Diagnose CD burner problem?

[JimmyMac]

My eMac, purchased refurbished a couple of months ago, has just developed a problem with burning CDs. I have already burned several (8 - 10) with it, but when I tried to burn one yesterday, it failed to do so. I've tried to do a couple minor things (restart, etc.), then tried to burn a CD, and so far I've apparently ruined 4 blank CD-Rs, all from the same package that I had used successfully before.

I am running OS X v. 10.4.11 on a 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 with a Pioneer Superdrive.

I would very, very much appreciate any help that anyone can provide, both in diagnosis and recommendations as to what to do next.

Here is what happens:

1. CD loads as usual. I open iTunes and instruct CD to burn the disc from a play list.

2. iTunes tells me that the CD is being initialized, and seems to do so successfully.

3. iTunes indicates that the first song of the list is being burned, but the progress graph stays blank. This goes on for many, many minutes, never moving onto the second song and never showing any progress on the bar graph.

4. Eventually, I quit iTunes. I get a message that a disc is being burned and that by quitting, I may interfere with the process. I quit anyway, close iTunes, but can see no CD icon on the Desktop.

5. I press the button to open the CD drawer, the computer whirs and the CD icon appears as iTunes opens. When I try to play the CD, all I get is a buzzing noise.

Many thanks for help.
JimmyMac

[JimmyMac]

More info that I failed to include with my initial message:

When iTunes reads the CDs that I've tried to burn, the iTunes display shows the track numbers for all of the songs, but does not show the titles or any other information. For example, if I've tried to burn a 14-track CD, it shows 14 tracks, none with song titles, etc., and every track gives the same buzzing sound when I try to play it.

Also, previously burned CDs still play just fine on the computer, so the Superdrive is able to read CDs.

Again, thanks for any help.
JimmyMac

[kriegvision]

Sounds like it's burning the initial index onto the CD but the burn is failing for whatever reason. I doubt it's a software issue, probably an issue with your burner. But you can try repairing permissions (Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility -> Repair Permissions) and restarting and see if that helps.

[JimmyMac]

Fantastic! Many, many thanks, kriegvision!!! That did the trick. I just burned a CD and it worked fine. The report that was displayed in Disk Utility after I had run Repair Permissions indicated some corrected permissions in iTunes, so that raised my hopes. Then when I tried to burn a disc and the progress graph starting filling up, I knew that it had worked. I've just tried the CD in my Bose Wave unit, and it sounds great. You have just saved me several hours of further investigation and perhaps a nice chunk of cash to have a replacement Superdrive installed. Over the years, I've been lucky to have a few problems solved with the help received on different forums such as this, and I am most appreciative of people like you who share their time and knowledge. Thank you.

[JimmyMac]

Well, I was able to burn 2 CDs until the same problem returned. I ran Repair Permissions again and restarted, but this time it made no difference - the next attempt failed also. BTW, when I repaired permissions the previous time, the report indicated some corrected permissions in iTunes, but that was not the case this time around. As before, iTunes indicated that the CD was being initialized, then it displayed "Burning "Title of Song #1' ", it stayed there forever and just spun its wheels. The bar graph that displays progress never moved. After 20 minutes of waiting, iTunes still showed no progress on burning the first song.

I sure would appreciate any more suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[JimmyMac]

After reading a few posts on a different forum, I decided to try again - with a couple of changes. I had experienced 4 consecutive failed attempts - 4 ruined CD-Rs. Anyway, I removed a couple of songs from my play list so that I was not pushing the time limit - instead of burning 1.2 hours, I tried to burn a 1 hour play list. Also, I changed the burn speed from maximum possible to 8x. Finally, I chose NOT to include text info (song title, etc.) on the burned CD-R. With these changes, I was successful! I'm thrilled that my problems appears NOT to be a hardware issue. I'm not yet sure which one or group of the changes was responsible for the successful outcome, so I'll continue to experiment. Some posters had suggested trying a different brand or batch of CD-R blanks, which I might do, but I've been using a major office supply store's brand on a spindle for both the failures and successes.

[Turboladdade]

It may yet still be a hardware issue. If you reduced the burn speed, that would mean the drive is failing to burn at it's maximum speed. Try resetting all the other things and burning the CD normally but with reduced speed (as in, with text and a full size). See what happens then?

[JimmyMac]

Sorry, I've been away and just recently checked in again. I've tried 6 or 7 different combinations of settings and the one that seems to determine success or failure is the total time of the play list. I can burn at maximum speed and slower speeds, I can burn with the CD text included or not - as long as I make sure that the total time of the play list is about 1.1 hour or less. If I push the total time up to 1.2 hours, it usually won't burn, BUT I don't get a warning, just a ruined CD-R. Seems to me that I should get a warning that the play list's total time is too much and an opportunity to adjust that. I can live with this now that I know to watch the total time carefully before burning.

[Turboladdade]

If I didn't know any better I'd say you have a failing optical drive.

[JimmyMac]

Considering the possibility/probability that it is a failing optical drive, do you have any advice for me? Should I simply use the computer until it goes kaput? Is there anything I can do to prolong its life? If it goes kaput, is it worth replacing? I am not a tech wizard and have never done anything more complicated than add some memory. I'm using a 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4 eMac with Pioneer SuperDrive.

Once again, I sure appreciate any help that is offered. Thanks.

[Turboladdade]

OWC has a brand new SuperDrive on sale for $31.99.

[JimmyMac]

Is that a doable replacement for someone like myself? The most complicated computer work that I've ever done is to install some additional memory.

[JimmyMac]

Well, after a couple of failed attempts to burn CDs recently, I ordered a Samsung Internal SuperDrive from OWC. Of course, now that I am waiting for the drive to arrive, I tried again and was able to burn two CD-Rs this evening, followed by a failure on the third attempt. I'm not sure what this means. Do I definitely have a bad drive? What else could be causing the inconsistent results?

[cèè]

Does your burner make a loud almost grinding noise when it is burning or reading any sort of disc?

[Turboladdade]

Have you received the new drive? Was the problem solved? Any update on this situation?