Plextor CD-R PX-W5224A

[Wayne Orlicki]

I ordered and installed Karaoke Suite 4 last month, then ordered and installed a Plextor CD burner from MTU. I've been having a ball creating CDG tracks and successfully burned my first disc. It worked flawlessly the first time. Then I started on my second CDG project. Everything went fine until I was ready to burn the second disc with Microstudio. That's when I got the message that my CD burner was not ready; it "contains no disc or is not ready." It contained a disc, all right.

I tried another disc. No change. I then put an audio CD in the drive. The drive spun up and down a few times with the yellow drive indicator light on steady, then wound down and started flashing its green light. No indication came up on the screen that anything was in the drive. I clicked on My Computer, then the CD drive icon, and got no indication of any files (tracks) being read or that it was ready to play the CD.

I pulled up Microstudio and the Import Tracks screen. It read the CD tracks... initially. Later, after trying other data CDs and failing to read any files through Windows, I reinserted the audio CD. This time Microstudio could no longer read any tracks. I was also able to play a track through Microstudio's Play screen initially, but that failed on the second try.

I've been through the MTU forums, but all I find there is "Contact Plextor." Not easily done on a weekend. I also uninstalled Nero and rebooted. No change.

Any help on this?


Windows XP Home fully updated (critical updates)
CPU: P-4 1.6 GHz
256 Mb RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX200
DirectX 9.0b

[MTUSUPPORT]

Have you tried burning a CD in Nero or EZ CD Creator? If not, try this and see if it will work. If it still doesn't work, then you can look at the Blink Codes chart on Plextor's site. This will tell you what is wrong with the drive exactly, by what it is doing. Then contact us for an RMA number, if the drive is bad.

This needs to be done quick, as our RMA for the drives is only through us for the first 30 days, you have about 10 days left. Then the drive would have to be sent to Plextor for Repair/Replacement.

Here is the Blink Code chart page from Plextor: http://www.plextor.com/english/suppo...nkchart40.html

[Wayne Orlicki]

I've been in touch with Plextor Tech Support since posting my message here. Should I continue with them or handle this through MTU?

I get a 5-green blink if I use a blank CD-R and an 8-green blink if I insert an audio CD. After trying both solutions suggested on the Plextor site for these two indicators, nothing is resolved. I also tried the self-diagnostic suggested by their Tech Support, but that doesn't even work like it's supposed to. I no longer have any other CD burning software on my computer to try out, but it looks from all indications that the drive is toast.

What's the next step?

[Wayne Orlicki]

I have since managed to run Plextor's self-diagnostic, and the drive failed the test.

[catdwl]

I had the same problem. Try reseating your cables on the Plextor and the mother board.

Cat

[MTUSUPPORT]

Wayne,
Did you contact Plextor for an RMA, and get the drive returned and fixed?