Multiple burn errors w/ multiple programs

[ahollywoodcraig]

Hello all I hope that you can help me with this,

I'm on a Powermac G.5 dual 1.8 with an upgraded superdrive running 10.5.6

About 3 days ago I noticed that I couldn't burn a dvd using Roxio's Toast 10. I would receive a medium write error.
I tried a second time with the same results.
I then moved to itunes which I have updated to the fullest version and tried to burn a playlist to cd and also received a medium write error.
Finally I tried to burn the original dvd using disk utility and it almost worked up until it hung on finishing. The funny thing about the run with disk utility was that the disk played in my home dvd player with no problems despite quitting the burn prematurely.

To combat this issue I have searched multiple sites including this one as well as Apple's support site, and others.
I have tried everything from switching brands of media (even though the brands I have been using have worked fine for months) to purchasing a drive cleaner. I have even created a test user with standard privileges with no luck.

When I insert the cleaning disk it makes noise like it's trying to spin up, but it just gets spat back out after a bit.
Now no discs can be read apparently.

Here is the system profiler read out for my superdrive:
DVDRW PATA 20X20X12X:

Firmware Revision: 9A3A
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Generic Drive Support)
Profile Path: None
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RAM, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

As I stated this is an upgrade from the stock optical drive that came with my G5. It' is less than a year old, and has worked fine up until now.

I'm guessing that the drive has failed, but I want to be sure.

Thank you all in advance for any help, and sorry this has been so long winded, but I wanted to provide as much info as possible


Craig

 

[Makosuke]

Sounds pretty clearly like a drive failure to me, anyway. There are other theoretical sources of issues like this, but it sounds like you've already tested those.

Given that it's a maybe $30 or so piece of hardware it's not that big of a deal to replace. Heck, at that price it'd practically be worth the money for a new drive just to save time on troubleshooting, even if it turned out to be something else.

 

[ahollywoodcraig]

Thanks for the response. That is what I suspected.

Craig

 

[girard]

i would like to report like so many, i was burning dvds for a few years with no problems, other than occasionally having to run a clean-up disc.
Just recently i started encountering some command errors but mainly write errors over and over. Occasionally it would burn one with no problems, but only one or two out of 30. I went online and found all sorts of suggestions leaving me bewildered. But, just to be cautious, i did go and buy a diff media, and i went from jvc dvd-r, which i had used successfully many times before, to a gigaware dvd+r. i had no idea this would work but i had a sneaking hunch it was a software or vso,xtodvd software problem. since then, knock on wood, it has again worked fine. i cross my fingers everytime i burn one now. I was on the verge of giving up and sending it in for service or purchasing a new dvd drive for it. so once in awhile we do get lucky. good luck to all, girard hall

 

[girard]

hardware types and prices

Sounds pretty clearly like a drive failure to me, anyway. There are other theoretical sources of issues like this, but it sounds like you've already tested those.

Given that it's a maybe $30 or so piece of hardware it's not that big of a deal to replace. Heck, at that price it'd practically be worth the money for a new drive just to save time on troubleshooting, even if it turned out to be something else.

will the new drive just automatically work with the software like vso xtodvd? or will you have to down load it again? thanks girard