[NTLUG:Discuss] DVD writing problems.

[Steve Baker]

Well - thanks for all of the advice and suggestions so far.  The thread 
is getting
a bit tangled - so I'm posting a summary and some new information.

Problem:
   I can't write a DVD-RW using K3b under SuSE 9.3 - it doesn't 
recognise that
   there is a disk in the drive.

Things we've tried so far:

* New K3b, compiled from scratch from latest sources - along with latest 
cdrdao tool
   doesn't help - same symptoms.
* The drive is a Pioneer DVR-116D which appears to
   need the "generic" drivers.  Both SuSE and K3b detect the drive-type OK.
* The drive plays movie DVD's (using mplayer) and reads data DVD-RW's 
written by
   another machine just fine.
* K3b burns CD-R's just fine.
* K3b DOES recognise there is a disk in the drive if I load a blank CD-R
* K3b's startup messages indicate that it recognises that the drive can 
write DVD-RW's
* K3b is not saying anything that would indicate that it's somehow 
unable to write DVD's
   - all of the menu items are there and "work" (except that they don't 
recognise the disk).
* I've checked permissions on /dev/hdc - they are wide-open.
* /dev/cdrom, /dev/cdrecorder, /dev/dvd and /dev/dvdrecorder all symlink 
to /dev/hdc
* I've tried doing this as 'root' - it doesn't make any difference.
* I've tried booting SuSE 11.0 using a LiveCD in another drive and using 
K3b from there,
  - same exact symptoms.

New info:

If I start K3b from the command line so I can see stdout/stderr, it 
seems to say that it's recognising
the drive OK - and knows that it's DVD-RW capable.

When I tell it to "Load" (ie close the disk tray) with a DVD-RW in the 
drive, it says:

k3b: (K3bDevice::DeviceHandler) starting command: 3072
...then after a L-O-N-G wait:
(K3bDevice::ScsiCommand) failed:
                         command: START STOP UNIT (1b)
                         errorcode: 70
                         sense key: NOT READY (2)
                         asc:            30
                         ascq:           0

If I put (say) a movie DVD or a DVD-RW that's already been written onto
or a blank CD-R into the drive and hit K3b's "Load", button, everything 
works
OK and it recognises the disk for what it is.

So it kinda looks like the drive itself simply returns a NOT READY code
when it tries to load up a blank DVD-RW?!?   But the box the drive came in
definitely says that it supports DVD-RW (and -R, +R, +RW, -R DL and
+R DL...everything except Blu-Ray in fact).

It's starting to look like a drive problem - not a software issue.  But 
it recognises
DVD-RW's that have already been written to!

Do you think it's worth buying some blank DVD-R's or +R's or +RW's
to test with?

  -- Steve