Still unable to record CDG's past 6x - enable DMA on IDE hard drive

[cindy]

I'm positive I have Microstudio V2.200. I pulled up HELP and went to "about Microstudio". It gave me the version 2.2.0.0. That was also the program that you told me how to download. The program file was Microstudio V2.200.exe. I am also using 16x CDR's that I bought from you at the same time I purchased Microstudio. Any other suggestions? Do I need to try downloading Microstudio V2.200 again? I still am unable to record CDG's past 6x.

[DW]

Do you have DMA checked in your settings for the Plextor drive.
I have been able so far to get 10X Burn speed.

[admin]

Cindy, I agree with DW. Do the following:

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 Plextor drive

Please post back under this thread if that solves your problem.

[cindy]

Thanks for the suggestion. It increased my speed when recording from the hard drive to the CDR to 12X. The recording of the CDG to the harddrive is still somewhat slow even though I have the speed set at 16X. Any suggestions. Also, there are times when I am able to record the CDG to the hard drive but am kicked out when trying to transfer to the CDR. Could this be because there are some scratches on the CDG's? I'm trying to make a master copy of everything so that the ones that are no longer in publication are preserved if a copy gets broken.

[MTUSUPPORT]

Cindy, 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 us the Custom Assembly Tab and read each song in one at a time (our new V2.3 is not release yet, but it will allow reading all tracks in at once as individual songs). Then, if any tracks fail to read, you can try to re-read again, but if it fails, there is nothing Microstudio or other software can do. The songs you get can then be written to a new CDG disc in the Custom Assembly Tab in the order you place them in the list.

It should take about 5 minutes to burn a full CD at 16x. Is yours taking this or longer? You may also update the software (firmware) drivers for your IDE drive controllers located on your motherboard. We have a list of some of the computer company's websites for drivers and support.

[ltproductions]

I have the same problem as Cindy. I have Microstudio version 2.200 and I still can't write faster than 6x without getting an error message and a failed burn. I already have the DMA option checked but that didn't help. I have a Plexwriter 12/10/32, 650Mhz Duron processor,and 64 Megs of RAM. I also have CDRWIN installed and that works up to 10x. Any faster and it too fails the burn. I really like Microstudio because it's much easier to use than CDRWIN, I just wish I could get it to work properly. Do I need more RAM? Please HELP!

[cindy]

Maybe you need the plexwriter 16x10x40A. I use 16x to copy to the hard drive and 12x to write to the CDR. My recording and writing speed for most cdg's is about 6 minutes to copy onto the hard drive and 6-7 minutes to copy to the CDR. It's great. I can hardly keep up with it. I'm not very computer literate so I don't know if this is the answer for you but microstudio was very helpful to me and increased my speed immensely.

[admin]

ltproductions, read MTUSUPPORT's comment about slowing down the read speed if your discs have scratches.

Cindy, thanks for your answer, but LT should be able to read beyond 6x.

Microstudio V2.303 will release next Tuesday, free for those who have purchased before January 1, 2001. We will send out the instructions and passwords on Tuesday.

V2.303 has greatly improved error handling. For example, with the Duplicate Disc Tab, when you have read in the disc "image" file, new dialog boxes appear if it fails when burning a disc. Then you can select to try to burn again (with a new disc) or terminate (which deletes the image file from the hard drive). This will make it much easier to recover from a failed burn and not have to read the disc image again.

I cannot think of another reason why you cannot write beyond 6x if you have V2.200. To make sure you have 2.200, click the Help menu, About Microstudio command to see the version number. If it is V2.103 or earlier, that is your problem. Upgrade to V2.200.

[namdog]

Originally posted by cindy
I'm positive I have Microstudio V2.200. I pulled up HELP and went to "about Microstudio". It gave me the version 2.2.0.0. That was also the program that you told me how to download. The program file was Microstudio V2.200.exe. I am also using 16x CDR's that I bought from you at the same time I purchased Microstudio. Any other suggestions? Do I need to try downloading Microstudio V2.200 again? I still am unable to record CDG's past 6x.

hi i have a plextor that records up to 16 but will only write cd+g up to 12, 12 is good it goes fast and is done i tried 16 but i think you can write cd+g 12 or lower,, also it depends on your harddrive ,if it can keep up the pace with the recorder,, if it can't you might have to pick a lower write speed,,, did you try writing from 12 on down,, i started high and worked down to 12 and it wrote cd+g great,but i have a 7200 rpm hardrive that keeps up to par, i hope i helped some...

[Misschiff]

If you haven't already, check out this post http://www.mtu.com/vbulletin/showthr...p?threadid=506 , it might be of help.

[ltproductions]

Here's an update to an old problem with a new twist. I had the same problem on a completely different and newer computer. Couldn't burn above 16X on a 2.4 Pentium with 512 Megs of RAM and a 48/24/48A Plexwriter. Boy was I stumped! With other burning software I got mixed results. After much detective work and lots of sleepless nights, I discovered that the data flow to and from my hard drive (Western Digital, 80 Gig, 7200 RPM) was extremely SLOW. In essence, my hard drive couldn't keep up with my burner! After more diagnostics and hair pulling I decided to upgrade my BIOS. Voila! from 16X to maximum warp speed in about 20 minutes! My computer now smokes and I haven't had a failed burn since. And I got the BIOS upgrade free from the motherboard manufacturer's website to boot!

P.S. Upgrading your BIOS can be dangerous! Do it at your own risk or pay a professional to do it. If done wrong it can render your computer dead in the water. If you do decide to do it yourself, be absolutely CERTAIN that the BIOS upgrade is the right one for your motherboard!

Larry T.