Problem: You see the error message Write Command Failed on Device X:X:X Read/Write Error or Bad Medium Detected when you try to write a CDR media at higher than 6x speed.

Solution 1: Download Microstudio V2.200 which has this bug removed. You cannot write faster than 6x speed with Microstudio V2.103.

Solution 2 (V2.103 only): In the Drives menu Speed Selection... command, do not try to select a Write Speed faster than 6x. If you click Auto Select, 8x, 10x, 12x or 16x you will see this error message.

[Edited by admin on 04-23-2001 at 03:05 PM]

Additonal things to try with higher than V2.103
 

Suggestion #1: If a CDG disc has many scratches on it, Microstudio can kick it out while reading the disc image to the hard drive. Try to slow the read speed down to 1x for the best copy on scratched discs. If that fails, you must use the Custom Assembly Tab or Import Tracks Tab (available in 2.31x versions) and read each song in separately. Then, if a track fails to read, you can re-read again. If it continues to fail there is nothing Microstudio or other software can do to overcome this damage. In the Custom Assembly Tab, you can write the songs you do read to a new CDG disc in the order you place them in the song list.

Suggestion #2: Your computer hard drive may not be able to provide the data fast enough to write higher than 6x. At MTU we have several computers that cannot exceed 8x speed, even with very fast 7,200RPM IDE UDMA/100 hard drives. Having a CD-Recorder capable of writing 12x does not mean your computer will allow this speed, only that the CDR is capable of it. This can be a very frustrating point that is impossible to determine without directly testing the computer.

Suggestion #3: Running any other programs while you are trying to write a CDR disc can slow down data transfers, or randomly interrupt Microstudio while writing to the CDR. Either will terminate the writing process with the resulting error message Write command failed on device 1:0:0 read/write error or bad medium detected(04h 00h 02h 03h 0ch 08h). The numbers in the error message may be different, but the words will always be this.

Suggestion #4: Your computer may not have enough RAM memory. We strongly recommend 128MB of RAM today, but 64MB should be sufficient. If you don't have at least 64MB, upgrade with an additional 128MB today, because at February 11, 2001 RAM prices are very low.

Why writing may not exceed 6x speed
 

You must enable DMA operation for your IDE hard drive:

1. Click the Start button
2. Click the Settings command
3. Double click the Control Panel command
4. Scroll down and double click the System command
5. Click the Device Manager tab at the top
6. Click the CDROM "+" to expand and show your CDR/CDROM drives
7. Double click the Plextor CDR drive (or click it and click the Properties button at the bottom)
8. Click the Settings tab at the top
9. In the Options group, click the DMA check box to show it checked (enabled)
10. Click OK at each dialog box to execute enabling DMA operation with your CDR/CDRW drive