Confused - All of the Sudden High PIF's ???

[Chewy]

looks ok, keep monitoring your burns

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/ps2.ars

someone should make a guide like this for dvd burners, problem is they are too cheap to replace

[NightTran]

so did you make any progress? so we can have conclusion either drive, media etc?

[PurpleDemon]

Not yet. Unable to leave house shopping today. (Medical Reasons)

I will definately post as soon as I know.

I am guessing at this point that the drive is going out, but will still troubleshoot as it reads fine.

I wonder how bad it would have to be to be covered under Newegg's one year warranty?

Thanks Night for checking in.

@Chewy will do. Nice link. Would opening drive void my warranty?

Thanks Again

[Chewy]

Would opening drive void my warranty?

Of course, it's only to be done as a last resort and a learning experience, it's better to practise on an old totally broken one first.
If they still cost over 100$ it might be worth making a guide to trying to rebuild one?

[PurpleDemon]

Okay got a new 203B as a birthday gift. I am thinking of ruling out it being a drive issue.

I see the firmware is one level behind, but RPC only has SB02 and I am still trying to figure out how to flash the bin file.

On the old drive I used an exe flash utility for SB06.

Tried 2 burns at 12X. Had the same Verb's and 1 Sony D21 left from before.

I have not been able to afford the TY's yet, but I am debating if it is the media because I got good burns before with the same spindle of Verbs under 1000 PIF.


I will order as soon as the budget allows.

This computer is now 2 years. Could the mobo or processor be an issue? (wore it out?)

Any thoughts.

@ Night followed your advice. I appreciate your input, unfortunately no change. Thank You for trying.

Also if I have a score of 90 and above, How many PIF"S would be considered a coaster? Chewy I saw you post a great, good, okay, and bad burn numbers at one time but I have not been able to find that post.

Thanks Everyone.

[Chewy]

under 100 is great
100-1000 good
1000-10000 ok

those look like a poorer batch of sony's burned too fast?

unless the power supply is too weak

[PurpleDemon]

Thanks for the info.

I'll see if I can find a 50pk of old 8X Sony Yudens this week. They seem to be on sale everywhere. Easier to shell out $13 than $35 right now.

I am relieved that some of these higher PIF ones are not garbage although.

Any better ways to test the power supply?

Just for fun, did a 4X burn that is attached.

[Chewy]

if your power supply is weak or unstable, my guess is it will show when you burn fast or multitask

the everest sensor give voltage readings of the rails

make sure your burner is on the connector closest to the power supply and all by itself on the leads or at least only sharing with a small fan or floppy drive

[PurpleDemon]

Will do

Thank You

[PurpleDemon]

Okay here is my report. I will descibe in attachment order.

First of all I took my new 203B and out and put it in my wife's computer.

First burn was from the stock I have been using that did not have feet on L and K and seriel # starts with PAPA24. 100pk spindle. Not Good

Second burn also on her computer with the same drive but with another spindle without feet on L and K and seriel # stating with PAP67.100 pk spindle. Great Improvement.

Also I had bad PIF's on the spindle with feet starting with seriel #PAP69
50 pk spindle

I was able to isolate the sata power cable on her computer.

Now on my computer I put the drive back in.

The first burn (4th attachment) was from the good batch on 203B
And the second (5th attachment) is from good batch on 182D burned and scanned respectively.

I was able to isolate the power to the the 182D but not the 203B because I only have 2 sata power connectors and one is required by my HDD.

I am concluding I had varied quality from a brand I have always trusted. These spindles are the all the purple label copyright 2005.

Also I should be looking to a replacement power supply but it the meantime I think I can get adapters to make new sata power connectors.

Thank You to all that helped.

[Chewy]

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

under the computer module there's a sensor module

up at the top is quick report, copy and paste the voltages

[PurpleDemon]

Voltage Values:
CPU Core 1.36 V
+3.3 V 3.20 V
+12 V 12.16 V
DIMM 2.53 V

[PurpleDemon]

Firmware update done wonders.

Burned 12X 203B and scanned with 203B.

[soup]

Is that stock?

[PurpleDemon]

Hi Soup,

If you mean from Samsung then yes.

http://www.samsungodd.com/Eng/

The link say's SB02 but it will download SB03.