DVD Multiburner Issues

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nsuperman86 · #1 Post by **nsuperman86** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:24 pm

I have just bought a new 50 pack of Ridata 4x DVD-R for my Multiburner. I have burned DVDs with the same media with my other burner and these discs are read when I try to play them. However, now when I insert blank media of the same Ridata the drive doesn't recognize that there is any DVD-R in the drive.

Has this happened to anyone?
Do I need a driver update? (I searched for one but couldn't find one)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kenn · #2 Post by **Kenn** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 5:13 pm

Can it recognize regular DVD-ROM or DVD movie discs?

Mine failed to recognize any DVD media (CDs were fine). I called IBM, they airborne'd a replacement drive and the problem was fixed.

Sounds like a few people have had problems recognizing DVD on the multiburner - someone suggested it was a bad batch of burners and at this point I'm inclined to agree.

nsuperman86 · #3 Post by **nsuperman86** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 5:26 pm

It can read every other media except the blank DVD media. It even reads DVDs burned on that same type of disc. It will just not read the blank DVD-R. It just doesn't recognize them as in the drive, well becuase I guess there is no data on them...

I checked my driver and it says it is from 2001. I am really hoping a driver update can solve the problem, but I cannot find any for this drive.

MadeInJapan · #4 Post by **MadeInJapan** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 6:39 pm

I've had the same thing happen with very cheap media, namely Princo and SKY. Even within the same batch there were discs that could be read and those that couldn't. Once burned on a machine that recognizes them they seem to be recognized in the drive that originally wouldn't. If nothing is wrong with your drive, then I would send them back to the vendor for exchange or refund.

By the way, find your DVDRW drive at www.rpc1.com and check out to see it's capabilities and if the firmware can be upgraded. Also check out www.cdfreaks.com, doing a search in their forum to see if anyone else has had similar issue with your drive. Although it says IBM, most likely it's made by Panasonic/Matshita and is a UJ-811 or 812, like I have (UJ-811)...about the only thing good about them in my opinion is that they read and burn DVD-RAM (DVD-R but not DVD+R). Other than that, I wish I had gotten the LG brand CDRW/DVD-rom. It is faster burner and more can be done with viewing DVD's with it. Anyway...enough of my ranting.

nsuperman86 · #5 Post by **nsuperman86** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 7:05 pm

Yeah, I have Ridata, which are generally pretty reliable media so I was a little surprised and dissapointed.

I checked out that firmware page link and I found, what I think is my drive.

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1780

I have the UJ-812 I know for sure, but the page says its for UJ-812b. I am guessing it is the same model, but is there any way I can confirm this?

Also, the firmware download is relatively safe correct? I am guessing there is just a warning for liability...

Thanks for all the help so far.

MadeInJapan · #6 Post by **MadeInJapan** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 9:42 pm

Well, it depends on how safe it is. Of course, downloading it is never dangerous. What could be potentially dangerous is when you try to flash your drive with what you downloaded and it doesn't take. It could cause your drive to just be a strange shaped paper weight. Most of the time the downloaded file has some type of instructions with it as well as the flash file itself has some type of "firmware checking" safeguard. If I were you, I'd just download the file mentioned there (the very last one...only for IBM's) and see what comes with it (usually a zipped file that you have to unzip and there are other files with the actual flash file). Also, if in doubt check your DVD drive in your computer's Device Manager to see if there is a "B" after the 812. Flashing the drive to newer firmware may or may not help your current problem.

Did you check out www.cdfreaks.com and look up your drive in the search function of the forum? Did anyone talk about how the new firmware helped or didn't help their drive? These are a few things I would do before flashing the drive with the firmware I download.

Anyway, good luck.

nsuperman86 · #7 Post by **nsuperman86** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 12:49 pm

I checked with device managet and I have no "b", but I still have a hunch that it is the same firmware for my drive becuase I havn't seen a UJ-812b anywhere online except The Firmware Page. But then again I don't know for sure...

I also did several searches on cdfreaks and could not find any solution to my problem.

Does anyone else have the Matshita UJ-812 Multiburner on thier ThinkPads?
If you do can it read all blank media correctly?

faser · #8 Post by **faser** » Mon Nov 15, 2004 9:48 pm

Hi did you used DVD-R?

The burner supports only DVD+R for reading not for writing, means if you write on them in another burner the IBM will recognize them, blanks disc will not be found.

Take a look at http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.ws ... MIGR-55186

# DVD+R (read only)
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DVD Multiburner Issues

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