Power callibration/illegal medium errors when burning dvd

[newtothis]

Hello,

I have used the latest version of Nero as well as Gear Pro and still get these messages when trying to write, or erase/format to DVD+RW disk with my Mitsumi DW-7801TE.

Used two different brands of media with same result. Seems okay with working with +R disks. Can't burn at a lower speed with either software.

Any suggestions. The drive is hooked up as a slave with another hard drive the master. Assuming that isn't a problem.

Thanks!

[no1_vern]

Hi newtothis,

Welcome to Techimo!

Try to give us more info as to what is happening.

First is that your EXACT message?? Do you get any other messages/information? What is the name of the media you have tried.

Also have you tried to contact the manufacturer =

Call our Technical Support department at 1-800-MITSUMI between thehours of 8AM and 6PM Central Time, Monday through Friday. (Support inEnglish only) or send your inquiry by E-mail to support@mitsumi.com.

Have you tried moving it to your other ide channel and burning from there?

[newtothis]

Thanks for the response. I talked to them and they suggested using different media, although I have used the one that they included and one that they recommend.

I will try making the drive a master and remove the hard drive connected to it.

I have a P4 1.8, windows 2000, 512 DDR ram.

They were surprised that the +R disk burned so that should suggest there isn't a problem with the drive; the CD's burn fine too.

Perhaps there is a setting change, you suggest an IDE channel switch - not technically inclined enough to know what you mean.

Thanks.

[JPMiller]

Perhaps there is a setting change, you suggest an IDE channel switch - not technically inclined enough to know what you mean.

no1_vern is referring to where your IDE ribboncable from your cdrw is connected to your motherboard.
Ideally your harddrive should be connected on a seperate cable to the main or "IDE 1" connection on the motherboard and set to "Master" by the small plastic jumper next to the power connection on the back of the hard drive.
Then the CDRW should be on Its own cable set to "Master" as well, and connected to the motherboard at the "IDE 2" or secondary IDE connector.
This is assuming you only have the 2 drives inside your computer.
Another hard drive can be connected to the middle connector on same cable as master Hard drive and set to "Slave"
Second Optical drive(cdrom/dvd/etc.) can be added to the CDRW cable in the same manner.
Most people (not all) agree this setup usually works best. (Similar drives with similar drives.)
when first booting up you can go into Bios to auto recognize your drives under "Basic CMOS".
I would also see if you can enable "DMA" mode in your "Control Panel"
"Start", "Settings", "Control Panel", "System", "Device Manger",
then highlight your CDRW and click on properties.
check "DMA" and click ok and then confirm that you do want to change settings.
You will most likely have to reboot.
If this causes problems just uncheck "DMA".
Not all systems will work with DMA but most will and it speeds things up.
You can do the same for your Hard drive.

[newtothis]

That looks good, I will give it a go when I get home, much appreciated!!

[JPMiller]

http://www.buildeasypc.com/hw/howto/insthdd.htm
http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/ho...388783,00.html
http://www.clubzona.com/strut/cbt/hd.htm
http://www.service911.com/lycos/step...+11302,00.html
These may seem a little obvious or simple but they are accurate and may help...Good Luck!

[Nighthawk]

The last time I got those errors on a CD-RW drive, it meant that the laser was too weak to actually burn the CD-R and needed to be RMA'd.

How new is your DVD-RW? Can you burn to non-DVD+RW disks?

[JPMiller]

Nighthawk, has good point.
Didnt want to rain on your parade earlier but from my own experiences and from what Ive heard others say, Mitsumi can be real CR_P.
Ive had 2 die on me in past and my local Puter store has a refridgerator box 1/3 filled with these drives...(not that model persay, but Mitsumi in general)

[newtothis]

The drive is brand new - a week old. I only burn to DVD+R/RW. I have a feeling it is a hookup problem with the motherboard, at least that makes to most sense so far

[PcHouseDr]

We (my partner and I) bought 2 of these and both are having probs with them seeing disks and not allowing the unit 2 write. We have tried different company's media and still no luck, his will only see rewritable dvd disks but i haven't tried that yet. I have a feeling that this unit will only write to silver disks and laser can't penetrate colored disks, any more ideas folks?