Hewlett Packard CD-RW`s Suck

[Cartmage]

Apparently I just bought a $250.00 24x CD-ROM. That is all this HP 7550i CD_Writer Plus is good for. I have had it for two weeks now and have successfully burned 1 disk.
To burn with this recorder I have to first have a single track cd,(buffer underruns EVERY TIME it changes tracks) and I must burn from my harddrive at 1x.
I have spent about 3 hours on the telephone with HP`s Tech Support (because their webpage for this cd-rw is still under construction) long distance, and they have pretty much told me that they were suprised I got it to burn 1 cd!?!?!
I can't take it back to the store because my wife threw out the styrofoam from inside the box and the first cd-r I wasted trying to burn was the one that came in the box.
I NEED HELP!
here are some quick comp stats:
AMD K6-2 450, 128MB PC-100 RAM
6.4 Gb. Western Digital HDD
FIC VA-503+ mainboard (all updated drivers)
memorex 48x cd-rom
Diamond Monster VooDoo 2 card
Velocity 4400 AGP video card
Diamond Sonic Impact S90 sound
and a Creative 56k V/D/F/modem

HP said my firmware was up to date, I have the newest version of Adaptec Easy CD Creator
(and I have already tried NERO and CDRWIN)
Heres the problem:
Every time I burn a CD that has more than 1 track, I get a buffer underrun error as it is changing tracks.
HP said it is because my cd-rom is spinning down and not recovering in time, buit if this is the case, why does it do it when I copy from my harddrive?
I have defraged and scandisked (both with norton) and I have nothing but explorer and systray running.
HELP!

[jokostel]

The ONLY way i could get my cd-rw from HP(same model) to work is to have it on its own controller as the master on the(secondary port)
it runs beautifly by itself but the minute you try and make it share the port WHAMMO all hell break loose.....try and see if it works....
jokostel@usa.net



[This message has been edited by jokostel (edited 05-18-99).]

[Virus]

Try disabling the UDMA in the CMOS and in the device manager HP CD-R properties.

And it has to be the master just like jokostel said.

I have not tried the HP 7500i series drives yet, but those are the two biggest problems will all IDE burners I have used/installed.

[Cartmage]

Thanks,
I tried it out and it still isn't working right but I can make it write one track before getting a buffer underrun.
Could you tell me how you have your bios set up?
I was fighting with an AGP video card a while back and I may have screwed something up

[Ed_S]

Don't have HP, but did have lots of buffer underruns while I was learning to use my Sony. Try this.

>Make sure there is nothing else running, including screen saver.

>Make sure power save is off.

>In Easy CD Creator, change the temp file usage to the largest empty partition or directory available.

>Before beginning burn, always validate layout.

>Once you've begun test & create process, leave it alone. Literally. Just walk away. I once caused error just by moving the mouse, maybe coincidence, but since then I let it do it's work alone & just check in once in a while. Since began using these steps, no coasters. None.


If nothing else works, take it back to store anyway. Most stores are used to comp. products coming back missing parts, ever look in the clearance/bargain bins? Those are returns. Be sure & do this before 30 days, though!

[Vladimir]

I have a 7200 and it works great. One thing I have learned though is to always burn from your hard drive because there is a lot less that can go wrong when you do. Plus it is a lot easier to have everything set up and just leave it than having to wait and change out disk. Overall, I think my cd-writer is the most important part of my computer right now.
Hope you can get yours working. Cheers

[Cartmage]

I kill everything running when I try to burn... that is just it... the buffer underruns happen the exact same time reguardless of weather I burn cd to cd at 2x while downloading a file or if I have everything else off burning at 1x from my harddrive.
I have now replaced all the IDE cables and made sure they are plugged in right and triple checked my jumper settings.

I'm about to rip the thing out and run over it with my Jeep.

[BBA]

Your right Cartmage about the HP sucking. I took one home from work, a 8100 4X. It worked fine on my HP workstation, but I couldn't get anything out of it on my BH6. I wanted to burn a lot of cd's with it because its faster than my 2X Mitsumi, but it just wouldn't work, not even as a stand alone drive on the secondary controller! So I put my Mitsumi back in as a master to a CL DVD2x slave on the secondary controller and burned away at 2x.

You might actually want to try with the dma enabled and disabled and if your using Win95, you absolutely have to run the PiiX4 busmaster drivers, according to the HP documentation.


So, in light of your MB not being Intel in design, I would even suspect the MB you have uses an incompatible ide controller driver.

This is a bad move for HP to produce a good drive thats incompatible with almost everything out there except for HP pc's.

BBA

[dartastic]

Uhh I dont know what to tell you guys but I had a 7200I and now an 8110 and both have never failed me. Just created a back of Siphon Filter (playstation) from CD to CD in 17 minutes. Extracts audio and creates my MP3's flawlessy. This is on a PII400, 128 megs ram, Hitachi DVD and Quantum fireball 12.7 gig HD. BTW I use Easy CD Creator Deluxe, CDRwin 3.4c, EasyCD DA and a couple of other programs that I cant recall right now.

[ANTONIO E GUERRA]

Hi, everyone! I have the Hp7200i and it works excellent. You must have Hp in its own ide controller. If you have two cdroms, configure the Hp as the master and the other cd as the slave. However, in my personal experience, it will be better without a second cd rom. In my opinion, it causes less errors. Hope it helps.

[BBA]

I'm not saying it's a bad drive, it just needs some help on the compatibility issue.

The same drive I couldn't get working at home works flawlessly at work ( of course it's a HP PC at work).

The major issue I have other than that is no one can get the HP drives to copy certain CD's, such as Office (for backup's of course) and etc... The Mitsumi does these copies without any hiccups, even while attached to the same ide controller a DVD drive is on (and that DVD replaced a 24Xcd rom drive).

BBA

[This message has been edited by BBA (edited 05-23-99).]

[ANTONIO E GUERRA]

I have to agree with you about the Mitsumi. It is one of the easiest cd recorder to install and configure it. Hp works fine but you have to be very patient and find a way around.

[Stitches]

Sorry about your luck Cartmage , I just bought HP Writer also , the 8100 . I burnt in 10 disks so far an only lost the file half of one disk , too bad Ya can't take it back.

I know that having 2 cdroms causes problems

Try seting the Hp to master on the cmos

[Santi-Man]

I bought a HP 8100 CD-RW 6 months ago.. and Love it! I've had it in my P133 with 32mb ram and now my P2 400(c) /w 64mb, and have no problems at all! On it's own 2nd IDE. Along side a 36X goldstar cd-rom 'slave to 8.4g quantom fireball'. Not to say I never get costers..(by my own fault..usually.)But what I'd like to know is why it's been discontinued so soon in favor of the 8110?? What's the diff?

[Dragoon]

I guess all I have to offer is that I have an AMD K6-2 400 & 128megs of pc-100 on an alton mb598 motherboard. The hp 8200 is about the only functioning device. Though I haven't tried burning cdr's yet, the rw's are fine. I understand how you feel, I have multiple problems with my pc but no clue where the gremlins are. (They ARE there though.)

[JR]

Have just purchased a HP 7570i complete w/Adaptec program bundle.
Is this an older version and outdated or is it still in the norm of cd burners?
Can anyone tell me what is the diff. between this and the 8100's. In BC Canada, it is approx. $350.00
Thanks

[hai]

I've played 3 weeks with my acer cd burner and realized there're too many things could go wrong for a cd writer. Overclocking, bad power supply all can cause trouble. I unplugged all unnecessary cards from the case and now it works. Need sometime to figure out which device's making conflict thou.