My Pioneer DVR-111 died

RoyBatty · May 19, 2007, 09:49 PM

My DVD-RW drive died today, it was only 10 months old Pioneer DVR-111.

I wanted to copy an audio CD using EAC. When I first tried use 111 with EAC it wasn't able to extract anything like if the drive wasn't compatible with the program. But today I needed to burn a CD and my other drive was busy, so I set the EAC up and made a CD image without a problem on the 111, which was quite surprising for me.

So I inserted a blank CD, loaded the CUE sheet, chose 4x write speed and started writing. When the lead-in was almost burned some error message showed up. I don't know what the message said because I dismissed it immediately thinking it's some stupid compatibility error

(I would have read it if I knew it was this serious

).

Since that error the drive remained locked and it was he same after I rebooted the computer. The drive's LED didn't even blink like it usually does, so I thought it may be a power problem. I changed the power cable and now the drive is alive (it works with the original cable as well now, so the problem is not power related), but it doesn't recognise inserted disc. When I insert any CD/DVD nothing happens - no spin-up, no reading. I tried changing power/data cables as well as IDE ports, nothing helps.

I could RMA the drive, but the problem is I flashed a RPC-1 firmware to it. The official firmware update doesn't allow flashing the same or older fw version and the only unofficial flashing utility I have found so far (2 years old DVRFlash 2.2) doesn't support DVR-111 yet.

If any of you have some miraculous advice on how to resurrect the drive I would greatly appreciate it

Meanwhile I will continue my search for a way to flash the original firmware to the drive...

Judas · May 22, 2007, 05:19 AM

Erg, yeah RMA is your best way to go at this point.....

they are thought, generally pretty decent drives for the price.

Tipstaff · May 22, 2007, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

they are thought, generally pretty decent drives for the price.

Almost always decent. See, I have this golden rule when it comes to buying Pioneer burners: buy ONLY the even numbered drives.

Why? For some reason every odd numbered drive either dies within the year, or is just pure crap (the only exception to this rule was the 109.. must have been a fluke). According to my business partner he's wagering that Pioneer has 2 teams working on producing drives, and that with one team we see crap that gets released as odd numbered drives, and then we get a team making good drives which we see with the even numbered ones. I'll admit.. kinda far fetched, but shit, it's the only thing that explains why the odd numbered series is 'almost' always crap.

[hobo]eclipse · May 22, 2007, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

Almost always decent. See, I have this golden rule when it comes to buying Pioneer burners: buy ONLY the even numbered drives.

Well ive got the 110, have had it a year and a half, it always worked well though now it is really my main reader burning with the samsung. Only small gripes are its slightly loud compared to the samsung i have and takes quite abit longer to spin up and recognize a disk. Even steven!

RoyBatty · May 22, 2007, 09:40 AM

All right, I'm going to RMA it.

Judas · May 22, 2007, 05:10 PM

Hey tipstaff, i've got a DVR-212 atm, what'cha think of it?

RoyBatty · May 22, 2007, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

DVR-212

I hope I'll get that one as a replacement.

Judas · May 22, 2007, 05:49 PM

It's a SATA drive

RoyBatty · May 22, 2007, 06:04 PM

I know.

Tipstaff · May 23, 2007, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

Hey tipstaff, i've got a DVR-212 atm, what'cha think of it?

I have one sitting in a drawer at work, and all I can say is that it has the same faults (at first both drives had issues with ProDisc and Ritek/Ridata media, however it's 'supposed' to have been fixed with version 03 firmware), and pluses that the 112 does with one exception: for some reason I noticed that while working on other things (ie. multitasking) that a little more resources were being taken up while burning to the 212. The machine was a little bit more... sluggish.. or less responsive than when running any EIDE drive.. including the 112. Kinda odd really. Nothing to scoff about.. just.. noticeable.

Seeing as how I can't seem to sell the drive I might bring it home for myself as I want to move the 108 in my gaming rig to my main machine, and dump the 106 that's in it to a friend.

Judas · May 23, 2007, 08:35 PM

I find it seems to dependon the controllers used with the sata DVD-RW drives..... for example, the intel chipset seems to be sluggish with it, there are a pile of sata controllers that don't seem to want to support the drives either, and jmicron i've had mixed results. ATI's SB600 sata controllers seem to thoroughly enjoy the drive (no glitches or sluggishness so far) but the older Express chipsets have the same results as the jmicrons.

I think it's a little early for SATA DVD-RW drives yet considering the number of chipsets that seem to agree or disagree with it. At first i had a doa drive, it was detected in my first machine, but wouldn't work properly. But moving around has proven that it's just capability issues at this point.

Tipstaff · May 23, 2007, 11:09 PM

One big issue I have with SATA burners is compatibilty with backup software. I use Hiren's BootCD, more specifically programs such as HDD Regenerator, Acronis, or Ghost, and just trying to find a driver that properly works consistantly has become a chore onto itself. Take Intels 946/965 chipsets: not only do I have to be aware of using the UDMA driver for all PATA drives (and not loading anything else), but I also have to be careful to use the GCDROM driver if I have an SATA optical drive, which if used at the same time as the UDMA driver can cause some interesting issues. And as you pointed out, this gets worse with each chipset you run into, or whenever you get a board that has multiple SATA controllers on it (such as most 975 boards).

Judas · May 23, 2007, 11:14 PM

yep..

course my MSI board is a freaking nightmare, you can't even enable the jmicron controller without the motherboard taking a crap in your face.

Tipstaff · May 25, 2007, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

yep..

course my MSI board is a freaking nightmare, you can't even enable the jmicron controller without the motherboard taking a crap in your face.

I remember you mentioning the problem you had with it in your "short, and to the point" review. This very same issue pops up with almost all the boards that have this combo like the Abit AB9, and Asus P5B.. even the Asus P5W DH Deluxe for that matter if I remember correctly. If the Jmicron controller is there to give you an extra PATA port, it works fine. As soon as you use the controller for the SATA ports, cow patty facial.

H3X4D3C1M4L · Jun 3, 2007, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tipstaff

Almost always decent. See, I have this golden rule when it comes to buying Pioneer burners: buy ONLY the even numbered drives.

Just like Star Trek movies!

Judas · Jun 5, 2007, 12:02 AM

hey... i liked the 5th movie....

RoyBatty · Jun 22, 2007, 07:43 PM

They sent me a Lite-On LH-20A1P as a replacement today. Probably because they don't have any comparable Pioneer drive in stock. It is better in some specs than the DVR-111, but i'm not sure about the writing quality.

May 19, 2007, 09:49 PM	#1
RoyBatty HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 1,941 Rep Power: 122 System Specs	My Pioneer DVR-111 died My DVD-RW drive died today, it was only 10 months old Pioneer DVR-111. I wanted to copy an audio CD using EAC. When I first tried use 111 with EAC it wasn't able to extract anything like if the drive wasn't compatible with the program. But today I needed to burn a CD and my other drive was busy, so I set the EAC up and made a CD image without a problem on the 111, which was quite surprising for me. So I inserted a blank CD, loaded the CUE sheet, chose 4x write speed and started writing. When the lead-in was almost burned some error message showed up. I don't know what the message said because I dismissed it immediately thinking it's some stupid compatibility error (I would have read it if I knew it was this serious ). Since that error the drive remained locked and it was he same after I rebooted the computer. The drive's LED didn't even blink like it usually does, so I thought it may be a power problem. I changed the power cable and now the drive is alive (it works with the original cable as well now, so the problem is not power related), but it doesn't recognise inserted disc. When I insert any CD/DVD nothing happens - no spin-up, no reading. I tried changing power/data cables as well as IDE ports, nothing helps. I could RMA the drive, but the problem is I flashed a RPC-1 firmware to it. The official firmware update doesn't allow flashing the same or older fw version and the only unofficial flashing utility I have found so far (2 years old DVRFlash 2.2) doesn't support DVR-111 yet. If any of you have some miraculous advice on how to resurrect the drive I would greatly appreciate it Meanwhile I will continue my search for a way to flash the original firmware to the drive...

May 23, 2007, 11:09 PM	#12
Tipstaff HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Real capital of Canada: Torauna Posts: 6,773 Rep Power: 190 System Specs	One big issue I have with SATA burners is compatibilty with backup software. I use Hiren's BootCD, more specifically programs such as HDD Regenerator, Acronis, or Ghost, and just trying to find a driver that properly works consistantly has become a chore onto itself. Take Intels 946/965 chipsets: not only do I have to be aware of using the UDMA driver for all PATA drives (and not loading anything else), but I also have to be careful to use the GCDROM driver if I have an SATA optical drive, which if used at the same time as the UDMA driver can cause some interesting issues. And as you pointed out, this gets worse with each chipset you run into, or whenever you get a board that has multiple SATA controllers on it (such as most 975 boards). __________________ Portal: The Flash Version _________________________________ Brain: So, you sacked the cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker? Mr. Sackett: The second cocky khaki Kicky Sack sock plucker I've sacked since the sixth sitting sheet slitter got sick.

May 22, 2007, 09:40 AM	Thread Starter #5
RoyBatty HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 1,941 Rep Power: 122 System Specs	All right, I'm going to RMA it.

May 22, 2007, 06:04 PM	Thread Starter #9
RoyBatty HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 1,941 Rep Power: 122 System Specs	I know.

Jun 22, 2007, 07:43 PM	Thread Starter #17
RoyBatty HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Czech Republic Posts: 1,941 Rep Power: 122 System Specs	They sent me a Lite-On LH-20A1P as a replacement today. Probably because they don't have any comparable Pioneer drive in stock. It is better in some specs than the DVR-111, but i'm not sure about the writing quality.