EAC burning question

[Kush]

I've been using EAC to burn audio cdr's. I have successfully set it up correctly. I haven't had any problems until a couple of days ago. When I used to burn cdr's the buffer almost always stayed full. Well, now its acting wacky. It seems to start burning full and then it keeps moving almost all the way down and then back to full and the process continues all the way through the entire burn of the disc. I've tried to slow down the burning speed, I tried 16x, 8x, 4x, etc... all with the same results. The buffer keeps moving in waves. My question is about buffer under-run. Is this considered buffer under-run? If so, I should turn it off, but how? I'm running Windows XP and I'm using EAC v0.95. Thanx in advance for the help.

[dorrcoq]

even the EAC board on Yahoo suggests that EAC isn't the best for burning - use Nero or Feurio

[Five]

hmm... then you're stuck with using the combined read/write offset values which means that if you set up for ripping with EAC and burning exact copies with Nero or whatever then other people who attempt to burn exact copies (99% most likely) won't get them. Seems strange that EAC is acting up on you, I know that a lot of people have trouble burning with it but it works great on my two burners. Check the link to the coaster factory in my sig too.

[Kush]

Originally Posted by Five

hmm... then you're stuck with using the combined read/write offset values which means that if you set up for ripping with EAC and burning exact copies with Nero or whatever then other people who attempt to burn exact copies (99% most likely) won't get them. Seems strange that EAC is acting up on you, I know that a lot of people have trouble burning with it but it works great on my two burners. Check the link to the coaster factory in my sig too.

It has been working fine since I downloaded it and configured EAC. I know that coaster factory link well, its in my favorites. Like I stated, I haven't changed anything since it was working properly. But now it seems to be acting up on me. Could it be a CDR burning drive issue. Mine has been overworked in the past 2 years, maybe its crapping out on me. How do I know when its time to get a new one?

[Five]

I've only had one crap out on me and I could tell because all the audio cdr burns were full of clicks and pops. A new one couldn't hurt... I just got a CDR/RW burner for $50 CDN, the DVDR/RW+CDR/RW drive is $100 here. Maybe double-check that EAC likes it before you buy.

[Andy L]

Originally Posted by Kush

I've been using EAC to burn audio cdr's. I have successfully set it up correctly. I haven't had any problems until a couple of days ago. When I used to burn cdr's the buffer almost always stayed full. Well, now its acting wacky. It seems to start burning full and then it keeps moving almost all the way down and then back to full and the process continues all the way through the entire burn of the disc. I've tried to slow down the burning speed, I tried 16x, 8x, 4x, etc... all with the same results. The buffer keeps moving in waves. My question is about buffer under-run. Is this considered buffer under-run? If so, I should turn it off, but how? I'm running Windows XP and I'm using EAC v0.95. Thanx in advance for the help.

Mine does that too.. it depends on what file format you're burning. If I burn APEs directly to CD-R, then the buffer will move in waves. If I burn WAVs, then it won't. I haven't tried any other formats. On my drive, it's not buffer under-run and the discs sound fine, but I'd give them a listen just to make sure.

[Kush]

Crap... I just talked to my buddy who I gave a batch of CDR's to and he told me that they were full of clicks/pops. This was the batch that the trouble started with. I guess I'm in the market for a new burner.

[Karst]

Could it possibly be the discs that you are using?

[Kush]

I doubt it. They are Fujifilm 80 minute CD-R's made in Japan.

[jcrab66]

I cant even burn with EAC anymore due to some stupid cue sheet error that started popping up on me when i would go to start the burn. I just use it for ripping now, Nero for burning...

[hirsute]

I've had a similar problem twice. Both times it turned out to be Windows changing my IDE channel from DMA mode to PIO. Microsoft has pretty much admitted this is a windows problem and issued a hot fix. This has been rolled into XP SP2 also.

Basically what happens is you get a few drive errors and Windows downgrades your IDE channel to PIO. Of course PIO is to slow to keep up with your burning software so you get buffer under-runs.

You can check to see if this is your problem by:

1. Right click My Computer
2. Select Manage
3. Double click "Device Manager"
4. Double click "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
5. Double click "Secondary IDE Channel" (and/or Primary Channel)
6. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab

If your Transfer Mode is set to PIO only or you Current Transfer type is PIO Mode you have some work to do.

Here's a couple links:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=817472
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm
or you can simply do a Google search for "PIO Only", you'll get lots of hits.

Both times I've had this problem I've had to uninstall the IDE channel. Worked fine for me but your mileage my vary!

[OU812]

Memory....shut everything down that is running in the background
and try burning again...If the buffer stays up then the you found your problem.

Originally Posted by Kush

I've been using EAC to burn audio cdr's. I have successfully set it up correctly. I haven't had any problems until a couple of days ago. When I used to burn cdr's the buffer almost always stayed full. Well, now its acting wacky. It seems to start burning full and then it keeps moving almost all the way down and then back to full and the process continues all the way through the entire burn of the disc. I've tried to slow down the burning speed, I tried 16x, 8x, 4x, etc... all with the same results. The buffer keeps moving in waves. My question is about buffer under-run. Is this considered buffer under-run? If so, I should turn it off, but how? I'm running Windows XP and I'm using EAC v0.95. Thanx in advance for the help.

[Kush]

I never burn with anything else running in the background. I just ordered 512mb more of memory for my system; its on the way. I will wait until I install more memory before I try burning again. Thanx for the suggestion.

[OU812]

What is your CPU % usage??