Probably hardware. SCSI errors would give different and nastier messages in your logs.. If you've tried different brands of CD-R's (I'm assuming quality brands) try different dye types as well -- my burner works far better with certain "Short Strategy Type" discs, for example.
With burners (though not usually with brands like Plextor) the laser can start to go after a year or so if you're unlucky -- they're made of plastic instead of glass these days so warping is far more common. cheers, Matt On Sat, 2001-12-29 at 21:07, Kerstin Hoef-Emden wrote: > > Hi everybody, > > my CD-burner again is bad behaving. It irreproducably stops > burning processes with medium errors at different parts of the CD-Rs. > Today, the first CD-R was burnt 100 % (17 audio tracks). The next was > interrupted after 65 %, the second after 64 %, the third after 80 %, the > fourth after 17 % and the last after 98 % were done. Some days ago I > encountered no problems at all, but I had this problem occuring from > time to time before, although not that bad. The burner is now about 2 > years old, but has never been used extensively. > > The whole thing runs under potato (kernel 2.2.19) with xcdroast 0.96e on > an AlphaPC LX164 (533 MHz). I am not sure whether the latter is > important, since the components are standard PC hardware (Symbios Logic > Controller 53c860, the burner is a Plextor CD-R PX-R412C, the read-only > CD-ROM is a Plextor PX-20TS. > > These are the first outputs of xcdroast to the log-screen: > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Cdrecord release 1.6.1 Copyright (C) 1995-1998 Jörg Schilling > TOC Type: 0 = CD-DA > scsidev: '0,04,00' > scsibus: 0 target: 4 lun: 0 > atapi: -1 > Device type : Removable CD-ROM > Version : 2 > Response Format: 2 > Capabilities : SYNC LINKED > Vendor_info : 'PLEXTOR ' > Identifikation : 'CD-R PX-R412C ' > Revision : '1.04' > Device seems to be: Generic mmc CD-R. > Using generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-R driver (mmc_cdr). > Driver flags : SWABAUDIO > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > These are the last messages: > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Track 16: Total bytes read/written: 29129520/29129520 (12385 sectors). > Starting new track at sector: 192039 > /usr/lib/xcdroast-0.96e/bin/cdrecord-1.6.1: Input/output error. > write_g1: > scsi sendcmd: retryable error > status: 0x2 (CHECK CONDITION) > CDB: 2A 00 00 03 1D 06 00 00 0D 00 > Sense Bytes: F0 00 03 00 03 1D 9C 0A 00 00 00 00 0C 07 00 00 > Sense Key: 0x3 Medium Error, Segment 0 > Sense Code: 0x0C Qual 0x07 (write error - recovery needed) Fru 0x0 > Sense flags: Blk 204188 (valid) > cmd finished after 0.024s timeout 40s > > write track data: error after 28221648 bytes > Sense Bytes: 70 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 > Writing time: 787.905s > /usr/lib/xcdroast-0.96e/bin/cdrecord-1.6.1: fifo had 15644 puts and > 15517 > gets. > /usr/lib/xcdroast-0.96e/bin/cdrecord-1.6.1: fifo was 0 times empty and > 10342 > times full, min fill was 97%. > Fixating time: 65.359s > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > The last track should have been no. 17. > > During the burning process and after it has been interrupted, the yellow > LED of the internal read-only CD-drive with a CD-ROM inside was > flickering all the time. Is this normal when only the CD-burner - an > external device - should be working? > > I know, that my SCSI-bus is a bit too long. According to some notes I've > read, Ultra-SCSI shouldn't exceed 1,50 m, but it is actually 2,10 (1,50 > m internally, 60 cm externally). I never encountered SCSI resets or > trouble with the other four devices as an indication for a cable > length problem. > > The daisy chain looks like this: > > HD (ID 0)-HD (ID 1)-MOD (ID 2)-CD-ROM (ID 3)-Controller-CD-burner (ID 5) > <- internal | external -> > > The ends of the daisy chain are terminated, the CD-burner has an > active terminator. > > I also had a look at the different log-files for potential information. > > /var/log/kern.log: > > Dec 30 01:14:08 alphons kernel: Device not ready. Make sure there is a > disc in the drive. > Dec 30 01:14:08 alphons kernel: VFS: Disk change detected on device > sd(8,32) > Dec 30 01:14:08 alphons kernel: sdc : READ CAPACITY failed. > Dec 30 01:14:08 alphons kernel: sdc : status = 1, message = 00, host = > 0, driver = 28 > Dec 30 01:14:08 alphons kernel: sdc : extended sense code = 2 > Dec 30 01:14:08 alphons kernel: sdc : block size assumed to be 512 > bytes, disk size 1GB. > Dec 30 01:14:08 alphons kernel: sdc:scsidisk I/O error: dev 08:20, > sector 0 > Dec 30 01:14:08 alphons kernel: unable to read partition table > Dec 30 01:14:31 alphons kernel: cdrom: open failed. > Dec 30 01:14:57 alphons kernel: VFS: Disk change detected on device > sr(11,0) > > /var/log/messages and /var/log/syslog say more or less the same: the > kernel tries to open /dev/sdc, which is the MOD drive. A final entry in > /var/log/syslog reports the start of a cron-job, perhaps synchronous > with the interrupt of the burning: > > Dec 30 01:38:01 alphons /USR/SBIN/CRON[678]: (mail) CMD ( if [ -x > /usr/sbin/exim -a -f /etc/exim.conf ]; then /usr/sbin/exim -q >/dev/null > 2>&1; fi) > > I am wondering whether the burning failures are caused by hardware or > software problems. Does the kernel mistake the MOD alias /dev/sdc > for a CD-ROM drive when starting the burning process? Is this normal, > because it always tests through all exchangeable devices or may this > indicate a problem? The MOD is nowhere mentioned in the xcdroast setup, > only the paths to the image-partition and to the two Plextors are set. > > Does the flickering of the CD-ROM LED indicate a problem of the > SCSI-bus, perhaps some kind of a communication problem? May the cron-job > be part of the problem? ... and if the cable length causes the problem > shouldn't it also show with SCSI resets and troubles with the internal > devices? > > According to the xcdroast entries, no buffer underrun takes place and > until yet I couldn't find any correlation with stopped burns and > parallel actions I did. The burning may be interrupted no matter whether > I have been working in parallel or my computer is left alone. Different > brands of CD-Rs don't seem to have an effect, the inside of the > burner as well as the caddy show no obvious traces of dust, and this is > a non-smoker household. > > > Has somebody an idea how to find out what is going on there? > > > > > > Thanks in advance, > > a happy new year, > > Kerstin > > > -- > > Dr. Kerstin Hoef-Emden Gyrhofstr. 15 > Universität zu Köln 50931 Köln > Botanisches Institut Germany > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] >