hardware upgrade for cd-writer buffer underruns ?

[meymand]

I have a PII-266 64 mb ram PC running win98se, and installed an 8x hp cd-writer a couple of months ago (9100i). (My system meets hp's recommnded minimum requirements for this burner.) The problem is I always get buffer underrun errors when I try to burn at 8x, but reset to 4x and it works just fine. I have tried all recommended fixes, and a helpful hp tech spent about 45 min on the phone trying every other possible thing too, but it didn't correct the problem. So she concluded that I needed hardware upgrade, but wasn't sure which would offer the best chance of improvement: more ram, faster cpu, newer bigger hard drive, new motherboard, etc. My question is, which of these will help ? My intel SE440BX motherboard will only support up to PIII-450. So is it worth investing in any hardware upgrades, or do I have to live with 4x ?

A related question is when I try to copy a cd from my Toshiba CD-rom to the cd-writer, it defaults to an excruciatingly slow 1x. (How) can I find a cd-rom that will extract faster ?

[Jerkymom]

Welcome! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif I looked at the system requirements for the 8X HP 9100i burner, which your system appears to meet (P200, 32MB RAM w/Win98). I can't give you a definitive answer as to which components would provide the most improvement to your burn speed, other than to say that more memory probably wouldn't hurt (my opinion is 64MB = minimum amount needed with Win98). I believe your motherboard takes SDRAM, and PC100 DIMM prices are pretty low right now. Check Aaronix Express (http://store.yahoo.com/aaronix/memory.html)(the vendor I buy from) and PriceWatch (http://www.pricewatch.com) for memory pricing, but be sure to check your motherboard manual to ensure any memory you buy will be compatible.

Be sure your hard drive isn't crammed full, as Win98 likes some free space to roam around in. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif Since you said you'd tried everything, I'm assuming HP tech support had you try copying the CD files to your hard drive, then burning them from there. Upgrading your old Toshiba CDROM might help with the buffer underruns. Look at these CDROM Reviews (http://www.cdrinfo.com/hardware/) for some drive comparisons.

Hope this helps!
Kim

[bassvax]

Hey Meymand, After going through this with my son's pc I've come to the conclusion that there are several things to do to optimize your burning experience. Aside from taking the processor to the highest level you can, as Mom said RAM is the first choice...I suggest 128MB when running Win98. The next step is the hard drive. If your mobo's HD controller supports Ultra ATA/UDMA 66 I would suggest going to a 7200 rpm HD. Before starting the burn run scandisk (disk doctor if you got Norton) and defrag (speed disk if you got Norton). Next check to make sure that autoinsert notification is disabled (this is important due to the fact that your system will continually check the cd-rom drive for a disc) and that the DMA box is unchecked on your drive properties. Do a fresh boot then close all programs in the systray including your antivirus program. It would be nice if your cd burning drive is on an IDE cable of it's own when burning from the HD. The cd-rom to cd writer burn is gonna have to go at a slow enough rate to achieve transfer through the IDE cable since probably both are on the same IDE the cable can only handle so much throughput irregardless of spin speed of the cd-rom (as Pete pointed out in another post). The key here is to free as much of the system resources as you possibly can during the burn. That being said it seems that you will have to settle for the slower speed until your system is optimized. Manufacturers list their minimun requirements so as to sell their product neglecting to mention the pain of having too little system resources or more capable hardware. If your burning software offers to test before actual write I would suggst you use it. After making the above listed optimizations you can creep the burn speed up as far as it will allow based upon the testing phase. If you have the time burning at a slower speed almost always results in a better session. I still don't have the capabilities that I want out of the burner and will have to upgrade the HD and processor before I believe I will actually realise it's potential. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Jerry

[Paleo Pete]

I'd say leave it at 4X, you'll get a better copy that way, even if it takes a bit longer.

The buffer underrun happens when the disk is still spinning but there's no data to transfer since the buffer is empty. The writer requests data from the buffer and there's none there...

Here is a link with some good info and a much better explanation: http://www.fadden.com/cdrfaq/faq04.html#[4-1]

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[This message has been edited by Paleo Pete (edited 11-02-2000).]