[Debburn-devel] Strange Problem with DVD Writing

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

> > Are there known methods to reset the drive
> > so that it burns DVD again ?
> No idea! :(
> I have tried a
> complete power off of the system and power on with no
> success.

It seems you could need a new burner drive.
Not the same brand again, i'd say.
But first see my remarks below, about drives and media.


> Is MMC-5 available on the web? If so, please let me
> know from where to download the same. I am rather
> curious in understanding this protocol.

The draft versions are for free. Final version cost money.
I work mainly with
  http://www.t10.org/ftp/t10/drafts/mmc5/mmc5r03c.pdf
although some CD aspects are better explained in the
outdated versions MMC-3 or even MMC-1.
MMC is a subsection of SCSI. For completeness you will
also need section SPC and SBC which describe more
general SCSI commands
  http://www.t10.org/ftp/t10/drafts/spc3/spc3r23.pdf
  http://www.t10.org/ftp/t10/drafts/sbc2/sbc2r16.pdf

The MMC knowledge behind libburn is described in
  http://libburnia-project.org/browser/libburn/trunk/doc/cookbook.txt
(it is about time i get a BD drive and can write chapters
 about BD-RE and BD-R)
Lots of DVD knowledge is contained in the source code
of dvd+rw-tools. I owe Andy Polyakov a lot for this
tutorial aspect of his software.


> I would like to re-iterate one thing, that this
> failure  was observed on not just SONY's 'AW-G170A'
> drive but also on another SONY's 'DRU-170C'.

The teaching from this seems to be that one shalt not
put a CD into those drives.
But one has to be careful when learning from optical
drive behavior. They love to cause urban legends.
In your case it could as well be a bad case of
drive-media incompatibility - if not you reported
that burning worked well before the CD run.

DVD drives and media still have a delicate and
vulnerable relationship. It often ressembles experimental
physics rather than digital IT.
OPC failure is a classic for nearly unsuitable media.
Deterioration of drive-media compatibility is a classic,
too.
The only unusual thing with your report is the single
event of CD burning as trigger for the problems.

So i would advise you to get some DVD+RW media and try
again. They are cheap and re-usable. So there is not
much waste by this experiment.
If DVD+RW work, then try a different brand of DVD-R.
If not, then buy a new drive.


Have a nice day :)

Thomas