Pioneer DVR-107 stopped working with DVD-Rs

Hello,

I've had a Pioneer DVR-107 drive for around 6 months now, and it's been
absolutely brilliant. Yesterday, however, I was in the middle of burning a
DVD-R with Nero when the burn process failed midway. I didn't think much of
it, probably a coaster due to bad media (which very rarely happens with
this drive).

But after that point on, I was unable to get it to access any DVD-R I gave
it. Not just for writing, it couldn't even read them. Upon insertion,
there's this intermittent clicking noise which goes for 30 seconds before
the drive giving up.

I've since tested it with CD-Rs, and it works fine for both reading and
writing.

Today I've bought some DVD+Rs to test whether they might work, although I'm
quite doubtful.

Does anyone have similar experience to this? Is it just simply a case of
the hardware (DVD lens?) eventually failing and needing replacement?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Ruli
[[please deBUG my email address before replying]]

Ruli Manurung wrote:
Hello,

I've had a Pioneer DVR-107 drive for around 6 months now, and it's
been absolutely brilliant. Yesterday, however, I was in the middle of
burning a DVD-R with Nero when the burn process failed midway. I
didn't think much of it, probably a coaster due to bad media (which
very rarely happens with this drive).

But after that point on, I was unable to get it to access any DVD-R I
gave it. Not just for writing, it couldn't even read them. Upon
insertion, there's this intermittent clicking noise which goes for
30 seconds before the drive giving up.

I've since tested it with CD-Rs, and it works fine for both reading
and writing.

Today I've bought some DVD+Rs to test whether they might work,
although I'm quite doubtful.

Does anyone have similar experience to this? Is it just simply a case
of the hardware (DVD lens?) eventually failing and needing
replacement?

Thats faulty hardware.
Get it replaced under warranty if applicable , or binned if not.

I've noticed quite a lot of people that have had faulty pioneer drives (me
included).
I'm not sure they are all that reliable


--
Alex

Hermes: "We can't afford that! Especially not Zoidberg!"
Zoidberg: "They took away my credit cards!"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk
www.sffh.co.uk
www.ebayfaq.co.uk

Dr Zoidberg wrote:
Thats faulty hardware.
Get it replaced under warranty if applicable , or binned if not.

I've noticed quite a lot of people that have had faulty pioneer drives (me
included).
I'm not sure they are all that reliable

I agree.
Most desktop DVD drives have two lens assembleys, one for DVD, one for
CD. If focusing fails, one aspect of the drive will cease working.

It might just be dirty; before binning the drive (if it's outside
warranty) pop the lid off, and examine the lens (with the power off, as
per recommendations of laser safety data sheets, although what 0.1mW of
red light focused to about 10mm over the lens will do unless you stare
at it for ages, I dont know)..

"Dr Zoidberg" wrote in
:
Thats faulty hardware.
Get it replaced under warranty if applicable , or binned if not.

Hmm, what I feared.

I might try to sell it on in the adverts computer with appropriate Caveat
Emptor notices. I can verify it still works fine as a CD reader/writer...

I've noticed quite a lot of people that have had faulty pioneer drives
(me included).
I'm not sure they are all that reliable

Would you recommend any other brand? These fancy new "LightScribe" drives
from HP sound interesting, although probably a bit of a gimmick.


Cheers,
Ruli
[[please deBUG my email address before replying]]

Jim Howes wrote in
:
I agree.
Most desktop DVD drives have two lens assembleys, one for DVD, one for
CD. If focusing fails, one aspect of the drive will cease working.

Would the DVD-R and DVD+R functionality use the same lens? I was wondering
if they were separate, and that's why I planned on testing them with DVD+R
media this evening.

Ruli Manurung wrote:
Would the DVD-R and DVD+R functionality use the same lens? I was wondering
if they were separate, and that's why I planned on testing them with DVD+R
media this evening.

Yes.

Probably, at any rate.

The reason for two lenses is usually because CD reading and writing uses
a laser with a wavelength of 780nm.

DVD-R(G) media is written with a laser operating at a wavelength of
650nm. (DVD-R(A) media is written at 635nm, but unless you are
specifically looking for DVD-R(A) (A for Authoring) media you have
DVD-R(G) (G for General)). Two lasers, plenty of room, cheaper to
include two lens assembleys.

Laptop drives are another matter, as there's not a lot of room, so they
mess with switching pickup assemblies with separate optical paths,
dual-wavelength lasers, "annular masked objective lenses", "switchable
objective lens assemblies", and even "holographic dual-focus lenses" (a
whole bunch of buzzwords that apply to different manufacturers)

Ruli Manurung wrote:
"Dr Zoidberg" wrote in
:
Thats faulty hardware.
Get it replaced under warranty if applicable , or binned if not.

Hmm, what I feared.

I might try to sell it on in the adverts computer with appropriate
Caveat Emptor notices. I can verify it still works fine as a CD
reader/writer...

I've noticed quite a lot of people that have had faulty pioneer
drives (me included).
I'm not sure they are all that reliable

Would you recommend any other brand? These fancy new "LightScribe"
drives from HP sound interesting, although probably a bit of a
gimmick.

The NEC drives have a good reputation for writing disks well.
As for longevity , I can't really comment
--
Alex

Hermes: "We can't afford that! Especially not Zoidberg!"
Zoidberg: "They took away my credit cards!"

www.drzoidberg.co.uk
www.sffh.co.uk
www.ebayfaq.co.uk

"Dr Zoidberg" wrote in message
...

The NEC drives have a good reputation for writing disks well.
As for longevity , I can't really comment

My 1300a has half died after about 50 discs. It still writes CDs OK, but
only does DVD -r at 2x, it gives a medium speed error or power calibration
fault if I try 4x, no matter that media I use. It's also a bit glitchy at
times, if I put half a dozen big files on a disc, sometimes they're all
perfect, sometimes one or two will be bad. And it takes forever to recognise
discs too.

All that put me off another one, and I've been thinking about getting a s/h
Pioneer instead, now I don't know!

Ruli Manurung wrote:

"Dr Zoidberg" wrote in
:
Thats faulty hardware.
Get it replaced under warranty if applicable , or binned if not.

Hmm, what I feared.

I might try to sell it on in the adverts computer with appropriate Caveat
Emptor notices. I can verify it still works fine as a CD reader/writer...

I've noticed quite a lot of people that have had faulty pioneer drives
(me included).
I'm not sure they are all that reliable

Would you recommend any other brand? These fancy new "LightScribe" drives
from HP sound interesting, although probably a bit of a gimmick.

Cheers,
Ruli
[[please deBUG my email address before replying]]

I thought they sounded fascinating.

Until I read the small print.

Does B&W only. Not a major schlepp, but when you are looking at 40
minutes to print one side - that's when I gave up.

I also couldn't find any DVD Lightscribe media - only CD and quite
expensive.

Nice idea though - but maybe in a couple of years.


Odie
--
Retrodata
www.retrodata.co.uk
Globally Local Data Recovery Experts

In ,
Jim Howes wrote:

[DVD drives have separate lasers for DVD and CD]

Laptop drives are another matter, as there's not a lot of room, so they
mess with switching pickup assemblies with separate optical paths,
dual-wavelength lasers, "annular masked objective lenses", "switchable
objective lens assemblies", and even "holographic dual-focus lenses" (a
whole bunch of buzzwords that apply to different manufacturers)

Although I've had a laptop drive which stopped reading CDs but still
worked on DVDs.

--
The address in the Reply-To is genuine and should not be edited.
See http://www.realh.co.uk/contact.html for more reliable contact addresses.