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[4] Problems

Problems that arise when burning a CD-R.

Some general suggestions:

 - RTFM (Read The Fine Manual).  Sometimes it's *supposed* to work that
   way.  If you didn't receive a manual with the product, it may be in
   text or Acrobat form on a CD-ROM.
 - Check your software version.  You may need a newer version of the
   software for correct operation with your hardware (yes, even if you
   received the software with the recorder).  Most, if not all,
   CD recorder software publishers have web sites with updates.
 - Update the software.  Even if the software is new enough to be
   compatible, there's some chance that your bug has already been fixed.
 - Check your ASPI layer.  Use ASPICHK, available from Adaptec at
   http://www.adaptec.com/support/faqs/aspilayer.html.  If you own an
   Adaptec product, ASPI updates are available from there as well.


Subject: [4-1] What does "buffer underrun" mean?
(1998/09/05)

It means you have an attractive new coaster for your table.

The CD writing process can't be interrupted in mid-session.  To prevent
this from happening, the makers of CD recorders put a write buffer in
the drive, usually 512K or 1MB.  Data read from the hard drive, tape,
or another CD is stored in the buffer, and pulled out as needed by the
recorder.

If the recorder requests data from the write buffer, but there's none there,
it's called a buffer underrun.  The disc is still spinning, but there's no
data to write, so the recording process aborts.

You can still use the disc with multisession CD-ROM drives by closing the
session and starting another, assuming there's enough space left on the CD,
and assuming your pre-mastering software didn't choose to finalize the disc
for you.

Advice for preventing buffer underruns is scattered throughout this FAQ.
A brief summary:

 - Use a fast, AV-friendly hard drive (i.e. one that doesn't do slow thermal
   recalibrations).  Most drives being sold today fall into this category.
   You don't need a screaming AV-optimized drive.
 - Record at a slow speed - it takes longer to empty the buffer when
   recording at 1x.
 - Don't do anything else with the computer while recording.  Don't record
   from a file server.
 - Defragment your HD, especially if you're doing on-the-fly recording.
 - Record from a disc image file rather than on-the-fly.
 - Depending on your setup, putting the recorder and your hard drive on
   separate SCSI controllers may be necessary.
 - Keep your CD-R cool.  Sometimes the drives fail when they overheat.

Also watch out for things like anti-virus programs that wake up, virtual
memory settings that cause swapping, screen savers that activate during the
CD creation process, unusual network activity, and background downloads of
data or faxes.  One way to check is to run the HD defragmenter in Win95.
If it restarts every few seconds, it's because something is hitting the
drive.

A utility included with Microsoft Office, called "FindFast", will
occasionally start up and scan your hard drives.  Disabling this by
deleting the shortcut in the Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp folder may
be necessary.

If you're using Windows, see the sub-sections on Auto-Insert Notification
and VCACHE settings, below.


http://www.adaptec.com/support/faqs/bufunder.html has a comprehensive
collection of buffer underrun info.

http://www.adaptec.com/support/configuration/cdrec.html is interesting
reading for users with CD-Rs attached to Adaptec SCSI cards.  They're
pretty far on the conservative side, but if you're having trouble this may
help you.

An article by Dana Parker entitled "CD-R on the Safe Side: Seven Rules of
Successful CD Recording" in the April 1997 issue of Emedia Professional
(http://www.emediapro.net/EMtocs/emtocapr.html) listed the Seven
Habits of Successful CD-R Users:

 1. Defragment Your Disk
 2. Use a Partition for Staging Input
 3. Create a Real Image
 4. Test before writing
 5. Stabilize Your System for CD-R
 6. Shut Down Other Applications
 7. After the Burn: Label and Test


Subject: [4-1-1] What's the deal with Windows Auto-Insert Notification (AIN)?
(1999/07/15)

Some of the Windows-based recording software recommend turning off
Auto-Insert Notification.  Having this on can interfere with closing
sessions or even just inserting discs into the drive.  You can disable it
under Win95/Win98 by opening the "System" icon in the Control Panel, and
selecting "Device Manager".  For each item under CD-ROM, select the device,
click on the "Settings" tab, and make sure the "Auto Insert Notification"
checkbox is unchecked.  [With my vanilla Win95 setup I got SCSI errors when
AIN was off for my CD-R but on for my CD-ROM, even if the CD-ROM drive
wasn't in use at the time.]

If you're using WinNT, you can turn it off with the "TweakUI" program
available in PowerToys (available from the Microsoft web site at
http://www.microsoft.com/), or by modifying a registry key with Regedit32
(0=disabled, 1=enabled):

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Cdrom \ Autorun

If your software automatically turns AIN off, and you can't figure out how
to turn it back on, the TweakUI program may be able to help.  Check the
"Paranoia" settings.  (Incidentally, if installing the Power Toys screws up
your icons, select "Rebuild Icons" from the "Repair" menu.)

Sidebar: the trouble with Auto Insert Notification is that it periodically
attempts to find a valid disc in the CD recorder.  A blank disc isn't very
interesting to Windows, so nothing happens.  When the table of contents is
written to the disc, it suddenly becomes interesting; and if Autorun or
Autoplay are enabled, enough activity is generated by Windows' attempts to
read the disc that the write fails.

Because it only affects CDs with actual data being written to them, a test
write won't end in failure.  It can be very frustrating to have 100%
success with test writes and 100% failures with actual writes!  With
disc-at-once recording, the process will abort very near the start of
recording, probably leaving an empty but useless disc.  With track-at-once
recording, it will fail at the end, and you may still be able to finalize
the disc.  Audio CDs will most likely work fine even if interrupted at the
end of the write process.

IMPORTANT: if you are using DirectCD for Windows, you must have AIN turned
*on*, or some things won't work quite right.  The most obvious failure mode
is that long filenames aren't shown, but some reports indicate that data on
the disc can get trashed as well.  This can make life interesting if you're
also using a conventional writing application, unless the application is
good about turning AIN off before writing.  The other Windows applications
currently sold by Adaptec (notably Easy CD Creator) will automatically
disable Auto-Insert Notification when appropriate and re-enable it
afterward, so you don't have to worry about AIN at all.


Subject: [4-1-2] What's all this about Win95 VCACHE settings?
(1998/08/16)

One problem with Win95 is that by default the size of the file cache is
unrestricted.  This means that all available memory will eventually get
filled up with file data, which will cause the virtual memory system to
start swapping out pages from executing applications.  When something needs
to be executed from a page that has been swapped out, it takes time to pull
it back in off the disk.  While this is happening, the CD recorder's buffer
could drain completely.

The procedure is simple:

 (1) Open the file SYSTEM.INI with a text editor.  This file is usually
     C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI.
 (2) Find the section labeled "[vcache]".
 (3) Add the following lines *after* the "[vcache]" line:
        MinFileCache = 512
        MaxFileCache = 4096
 (4) Save the changes to the file, and reboot.

The [vcache] change has reportedly cured severe buffer underrun problems
with some versions of CDRWIN and removed popping noises during digital
audio extraction with Easy CD Creator.  It's a good thing to do to any PC
running Win95.  It's not necessary for WinNT.  It's not clear whether this
will help with Win98, but it doesn't seem to hurt.

A common rule of thumb is to set maxfilecache to 25% of your RAM, up to a
maximum of 16MB.  Because of (actual or perceived) bugs in Win95, some
people recommend setting minfilecache to the same value.


Subject: [4-2] I can't get long Win95 filenames to work right
(1998/04/06)

Typical symptoms can be described like this:

 - Works fine in Win95 Explorer
 - Under DOS the directories are visible, but instead of "dirname<tilde>1"
   you get "dirname<tilde>57".  Attempting to read them results in errors.
 - Typing 'cd dirname~102' may fail while 'cd "Long File Names without the ~"'
   will work.

The problem occurs when certain CD-R writing programs are used to create
the discs.  The short and long forms of the filenames are sorted
differently, so some of the files can't be found.  Using newer software
(e.g. Easy CD Creator 3 instead of Easy-CD Pro) should produce better
results.


Subject: [4-3] I can't read the multisession CD I just made
(1998/04/06)

The SCSI driver needs to believe that the CD-ROM drive can handle
multisession discs.  Most likely you will need to update your SCSI drivers
before this will work.

(This problem was reported with an HP4020i and a Buslogic BT946C controller;
if you have an HP drive you should get the c4324hlp.vxd driver from the HP
web site.  See section 6 for the address.)

One possible cause of this problem is writing a multisession disc in MODE-1
format.  Some older CD-ROM drives incorrectly assume that a MODE-1 disc
can't be multisession, so they don't look for additional sessions unless
it's written in MODE-2 (CD-ROM/XA) format.

Also, if the final session on the CD isn't closed, standard CD players may
become confused (the NEC 6Xi certainly does under Win95).  This doesn't
mean that the *disc* must be closed, just that the *session* must be
closed.  (Actually, the NEC 6Xi doesn't like open discs either... sigh.)

A note on one of the Ricoh pages indicates that the Ricoh 1420C is unable
to read sessions smaller than 3 minutes (about 26MB) until firmware 1.6x.


Subject: [4-4] Write process keeps failing N minutes in
(1998/04/06)

There's a couple of possibilities.  One is that your data source can't keep
up with the CD-R; try using disc-at-once writing from a disc image with the
speed set to 1x.  If it seems to be getting worse over time, you may just
need to defragment your hard drive.

If that fails, a number of people have discovered that the problem is a
faulty CD-R unit (similar behavior has been reported on Sony and HP units,
which have different mechanisms).  You should try 1x writing from a fast
source and with different sets of data before contacting the manufacturer,
since they will likely tell you to do exactly that anyway.

Be sure that there aren't environmental factors creating difficulties.
CD-R units are usually built to handle small shocks, but having a set of
speakers playing loud music on the same table as a CD-R may cause it to
skip, resulting in a failed write.  Sonic booms, heavy construction
equipment, and nuclear detonations may have similar effects.

It's also possible that you simply have a bad batch of media.  Try a
different type and brand of disc.  Some distributors (e.g. dataDisc) will
exchange media that's provably defective.

Be careful with Advanced Power Management functions on some PCs.  If the
keyboard and IDE devices are completely idle, the system may decide that
nothing is going on and switch to a low-power mode.  Ditto for screen
savers that kick in after the system has been idle for a certain period.


Subject: [4-5] Why did my CD-R eject between the "test" and "write" passes?
(1998/04/06)

Most CD recorders need to clear their memory between the "test" pass and
the "write" pass.  For some recorders, the only command that does this is
"eject".  If the recorder has a tray it just goes out and back in, but if
it uses a caddy manual intervention is needed.

Some CD-R packages allow you to start the real write pass a few seconds
after the test pass has succeeded.  They may not disable this even though
they know that the disc will have to be ejected.  Make sure the option is
set to "wait until told to continue."


Subject: [4-6] My CD-ROM drive doesn't like *any* CD-R discs
(1998/04/06)

A very simple test is to take a CD that DOES work, copy it, and try both
(this ensures that your problems aren't being caused by, for example, a
drive that doesn't support multisession CDs).

Sometimes the firmware can be at issue.  In one specific case, a Goldstar
GCD580B CD-ROM drive was able to read CD-Rs under Win95 but not MS-DOS
6.22.  Upgrading the firmware from v1.01 to v1.24 solved the problem.

If it fails with different kinds of media, the CD-ROM drive either doesn't
like discs written with your recorder, or doesn't like CD-R media at all.
In one case, returning the CD-ROM for an identical unit resolved the
problems.

While there are stringent specifications for discs, there are no such
specifications for CD players and CD-ROM drives.  They just have to play
the discs.  If the disc and the drive are both marginal, you lose.


Subject: [4-7] How do I avoid having a ";1" on my ISO-9660 discs?
(1998/04/06)

The ISO-9660 standard says the version number (a semicolon followed by a
number at the end of every filename) has to be there.  Most operating
systems simply ignore it, but until recently the Mac didn't, causing some
problems.

(For the Mac, look at "ISO 9660 File Access" in the System:Extensions
folder with Command-I.  If the version shown is 5.0 or greater, your system
should handle the version numbers just fine.  If not, you should update
your system software.)

If you can't find a way to work around it, "mkisofs" has an option to omit
the version number when constructing an ISO-9660 image.


Subject: [4-8] I keep getting SCSI timeout errors
(1998/04/06)

http://www.adaptec.com/support/configuration/cdrec.html has some advice on
SCSI configuration.  Basically, check your cabling and termination (see
section (4-17) for more advice there), turn off features you don't need,
and make sure Auto Insert Notification is off (see section (4-1-1)).


Subject: [4-9] I'm having trouble writing a complete disc
(1999/04/29)

(This is for failures other than buffer underruns.  For those, see
section (4-1) and perhaps section (4-4).)

If it's failing right as the disc is being finalized, and you're recording
in track-at-once mode, try recording in disc-at-once mode instead.  It has
been suggested that some recorder+media combinations have trouble reading
the PMA (Program Memory Area, where a copy of the TOC is kept until the
disc is finalized) at the end of a write.  See section (2-19) for the
low-down on disc finalization.

When in doubt, check your ASPI layer.  Find out why at
http://resource.simplenet.com/primer/aspi.htm.

One user with an ATAPI recorder found that disabling DMA (from the Win98
peripheral properties) made things better.


This was happening frequently with the HP4020i running off an AdvanSys SCSI
card under Win311 (i.e. WfWG).  The solution here was to remove IFSHLP.SYS
from the CONFIG.SYS.  (IFSHLP.SYS is somehow involved with 32-bit file
access and network support, so you may have to disable both of these before
disabling IFSHLP.  You may have better luck under Win95.)

Another user with the same setup found that doing power-up diagnostics and
device reset right before burning the CD helped.


Subject: [4-10] What's the CDD2000 Write Append Error / spring problem?
(1998/07/26)

This seems to happen on Philips CDD2000-based units, such as the HP4020i,
usually a short while after the warranty runs out.  The most common cause
is a spring that weakens with age, but it might also be due to lubrication
breakdown.  After a while, the recorder starts failing when trying to write
beyond a certain point on the disc.

The ways of dealing with this range from minor system changes to the
placement of chicken entrails on selected components.  Reducing the DMA
rate on the AdvanSys SCSI card (for the HP4020i) may help, buying better
SCSI cables and checking for proper termination may make a difference, or
even powering off and on again right before the burn.  For some users,
however, the problem is mechanical rather than spiritual.

One user was told by Philips tech support that if error 50h (write append)
occurs, it means the drive has to be returned to the repair center.  Other
users have been told that the error can occur when attempting to write an
empty directory or zero-length file.  Under Easy-CD Pro '95, this is
reported as error 171-00-50-00 (see the Adaptec web site for a complete
list of error codes).

If the fault is caused by the worn spring, it may be possible to fix the
problem by replacing the spring.  This will definitely void your warranty,
and you shouldn't even think about trying this unless the only alternative
is to throw the drive away.  Jonathan Oei posted some details about the
process (search for comp.publish.cdrom.hardware, subject "CDD2000 & Spring
Fix", on http://www.dejanews.com/), and a detailed description of the
procedure can be found on http://www.fadden.com/doc/fix-hp4020i.txt.

This procedure requires some special tools (mini torx drivers and really
fine jeweller's pliers), and involves disassembling much of the drive.  If
you open up the drive and remove the circuit boards, you will see that the
laser writing assembly is moved by a DC stepper motor.  The motor has a
plastic drive gear that is meshed with a plastic "rack" on the laser.  The
spring in question is a piece of wire that pushes the rack against the
drive gear, so when it weakens the gear slips and the write fails.
Replacing the 0.012" wire with a 0.02" diameter wire solves the problem.

The high temperature in the drive may contribute to the breakdown of the
lubricants that allow the laser head to travel.  You may be able to prevent
the situation by installing a fan.  If you do find yourself with the case
open, the discussion on lubricating the JVC XR-W2010 at
http://www.noord.bart.nl/~januzz/howtoget.htm may apply to the CDD2000 as
well.

This question is also covered in the HP4020i FAQ, available at
http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/HP-FAQ.html.


Subject: [4-11] Getting errors reading the first (data) track on mixed-mode CD
(1998/08/16)

There's a 150-sector postgap at the end of the data track.  Most programs
deal with this automatically, some older ones don't.  If you're getting
errors, try subtracting 150 from the total number of sectors to read for
that track.


Subject: [4-12] My recorder ejects blank discs immediately
(1998/04/06)

There are a few of possibilities, some software and some hardware.

It may be that the system is looking at the disc, not finding a TOC (table
of contents), and ejecting it as useless.  One way to tell the difference
between the operating system rejecting the CD and the drive rejecting the
CD is to unplug the SCSI or IDE cable from the back of the CD recorder
before inserting the disc.

If the problem is the operating system, you probably need to disable
certain features.  Under Win95, disable auto insertion for all CD-ROM
devices (see section (4-1)).  One user found that reinstalling Win95
helped.  On the Mac, you may just need more recent drivers.  On a Solaris
system, remove the recorder (probably the "cdrom" entry) from
/etc/vold.conf.

If that doesn't work, make sure the CD-R drive is perfectly level.
Apparently some units are sensitive to being tilted at an angle.  Some
users have had trouble when a CD-R has been on for a while and has
overheated, so if you only have trouble when the machine has been powered
on for a while, try putting a small fan above the unit to blow air over it.

With some drives, improper SCSI termination can cause this behavior.

For the Yamaha CDR-200/CDR-400, this may be a sign that the drive has
broken down and needs to be replaced.  See section (5-1-1).

If nothing helps, there's a strong possibility that the drive is mis-
aligned and needs to be serviced.  This has been known to happen to drives
during shipping.

One user reported problems when using the wrong type of caddy.  It has to
be a Sony-type caddy, which is the kind most commonly found in stores.


Subject: [4-13] I'm getting complaints about power calibration
(1999/02/04)

The power range of the laser in a CD-R is between 4 and 8 milliwatts.  CD-R
discs have a section outside the standard recording area called the Program
Calibration Area (PCA), which is used to adjust the laser for the brand of
media you're using.

The error indicates that the CD-R drive is having trouble calibrating the
power setting.  Try different brands of media, and if that doesn't work you
should have the drive checked.

Some versions of the firmware for the Philips CDD2000 (and HP 4020i) will
report a power calibration error if you try to do a 1x write after a 4x
read.

It's also good to verify, if your CD recorder is an internal unit, that
your power supply has enough capacity to run everything.


Subject: [4-14] My Adaptec 2940 pauses after finding my recorder
(1998/04/06)

This was observed with a Yamaha CDR-100.  The solution is to go into the
Adaptec BIOS (hit Ctrl-A during boot), and disable the "support removable
disks under BIOS as fixed disks" option and the "boot from CD-ROM" option.


Subject: [4-15] I can't see all the files on the CD-R
(1998/04/06)

There's a couple of possibilities: either they aren't there, or they're
there but you can't see them.  Looking at the disc from different machines
(e.g. Mac and PC) should give you some idea.

Out-of-date versions of MSCDEX have been known to "forget" certain files
when browsing a disc.  If you're using DOS or are using the "real mode"
drivers from within Win95, make sure you're using the most recent version
of MSCDEX.

Old versions of certain CD creation programs would occasionally omit things
when asked to burn a large number of files.  These problems haven't been
reported for some time, however.

If you were burning a multi-session CD, read the next section.


Subject: [4-16] My multi-session disc only has data from the last session
(1998/06/14)

A common mistake when burning a multisession CD is to forget to link the
files from the previous session into the current one.  This results in a CD
where you can see the new files but none of the old, unless you have a
program that lets you choose which session you look at.

If you're using Easy-CD Pro for Win31, CD Creator, or Adaptec Easy CD
Creator 3, you can load the contents of all the previous sessions, and burn
a new session that has all the files you want.  This feature isn't
available in Easy-CD Pro 95, which only allows you to link to one previous
session.

The files themselves aren't lost forever though: most packages will allow
you to extract a track as an ISO-9660 image, and you can use WinImage to
pull individual files out of it.  If all else fails, CD-R Diagnostic
(section (6-2-6)) claims to be able to recover data from "lost" sessions.

One caution: without something like Adaptec's Session Selector, you may not
see the last session on the disc anyway.  Some CD-ROM drives stop looking
for sessions after a certain point.


Subject: [4-17] I'm getting SCSI errors
(1998/07/26)

Good SCSI cables and correct termination are absolutely essential.  SCSI
bus errors can cause buffer underruns or corrupted data (especially since
some vendors ship drives with parity checking disabled).

Bertel Schmitt wrote an excellent article on the ins and outs of proper
cabling and termination.  The article can be found in text form at
http://www.fadden.com/doc/scsi-trm.txt.  Granite Digital, a company
that makes high-quality cables and terminators, can be found at
http://www.scsipro.com/.

If you're using an HP 4020i with the AdvanSys SCSI card, reducing the DMA
transfer rate may help.


Subject: [4-18] Why doesn't the copy of an audio CD sound the same?
(1998/04/06)

There are actually two questions here, so I've split them into separate
sections.  The most common problem is that the audio extracted to the hard
drive doesn't quite match the original.


Subject: [4-18-1] Why doesn't the audio data on the copy match the original?
(1998/04/06)

Most problems are due to poor digital audio extraction from the source
media.  Some CD-ROM drives will return slightly different data every time
an audio track is read.  Others, like the Plextor line (e.g. 4Plex, 8Plex,
and 12Plex, but not 6Plex) will return the same data every time so long as
the source media is clean.

The most fundamental problem is that, if the CD is dirty, the error
correction may not be able to correct all of the errors.  Some drives will
interpolate the missing samples, some won't.

Another problem most CD-ROM drives face is "jitter".  See section (2-15)
for details.

See also section (3-3) on avoiding clicks in extracted audio, and section
(5-5) on which CD-ROM drives are recommended.


Subject: [4-18-2] The audio data matches exactly, why do they sound different?
(1998/06/14)

[ I have yet to see an authoritative answer to this. ]

Suppose you extract the audio track from the copy, and it's an exact binary
match of the track you wrote from your hard drive, but the CDs don't sound
quite the same.  What then?

Most people don't notice any difference between originals and duplicates.
Some people notice subtle differences, some people notice huge
differences.  Some say CD-R is better, some say worse.  While it's true
that "bits are bits", there *are* reasons why CD-Rs may sound different
even when the data matches exactly.

The manual for the CDD-2000 reportedly states that the drive uses 4x
oversampling when playing back pressed CDs, but switches to 1x for CD-R.
This affects the quality of the D/A conversion, and can make an audible
difference.

It has been suggested that the D/A conversion process in the CD player is
more susceptible to "jitter" when reading CD-Rs, because the clocking of
the bits isn't as precise.  A quality CD player will compensate for this
automatically.  (Note: this kind of jitter is different from the DAE kind
of jitter described in section (2-15).)  About halfway down on the page at
http://www.digido.com/jitteressay.html are some comments about the quality
of playback being dependent on how a CD-R is recorded.

Others have asserted that *any* two CDs, pressed or otherwise, will sound
slightly different.

Some people believe that audio CDs should be recorded at 1x, while others
have asserted that, for various technical reasons, 2x is better.  Certain
kinds of media may work best at specific speeds.

An extremely technical introduction to CD reading is available at
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~erick205/Papers/paper.html.  This may shed some
light on why reading audio CDs is difficult.

If you are finding noticeable differences, try different media, a different
player, and a different recorder.  There is some evidence that different
brands of media and recorders may work better for audio, but in the end
it's a highly subjective matter.  Some people say CD-Rs sound worse, some
people say they sound better.


Subject: [4-19] Digital audio extraction of a track is slightly off
(1998/04/06)

Some recorders don't correctly extract digital audio if the pregap of the
first track isn't exactly two seconds.  A bug in the firmware causes the
drive to start extracting slightly past the start of the track, and stop
extracting slightly past the end.  This can result in an audible glitch if
the music starts at the exact start of the track, and can cause the drive
to fail with an error when extracting the last track on the CD.

CDs that start at 00:02:32 (0 minutes, 2 seconds, and 32 blocks) are
surprisingly common.  The problem can be worked around manually, by looking
at the output of the Jeff Arnold's (freeware) TOC program (available from
http://www.goldenhawk.com/) and supplying "/start=" and "/end=" parameters
that adjust backward by the number of blocks in excess of two seconds.

For example, if the first track started at 00:02:32, you would subtract
32 from the starting and ending Logical Block Addresses.

A better solution is to use a CD-ROM drive that doesn't have this problem
(and most likely can extract audio more quickly than the CD-R can).

The Yamaha CDR-100/102 and the Philips CDD2600 are known to have this
problem, though it may get fixed by a firmware update.  The Ricoh 6200S
reportedly does not return the disc's table of contents correctly for these
sorts of discs.


Subject: [4-20] I can't play extracted audio files by double-clicking in Win95
(1998/04/06)

The default audio player in Win95 tries to load the entire file into
memory.  When an extracted track is 40 or 50MB, and you don't have that
much RAM, Win95's virtual memory system starts writing pieces out to disk.
The disk thrashes, and you get nowhere.

There are several ways around this.  If you right-click on the file
and select "properties", you will see a "preview" tab.  This will play
it directly from disk.  Another way is to use a different program.
One possibility is the Media Player, which is optionally installed
with Win95.  You can make it the default WAV file player by selecting
View/Options from Win95 explorer, clicking on the "File Types" tab, and
choosing "Wave Sound".  Double-click on Play and change the program name
from "sndrec32.exe" to "mplayer.exe", leaving the "/play" and "/close"
flags intact.

You can also use a program like CoolEdit, which will let you preview WAV
files from the Open File dialog.


Subject: [4-21] I can't read an ISO-finalized packet-written disc
(1998/04/06)

This problem is often experienced by HP7100/7110 users.  HP chose to ship
packet-writing software with their drives rather than conventional
premastering software, leaving users with discs that couldn't be read on a
fair number of systems.  (The HP7200 is the same drive, shipped with
updated firmware and a more complete set of software.)

The following is an excerpt from an Adaptec readme.txt file.  It talks
about DirectCD, but the problem is inherent in all packet writing
solutions:

  "When the disc is in the native format used by DirectCD, you will 
  only be able to read the disc on a CD-R device running DirectCD. 
  This is a direct result of the technology used when writing to a 
  CD-R disc. In order to make the disc readable on a standard CD-ROM 
  DirectCD must write certain data to the disc. This provides 
  compatibility with many of the current drives on the market today.  
  Unfortunately, there are still a number of CD-ROM drives that 
  cannot read the packet written media that DirectCD produces. If 
  you experience problems in this area, you should go to System in 
  Control Panel, select Performance, File System, CD-ROM and set the 
  Access Pattern to "No Read-Ahead". If you still experience 
  problems after making this adjustment, it is likely that the CD-
  ROM drive itself is having problems reading packet written media. 

  It should also be noted that there is an industry initiative 
  called MultiRead that addresses these issues and has the support 
  of all the major vendors of CD-ROM and CD-R/RW devices. This 
  initiative will eliminate the above problems and should be 
  available on all new drives."

If you want to share data between systems, and the remote system isn't
guaranteed to have a MultiRead CD-ROM drive, you should write the disc
with conventional software.


Subject: [4-22] I'm finding corrupted files on the CD-ROMs I write
(1998/05/16)

There have been a fair number of people who have burned a CD-ROM only to
discover that, while they can read text files, run applications, and look
at graphics, they can't extract from .ZIP archives or run compressed
applications (e.g. some "Setup.EXE"s under Win95).

The problem they're seeing isn't just corruption of .ZIP files though.
Most kinds of files have a lot of redundancy in them.  If a single bit is
lost out of a long text file, the chances of it being noticed are very
slight.  For an application, the chances of it causing a failure depend on
where in the file the error falls.  For a compressed file, though, every
bit is significant, and in a .ZIP archive the CRC has a very high
probability of detecting errors.  (CRC is cyclic redudancy check.  Most
file archivers compute a 32-bit CRC on the uncompressed input and store it
in the archive.  When you extract the files, the CRC is checked to ensure
that nothing has been damaged.)

Eliminating these errors could be as simple as replacing a bad SCSI cable.
One way to narrow the possibilities down is to try the disc in different
readers on different machines.  If the same error shows up in the same
place, the error was introduced during writing rather than while reading
the data back.  Another thing to try is to burn the same disc twice.  If
the data written to the CD-Rs doesn't match the original, but they do match
each other, then the errors are happening in the same place every time,
rather than at random, so the trouble might be with a driver or firmware
instead of a flaky cable or bad RAM.

If a file appears to be getting corrupted on the CD-R, try copying it back
to the hard drive and then comparing it to the original.  If possible, see
if the file is missing large chunks or just has sporadic damage
throughout.

If you can identify the problem as being with the reader or the writer you
may be able to focus on just one part of your system.  If the trouble
appears to be with your writer, and you can't get it to work, try to move
it to somebody else's system and see if it works from there.  It's
possible, though unlikely, that the CD recorder is flaky.

Whatever the case, the place to start is to check all cables, connections,
SCSI termination, L2 cache, and RAM.  One user with an otherwise properly
functioning system was able to fix the CD-R corruption problems by
correcting the RAM timings in the BIOS setup.  A couple of others found
that their problems went away when they disabled the L2 cache on the
motherboard.  Sometimes adding a new device will make cables (especially
longer ones) turn flaky.  Sometimes the flakiness only affects one device.
Swapping the cables is inexpensive, easy, and very likely to root out the
cause of your problems.  Section (4-17) has some tips on SCSI stuff.

One last thing: make sure the original files are valid before you go on a
wild goose chase!


Subject: [4-23] Having trouble playing an audio CD in a home or car player
(1998/11/30)

There are a few possibilities.  First and foremost is media compatibility.
Not all players get along with all brands of CD-R media.  You need to find
a combination of recorder, media, and player that get along.  Read section
(7-2) to learn more.

Another common problem is failing to close the disc at the end of writing.
You can't play an audio CD on a common CD player until the session has been
closed.  You may be able to play it back with the CD recorder though.
Also, don't forget that you have to write all of the audio data into the
first session of a multisession CD.  CD players don't know how to find the
later sessions, so tracks written there won't get played.

Sometimes the CD player will have no problem playing the tracks, but will
have a great deal of difficulty seeking between tracks or moving
fast-forward.  Using a different brand of media or a different CD player
may produce better results.

Some media works better at 1x, 2x, or 4x than it does at other speeds.  You
may find that slowing down or speeding up the recorder helps.

Finally, remember that you have to write the disc in CD-DA format!  If you
just write a bunch of .WAV files to a disc in CD-ROM format, it's not going
to work in your home stereo.


Subject: [4-24] Having trouble using a CD-ROM on somebody else's machine
(1999/07/18)

As with audio CDs, discussed in the previous section, there are several
possibilities.  The media compatibility issues mentioned above apply to
CD-ROM as well.

If you're using CD-RW media rather than CD-R media, you have to be sure
that the CD-ROM drive in question is MultiRead compliant.  Some older
drives are able to read CD-RW media, but most are not.

If the disc was written using a packet writing application like DirectCD,
some CD-ROMs will stumble on packet boundaries.  Refer to section (4-21)
for information and a possible workaround.

If a packet-written disc was closed in ISO-9660 Level 3 format, it won't be
usable on systems that don't support ISO-9660 level 3 (e.g. DOS).  If the
disc was *not* closed as ISO-9660, and is still in UDF, you will need a UDF
driver; see sections (6-3) and (6-4) for an overview and pointers to free
drivers.


Subject: [4-25] I can't copy a VideoCD
(1998/08/29)

If you put a VideoCD (White Book) into your CD-ROM drive, you will see a
bunch of files and directories like you would on any other CD-ROM.  In
fact, with the appropriate software installed, on some platforms you can
double-click on a file to play the video.

In practice, however, the video files are stored on separate tracks, using
CD-ROM/XA MODE-2 FORM-2.  This allows more data to be stored on a VideoCD,
at the price of less error correction.  If the video is short enough, you
may be able to copy the disc as a collection of files, but some players may
be unable to play back selections if the original disc had more than one
track.

You need to use a program like Adaptec's CD Copier or GoldenHawk's CDRWIN
to copy the disc track-by-track, preserving the mode of the original.

If your drive only supports track-at-once recording, you may have trouble
copying VideoCDs because the starting address gets shifted when the drive
writes a gap between tracks.  NTI's CD-Copy (section 6-1-12) gives you the
option of dropping the last part of the previous track to preserve the
start position of the next track.

Note that MODE-2 FORM-2 holds 2324 bytes of data per sector, so instead of
a total capacity of around 650MB, you can put closer to 740MB on a disc.
If you don't record the VideoCD data files in the correct format, you will
find yourself running out of room.  (The extra space is gained by throwing
out error correction codes that aren't necessary for video data.  Writing
ordinary data in this format is not recommended.)


Subject: [4-26] The test write succeeds, but the actual write fails
(1998/10/23)

Most often this is a problem with auto-insert notification being enabled
when it shouldn't be.  See the discussion in section (4-1).

One person supposedly fixed a similar problem by replacing the power supply
in their computer.  Apparently the 200W supply wasn't enough to handle
everything that was connected to it, and the extra power drain from the
write laser was causing failures.

If you're using track-at-once recording, and the actual write is failing
when the disc is 100% complete and the TOC is being written, you may be
able to solve your problems by using a different brand of media.  See
the notes in section (4-9).


Subject: [4-27] I can no longer erase a particular CD-RW disc
(1999/07/18)

It's possible that the disc has developed a region that can't be erased.
More likely is that the software or firmware is acting up.  If you're using
Easy CD Creator, insert a good CD-RW disc, and start the Erase process.
Just before you hit the final "OK" button to start the erase, swap the
troubled blank disc in place of the good one.

If this succeeds, you probably ought to run it through the erase procedure
one additional time before using it.

Super Blank, from http://www.ping.be/kris-schoofs/, reportedly accomplishes
the same thing without requiring a disc swap.

If this doesn't work, there is a report that a UV EPROM eraser will do the
trick.  Experiments have shown that leaving the disc out in direct sunlight
for a couple of hours may also help.


Subject: [4-28] Trouble formatting CD-RW discs with DirectCD for Windows 2.0a
(1999/07/15)

This was sent to me by Jac Goudsmit:

"When Adaptec DirectCD refuses to format a CD-RW for packet-writing, it's
possible that the disc is not completely blank. This may happen because you
chose the "quick" option when you last erased it. The quick-erase option
only erases the lead-in area to make the hardware and software think the
disc is empty. This is fine if you're going to use the disc for "normal"
writing as a CD-ROM, audio disc or whatever.

The packet-writing formatter in DirectCD 2.0a however (apparently) requires
the disc to be totally empty, so you really have to do a full erase if the
disc contained data previously.

BUT: there's another problem: after you do a full erase and shut down the
program you erase with (e.g. EasyCD Pro or Easy CD Creator) it's possible
that the DirectCD program won't recognize the disc as valid media, and you
still won't be able to format it, until you restart the computer.

Unfortunately this means that if you want to start using a previously
recorded CD-RW for packet writing, you'll have to wait a total time of at
least an hour and a half for the erase and format to complete..."


It has also been reported that some virus scanners, notably TBAV, can
interfere with the format process and should be disabled.


Subject: [4-29] I can't write CD-Rs after installing Windows 98
(1998/07/07)

There are people successfully writing discs with Windows 98, so it *can* be
done.

If you're using Easy CD Creator 3, try uninstalling it, rebooting, and then
reinstalling it.  This seems to fix the problems for the people reporting
them.  Doing the same for other software may have similar beneficial
effects.  Apparently ECDC3 installs its own versions of some system
drivers, which get overwritten when Win98 is installed.  Uninstalling and
reinstalling the drivers puts the ECDC3-friendly versions back.

Make sure your ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programmer's Interface) layer is up to
date, even if you have an IDE recorder.  You can find the "ASPICHK" utility
and some notes about how to examine your system on
http://www.adaptec.com/support/faqs/aspilayer.html.  You should be at v4.57
or later.


Subject: [4-30] I can't use the copy of a CD-ROM after installing Windows 98
(1998/09/14)

This problem has been recognized by Microsoft.  The resolution is posted on
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q186/2/97.asp.

The basic problem is that, after upgrading to Windows 98, copies of some
CD-ROMs (usually copy-protected games) will refuse to run, insisting that
you insert the original disc.  Microsoft has recommended two methods for
resolving this issue.  The first is to simply use the original disc.

The second recommendation is to make a new copy of the disc under Win98.
Why this works is unclear, and the Microsoft support pages aren't much
help.  They only say that the behavior is not caused by a bug, but rather
"design changes in Windows 98".  (It appears that using Win98 to write a
new session onto an existing disc will also cure the problem, but if you
aren't in the habit of leaving the session open on copies of game discs,
this won't help you much.)

One possibility is that Win98 returns a value for the volume label that is
closer to what is actually stored (perhaps there was some sort of character
set conversion or truncation going on in Win95).  Copy protected games
often check the volume label as a way of obstructing inexperienced software
pirates.


Subject: [4-31] The disc I was writing with DirectCD is now unreadable
(1999/02/06)

Start with http://resource.simplenet.com/primer/udf.htm to get an
understanding of what DirectCD is doing.

A popular way to screw up DirectCD's UDF handling is to remove the disc
without letting the software finish up.  You can accomplish this by
rebooting while it's working, attempting to disable it by doing something
other than uninstalling it (see (6-3-1)), or by turning off auto-insert
notification.

If you have DirectCD 2.x, you may be able to recover the data with the
included Scan Disc utility.  CD-R Diagnostic (6-2-6) may also be able
to recover data.  CD Recovery Services, at http://www.cdrecovery.com/,
may be able to help.

Rule of thumb: don't delete data off your hard drive until the disc is
finalized and verified readable.  Too many bad things can happen when
writing to a disc.