rotten in
Denmark, either nero 7 or TDK's dropping the ball.
Let's try the neroinfotool.

and you did run the nero clean tool before going to version 7?

[creolechowder]

Unfortunately, I encountered errors at 4x on the third disc. I am not sure about the ID code of the media, but I can say that it's a 100 disc spindle, and I was more than half-way through it when the errors suddenly started. I found the infotool option, and have saved that file, as well as the latest error log. I did NOT run the clean tool that you mentioned, Chewy. Where/how might I run that particular tool?

Thank you both again for your help....hopefully we'll get this figured out! Is there any chance it's the drive itself? That it's gone bad?