Warning for those about to buy a DVD+-RW with an Asus

Hi All,

Because of the current shortage of Toshiba/Samsung DVD+-RW units for Asus notebooks, current shipments are Panasonic/Matshiita drives, the UJ-31D. Apparently these Panasonic drives are absolute crap, and don't even burn anything (CDs OR DVDs) at their advertised speed! They also have no firmware updates available for download, and they have absolutely shoddy support.

See this forum post for more info:

http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=31370&highlight=Mat****a++831D

I just thought everyone should know what they're potentially in for.

Sandeep

 

Wow, thanks for the concern but you're going to find the same complaints about toshiba and others if you search hard enough. This time last year the rave was to actually ask for the 4x Panasonic dual format drives over the 4x Toshiba dual format drives because people said they only burnt at 2x. If you do a bit more research it had much more to do with the media used, a bit to do with the software... and nothing to do with the drives.

There are plenty of people who have the Panasonic drives in their units already and most of what was built in the last two months should have Panasonic. But I do know that Asus did not switch to them because of a shortage. Rather, they switched from Panasonic to Toshiba because of a shortage on Panasonic drives. We probably have a half and half mix of both anyway so it really doesn't mean a whole lot to us. However to my dismay, the ensembles are still mainly shipping with the Toshiba drive until they clear those out.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but you've done too much research and nothing hands on. You'd hear a lot more complaining in this forum if it were a concern.... if you don't already know that then you either don't follow much or haven't searched the threads.

Before you post though you may want to make sure you have the correct drive. The 8x dual layer burner that Asus has used from Panasonic (both now and since last fall) is the model: UJ-831B. I'd venture to say 50% of Asus notebook owners in this forum with a dvd burner have a Panasonic. It's not just a drive they decided to use last week.

 

Thanks for the news. I'm just glad I got the Samsung- works wonderful.

 

Well if any of the Panasonic peeps are happy with theirs- Please chime in.

 

Seriously..... We'd be glad to hear it because that info will go right to Asus. Besides a couple people who haven't learned how to burn... no one's even mentioned their drives in the last 4+ months.

 

You'll find such treads for almost any slimtype DVD burner in existance. Be glad it's not a QSI. Try using high grade 8X -R media and the results will likely be OK.

Slimdrives in general have a limited list of supported media, and due to their OEM-only nature firmware upgrades are rare. This really isn't the fault of the drive, but rather Asus or whoever are shipping these things in their notebooks (allthough some sort of unofficial support from the drive manufacturer would have been nice). Anyways, the result is often that newer, even high grade, media will not be recogniced and fall back to a generic write strategy yeilding low speed and less than stellar results no matter what.

The most compatible drives I know of, for those who would attempt a switch, are the Sony/LiteOn SOSW-852S and the NEC 6500A. In part because of the popularity of these drives' desktop cousins there are lots of information about media, tweaking tools, modded and/or leaked firmware, the lot, out there.

Edit: WRT Toshiba. They actually released a firmware update for their most popular 4X drive at long last. The drive wasn't all that great to begin with, but then it basically stopped working as all the 4X media went off sale. They now also seem to have kept up releasing the occational firmware improving media compatability for their later drives. Good work.

 

Hi All,

My main concern stems from those using what is generally percieved to be the highest quality DVD-R media: Taiyo Yuden disks. I can understand your argument Justin, and I agree - I'd love to hear from people that have had positive experiences with their Panasonic drive. However, the fact that I can find absolutely nowhere to upgrade firmware for the Panasonic drive is an enormous strike against the drive. As well, the number of complains on that other forums is alarming to say the least - there were a variety of people there with both Acer and Asus notebooks using a large array of media, very few of which would burn at their advertised speed. Others that have purchased a Z70V with the Panasonic drive a couple of days ago have had the same problem:

http://www.notebookforum.ca/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=186

Yes, I've done a lot of research, and yes I know that the Toshiba has had problems, thus my initial excitement about Panasonic drives being offered. The fact that I have no hands on experience is important to note, but since so many others have had these problems with the Panasonic drive, I still feel that it is proper to be apprehensive. Given that those complains weren't at a forum that most Asus users would frequent, I think it would be a good idea to alert to potential Asus buyers to the problems that exist, even if it is a small sub-population. Those problems still undeniably exist.

I've seen a lot of posts like this turn into flame wars and it isn't my intention at all. Justin, you're very experienced and you have a lot of knowledge, and any readers of this thread should be clearly aware that you know more than I. I respect your judgement and experience completely. However, I still think that alerting consumers to potential problems is a good idea, and I'd love to have, as a result, people that have had successful experiences with the Panasonic drive come forward. I would much rather buy the DVD+-RW that comes with the Z70V, rather than have to resort to a bulky external IDE drive + enclosure ensemble.

Can anyone provide some positive experiences with this Panasonic drive, and could you please let us know what type of media you used?

Thanks,
Sandeep

 

Nice work on the research, Bugmenot.
Yes, I love the NEC drive also, I just wished they made a bezel for it so I can put it on my Z70v. I've already got it on my DV-1000 and my desktop.

 

I believe I said that, he was just mocking me.

 

Haha... no, not mocking you. I hate being the first to see a thread that I disagree with because I honestly don't know how to make that first responce. Personally I burn a lot and I use a LOT of drives... many at the same time. IF I had more time, I'd probably make up a list of supported media and speeds on every drive we've ever had and using various burning apps...... The fact is, I don't have that kind of time and truth be told, if this was a problem to begin with, we wouldn't be able to keep up with the support calls.

So, I don't really know what to say other than the only drive I've ever had a problem with was a Toshiba (prior to Samsung getting in the picture) and it actually turned out to be an issue with a bad batch of media.... it wasn't even just a brand thing... two spindles and one worked and one didn't..... and yes they were actually from the same maker as I know some brands use a couple different OEM's.

I'd just rather say... you know.. hey this isn't an issue that would get missed by this forum and making a thread that basically says don't buy this is really wrong especially since the poster doesn't even have the drive. I'm all for civilly figuring things out but you'd be surprised at how things like this play out. We keep records and I bet we hear about this for weeks and weeks..... In fact, one could almost say that a company who has a lot of the older Toshiba drives and can't get rid of them may very well want to start something about it....... so lets put this in perspective and find out what people who actually have these drives on Asus' systems are experiencing.

 

Hi All,

I'd normally let this one go, but I don't believe that my thread should be called "wrong" by any stretch of the imagination. Any information is better than no information.

Maybe there aren't any user comments on the Panasonic burners, because they haven't been in circulation for a while? I haven't heard of the optical drives being anything but Toshiba/Samsung for as long as I can remember.

The fact that I don't have the drive doesn't mean anything... I can still forward information from other sources. We're all potential or current Asus owners, and any piece of information that helps people make a decision is valuable. I personally don't care if it influences sales one way or another, because all viewpoints, opinions and experiences need to be considered when buying a $1500+ product. People make their own final decisions.

The last point I can appreciate and agree with. I very much want people that own Asus notebooks with Panasonic drives to come out say either way how it works. I don't want to hear that they work well from only a single source - from an Asus reseller. Yours is only one opinion Justin... better informed than most, granted, but only one perspective nonetheless.

Here are more opinions, all you consumers out there... take the information and consider it when making your decision:

http://www.notebookforum.ca/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=186
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=124083
http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=31370&highlight=mat****a

Not to mention that Mat****aa/Panasonic do not provide firmware upgrades at all. If you research older slim drives from the company, almost all of them have some problem or another, none of which can be fixed with updated firmware. I think a company's history of production is important to judge the future with... and coupled with the numerous reports of problems specifically in the current drive in question (UJ-831B), consumers should consider carefully their choice of optical drive.

Sandeep

 

Granted it's not the best burner in the world, but you're overdramatizing. As I said: Stick with decent quality 8X media and there's not likely to be any huge problems.

I'll bet a case of beer that those that posted about problems with TYG02 had fake media. There are tons of those around, and they're usually bottom-of-the-barrel-scraping crap.

 

Bugmenot,

I'd heard about fake Taiyo Yuden before, but I didn't think of the possibility of fake media playing a role here... thats a very good point.

Sandeep

 

I'm not quite sure you had to basically repeat yourself, as that just fills up the thread. But put it this way, you came out and said they don't work and you don't have one. Please forgive me for being the only one to respond as most people probably aren't even going to bother to read the read, let alone respond..... but you must give them time to do so.

But be careful in what you say as your thread subject basically warns anyone buying a dvd burner in an Asus notebook. I think that is wrong and should be renamed. You might get more help if you present the case a bit better. Since you yourself don't have the drive, nor do I believe you have an Asus notebook, it's hearsay and it should have been presented as a question, rather than a statement.

Let me something clear. You state that your only knowledge of i assume notebook optical drives as being "toshibia/samsung" and never heard of anything else. Well we've been using the same Panasonic drive for about 11 months now and also have used Pioneer for about the same amount of time. Toshiba makes a fine drive, but by no means are they the best. They're basically going to do everything you need at a good price and they're going to certainly live the life of the warranty. It doesn't mean they have the best suspension system or capatability or anything else. Panasonic is certainly a step above them and although we don't use NEC drives, I feel those are inbetween the panasonic and the pioneer that I really like. Granted that you never heard of anything else, I'm curious how long you've even been looking. The whole Toshiba/Samsung thing is quite new (within the last 6 months) and everything before that was just Toshibia. So I'm trying to gauge what you know and what other people are telling you. Do you know why a fireware update could be helpful? I don't know anyone who's ever actually needed an update on a current drive, so I'm just asking. Last year a firmware update on Asus' side boosted the speed of some of the burning speeds and compatibility on both panasonic and toshiba drives. We've never had an issue (with someone experienced) not being able to burn at the proper speeds. So that speaks for me as a representative of a company who has thousands upon thousands of panasonic drives that have been put into systems over the past year.... not heard of a single problem.

As far as everyone else..... in a couple days when people start responding to this thread, you should hear the same thing. I just hope that they take the time to realize the thread is actually meant as a question and not just a statement which someone who already has an Asus notebook, may not even bother to read because it doesn't affect them.

 

Lets put it this way.... when both of us agree... take the free advice.. (plus no one else is bothering to respond to this thread) .... try changing the marketing approach. Here's a good subject that would get more views and responses:

"Can anyone corroborate claims Panasonic drives don't burn at claimed speeds?"

 

Hi Justin,

I think firmware is important in improving media compatibility in the future, and I know a few IDE drives that have definitely benefitted from them.

Regarding your other comments about the way I phrased the topic of this thread - I concede that you're right, and I agree. Can a moderator rename the topic of this thread into the question Justin proposed?

Thanks,
Sandeep

 

hmm, I have UJ-831D for my Z70V. I have burned at 8x using a 4x DVD+R(GQ brand quality from Frys), and 4x DVD-R Memorex. So far I haven't had any problem. As for the problem other people are experiencing I have no clue.

 

Well I have a TSST drive and basically, it doesn't seem to matter what brand slim drive you get they all suck when burning DVD's in my experience and limited research. My drive isn't so much a burner as a professional coaster maker even with TY disks.

 

A side note, yet still related to topic: Who have had success using different region coded DVD movies in their drives using e.g. AnyDVD? I have heard - from this forum and www.cdfreaks.com - that the Mat****a drives aren't capable of doing this, regardless of the software used.

Anyone with experiences - success or failure - please let us know. Comments on Toshiba/Samsung (and other) drives are also much appreciated.

 

I'm probably going to go for a Pioneer drive when I finally get my lappie; however, I really wish that Plextor would make drives for laptops!!!

 

Total failure with any software that I've tried. I think mine's a UJ-812 - it's the one that comes with the M5N, anyway. It reads and writes DVDs OK, but I was disappointed that I can't play multi-region, as that's far more what I use the DVD player for than for writing them.

I've looked lots on the internet for information, but every site I came to had the same conclusion. The only person who managed it was someone who'd had the DVD replaced, and who had the region coding set to 0 accidently, and never played a DVD in the first place to set the coding, but just used the software from the start (I think that's how it worked, at least!). And as long as the region code wasn't set at all, he was able to use the software and never had to set it.

 

I'm the participant in the thread on the other board ( www.notebookforum.ca) who posted problems with the Mat****a UJ-831d that shipped with my Asus Z70v.

It seems like I'm walking between some mudslinging here. I must agree the thread title is a tad alarmist, which is perhaps unwarranted. On the other hand I detect a lot of cynicism, with respect to the belief my claims are a smear campaign by a competitor. At least that was my interpretation. My experiences with the drive, albeit minimal to this point, have been accurately depicted in my words. As such, I'll restate them:

With Fuji branded TYG02 media bought at Best Buy the drive only registers a 1X or 2X burning option in Nero (6.6.1.15) as well as Alcohol 120% 1.9.5. A burn attempt with Alcohol of a full DVD (~4.4 GB) resulted in a write error at 71%. I read this was a problem some other people had experienced over at rpc1.org (great site btw, along with CDFreaks.) I decided I wasn't going to spare another of my precious Fujis, especially considering they give excellent results at 12X from my desktop's NEC burner.

Anyhow, the Fujis being the only discs I have at home, I asked a friend for one of his Taiwan-made Sony 8X +R discs (non TY, SONYD11). Alcohol gave me one speed option to burn this particular disc, and that was 2.3X. An improvement I suppose, but still highly unacceptable of a supposedly 8X drive.

I've looked high and low for firmware, but have come up dry. The best I could find is upgrades for NEC and Sony OEM drives ( http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1986), which does me no good. The fact that upgraded firmware exists tells me someone thought it was necessary to produce.

This being said, as a consumer I feel like my particular Mat****a drive is not performing to it's specification. If I was using el-cheapo media I can understand if it didn't want to burn at speed. To underspeed and fail on arguably some of the best media available is something of a concern.

I understand to an extent this may be an isolated incident. A lemon. However, that would only go as far as explaining the burn fail. The firmware specifically must say TYG02 - write at 1X, 2X and SONYD11 - write at 2.3X. If that indeed is the case, the firmware is outdated and should be brought up to date. If not, market the drive for what it is, a 2X. I will do some more tests and if the results keep coming up the way they are, I will take up the matter with my reseller as a warranty issue.

It's unfortunate about this small blemish on my new Z70v. I have nothing but praise for this machine otherwise. :asus:

EDIT: RPC1 Link was busted.

 

No offense to you, but anything directed at anyone....... was directed at Sans, merely for the subject of the thread and that he didn't have the drive. I know that the drives work as they're supposed to as it's one thing we have to test. Of late, finding people on the forums who have working systems is very hard. Most of them grew sick of hanging around and are honestly out being productive. If there were more problems, it would be all over the Asus threads. If the firmware was out of date, they'd all be the same and none of them could burn faster than 2x, correct? Also, this really has little to do with just Asus. Plenty of other companies are using this drive and it's specs listed correctly. If there is an issue, we much alert Asus who in turn (as the initial buyer of the drives.... and a large amount of them at that) can go to Panasonic and present the data and either get a firmware update for everyone who set up a recall for them. Either way, it's not normal and it's certainly not widespread from what I've seen. I can speak for a very good chuck of these notebooks that are in the states and there's no reason to want anything else but for everything to be perfect. Something like this isn't even Asus' fault, so they would spearhead this thing with us dealers and you customers behind them....... to get this resolved.

If I could find a unit here that acted as you're stating I'd try to find the differences between the two and try to narrow down the problem, but I can't.

 

In addition to finding out people's specific experiences burning with the Panasonic drive, I think its important to question how often people actually burn DVDs with their drives. How many Asus notebook consumers actually burn DVDs to the point where a disappointing drive would be a problem? I doubt that there are that many, and if they have problems, they make think them to be isolated incidents. Most people I know, regardless of whether they own a desktop or notebook, don't burn DVDs although owning a DVD burner.

I don't know how relevant it is to say that reports of a subpar Panasonic drive would be all over the boards if there really was a problem.

EDIT:

You know, I'm tired of the little hits I'm getting because of posting this information. I posted this information for the sole purpose of informing other potential buyers of this DVD+-RW drive. My post had nothing to do with increasing sales, or smearing competitors, because I have no vested interest in this thread except for informing others so they don't make a potentially disappointing decision. I think that any people reading this thread need to take this into consideration... remember the perspective that Justin is coming from as a reseller, and the perspective I'm coming from as a consumer. I don't care if I sell more units, or if people don't want to buy DVDRW's, or whatever. I didn't want the consumers of this board to get burned, and information I found suggested that it may be entirely possible. If people want to ignore this, then thats fine... thats their own decision.

Sandeep

 

I agree with killer_deep. I built one Z63a for my uncle. It came with a Mat****a UJ-831D. The max speed he can burn is 4X as I tried it with Sony, TDK, Fuji, and Pinoneer DVDs. There is the problem with this DVD-RW. Many consumers or I don't blame Asus or other manufactures, but they should take their responsibilities. As least, they identify the problem and try to find its solution. We don't expect everything is perpect, but at least it should work as stated. I feel very sorry for all of you who have the problem with the drive. Well, in the furture, don't buy any Asus notebooks because it lies to consumers.

 

Are you sure that you burned a 4X media at 8X? I don't think so.

 

Sandeep,

I see where you're coming from. That 'competitor's marketing approach' was all in Justin's head. Your mistake was making a thread that could potentially harm his precious sales. Regardless how relevant your issue may be. You just have to see through all the noise Justin lets out here, as most forum users are well aware.

Thanks for being the adult here and taking the serious approach, despite the mudslinging.

Justin,

Can you really confirm, out of personal experience(!), that what all these people (on the different forums listed in this thread) are saying is complete BS??? Are you a happy camper burning away at 8X on the Panasonic/Mat****a drive, even on high grade media?

And what about that multi-region issue on the Panasonic/Mat****a drives? If that's true... which the feedback of this thread so far gives all indications of... even if ignoring the other issues... that is one heck of a reason to stay clear of those drives!

 

I don't know if anyone cares to know, but after a difficult recovery from flashing mistakes, I managed to get my reatail NEC ND6500A DVD-RW (DL) drive working in my new Z70V. It fits in with its stock faceplate, so it doesn't look wonderful, but it also doesn't stand out. More importantly, I had to flash it to Reverse-ATA (possible for at least this drive), which makes it operate as a slave on the primary IDE channel. I was told the stock optical drives operate as secondary masters, but my NEC continued to insinuate itself as the primary master in the BIOS, making it unworkable. Anyway, I really liked the NEC drive in my previous laptop, so I'm happy it's now working in my Z70V. This may suggest other optical drive options for those looking to buy one.

 

My friend has the NEC 6500 in his Compaq n610c. It wasn't stock that way, he customed it in. I've used it in the past and agree with him, it's a great drive. I understand the 6550 is out now. NEC has decent firmware support from the manufacturer, and excellent firmware support from sceners. Perhaps if Mat****a put out some firmware and a flasher people could reverse engineer it and make their own, as they do in the NEC camp.

 

I used my NEC previously in a Compaq, and it worked straight from the dealer. Most retail drives are sold as cable-select (I think), which in most laptops automatically assigns them as secondary master. So the difference with the Asus was that it wouldn't work that way. This was why the reverse-ATA flash was necessary, and I guess why it now appears as primary slave. There may even be a hardwiring (soldering) option that forces the drive to be picked up by the secondary channel, but the only options I heard of either force primary or slave. And there are no forced primary or slave firmwares, only CS and reverse-ATA. But yes, there are many, including ones that allow booktype setting and region unlocking.

The most important things for anyone considering a non-stock optical drive are the firmware issue and the faceplate. With the NEC, I was eventually able to work with both. Note that the Asus faceplates ONLY fit the brands of drives they provide as stock with their laptops (eg, Toshiba or Panasonic, and each is different).

 

just need to add my experience.

this was my first DVD ever, and I just finished burning just under 4.5 GB of mp3's onto 8x TY DVD-Rs. Seemed to have worked fine. Everything is playing fine. Nero recognized the 8x burning speed. I'm going to be burning more in the upcoming week. But in the meantime, I don't have any problems to report (again using high quality TY's).

 

ricky - can you post your firmware revision?

 

v1.00. the original... pretty much the same one everyone's complaining about... but i've only burned one disc so far. i'll do a few more and let ppl know.

 

i dunno.. seems like a lot of hype. plus, how many times do you need to burn a dvd.. not like you do this everyday.

 

Though I'm a happy (relatively) customer with my W3V, i detest the mat****a/panasonic drive in it, on some media which works perfectly in my home DVD player and in my other laptop, it scrapes inside of the drive, UNACCEPTABLE! Stay away from that drive.

 

Well, my w3v 8x burner, mat****a u831d burns 2x on a Emtec dvd-r at 4x certified disc, and it burns at 4x on a Emtec dvd+rw 1-4x certified disc. I wonder does +/- make a diff? I'm using Nero OEM neroexpress software which is included with my w3v.

 

Hey, media coverage!

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/12257

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/08/12/apple_superdrive_petition/

It's the UJ-835, but users report the same problem. As for "how often do you burn a DVD?". That's like the video card ocassionally running at 4 frames per second and being asked how often you play games. Let's not be corporate whores and look out for the consumer. We bought 8X drives.

I invested in OSI 8X +R media (cheap crap), because it supposedly burns at 8X in this crappy drive. It recognizes an 8X speed but errs at 60-70% every time at 8X. Burns nicely at 16X in my NEC external. Ho-hum.

 

I have the UJ-831D in my W3V and I can only burn at 4x using RiData 8x media

 

Mybee this will add some insight. First of we had a heck of a hard time about a year ago with a series of lite-on drives for desktops. After a few weeks this was addressed in a firmware update. Updates for the slim drives are rare. That would be my last solution. Over the last 2 years we have had to replace about a dozen slim type combodrives and dvdrw drives all of which are genuinely broken. Most had problems with dvd's such as reading problems and burning problems. I think this is normal. Vendors cant do anything about it. If you think you can get better results with another burner buy an NEC (not that it would solve your problem) and transplant the faceplate. Most people dont report problems with their drives but if burning at 4x on a 8x drive is not suitable for you then take matter into your own hands. Try a different burner or return the laptop for another. You will find nothing is perfect especially the electronic manufacturing proccess. The thread is somewhat alarmist. Not to the seasoned user but very much so to the newbies that are just looking for an alternative to the shady support the big names have to offer.

 

If a product doesn't work to specification the company that produces it should be held accountable. To argue the manufacturing process creates duds and we should accept that is ludicrous. In this day and age that means QA should be stepped up. In this case a firmware update is needed; a very deployable fix for the problem. The only holdup for a drive this old to not have a single firmware update is the manufacturer doesn't wish to invest in customers they already have.

 

Agreed
Problem is manufacturers dont care unless enough complaints have been filed. Anyone whishing to file one please contact your manufacturer. This is a small enough issue that complaining to your dealer and asus will not get you anywhere. THats just my opinion. If you can prove me wrong please do so.

 

Just wanted to let you all know that I burned my first DVD last night.

It was on the Z63A which came with a TS-L532A DVD burner. I used DVD+R 8x Fuifilm media (they have a 30pack at Staples for $9.95), and I was able to read it and everything afterwards (though not in my DVD player on the TV). It wasd quite quick to burn, and took only like 10 minutes or so.

I'll give an update if/when I run into some problems.

BTW, I am not at home right now, but I think the firmware on the drive is TL151 or TI151

 

8X provided the same results. I wonder if 4X will at least allow me to burn. Just when I thought I found an 8X compatible media for this drive.

 

I don't know what dvd player you have at home, but -R's are much more compatible.

 

Yea, I probably made a mistake in buying the +R's...I did it because I had read that they offer somewhat better quality/longevity. Also, I was banking on being able to use some program to change the "bitsetting," thereby making the +R's more compatible than the -R's, but I don't think that bitsetting is supported on the TS-L532A.

BTW, it is a Sony 5 disc DVD player...nothing too fancy.

 

Hi Justin

I have a rebadged M3np (portable one MX) in which another model of DVD drive was included --- the Mat****a UJ-830s. I have had intermittent problems with the drive either not being recognized in bios, being recognized in bio but not in windows or not being recognized in either. Sometimes if I take the drive out and reinsert it, it works for awhile, but inevitably it "disappears". Is there any reason to think that it may be the drive model that is the culprit here or would you think it is something to do with the motherboard. One thing to note is that the drive always fires up and is powered on (disks can be ejected and reinserted) when the symptoms I described occur.

Harold

 

I'd honestly be temped to do a format and fresh install.... if the drive doesn't work.. it doesn't work... it's unlikely that it would do this over and over without it being some problem with the drivers.. and sometimes in cases like these...... a fresh install really can fix all your problem..

 

i have the Matsh1ta 831d and it really is picky when it comes to media. It doesnt even come down to which brand of media sometimes it has to be the correct media code for it to burn at 8x speeds. Ive found media that burns at the 8x speeds and have stuck with it and am happy. Sure would be nice if the drive wasnt so picky but oh well.

 

Hi Justin - Thanks for the reply. Still wondering how a fresh install of windows would address instances --- as I said the problem is not cosnsitently the same --- where the drive is not recognized by the BIOS. Wouldn't this point more to a hardware or Bios problem??

 

Burning is great on my Matsh1ta drive, but reading sometimes is crap. It won't even read the second recovery CD from ASUS. Thats weird because my desktop PC's reads it without any problem.

My solution, copy the recovery CD and my notebook will read it.

BTW: I've talked to my dealer about this problem (and the 3 RMA's i've already had in 4 months time) to find a solution. They take this very seriously because my drive was already replaced by ASUS. Still the same problem though..