Help, please from the assembled multitudes:
I've recently picked up a perplexing problem with Studio Plus 9.  When
I try to burn a DVD, the software proceeds through the entire sequence,
then I get a failure message. Studio recognizes the burner.   I am able
to render and compile without error. The light on my burner lights up,
which supposedly indicates that it is writing, and I receive the
messages about writing lead-in, writing to disc and writing lead-out.
Then the disc immediately ejects (much faster than the normal lead-out
writing time) and I get a message that there has been a burn failure.

The only anomoly I notice is that it seems the burner cycles through a
spin up, slight deceleration and spins up again.

I am running a Dell Dimension 4700 with Win XP and Service Packs and
updates.  The burner is an NEC ND-3450A DVD+-RW burner.  I know the
burner and the media are OK, because I can burn DVDs using Sonic MyDVD.
I can also use the burner to write CDs. For this project I am using
DVD+RW discs rated up to 16X, but am burning at a low speed.

I have deinstalled Studio, have run StudioRegDelete v9, reinstalled and
have run the Studio 9.4.3 update.  I have flashed a firmware update for
my burner.  I have also tried to deinstall, then reinstall Studio 8 and
then upgrade that the Studio plus 9

The Pinnacle support people are trying hard, but now seem to be going
in circles.  The last suggestion was to get an update for my hard drive
controller. My apologies if I'm poking around in the wrong part of the
'net.  Any suggestions, or ideas on redirecting this query, are
gratefully accepted.

Brian Z
beezer***@gmail.net

Make sure you turn off all programs running in the background such as Norton
internet security, anti-virus and spy-ware. If I forget to turn these off, I
have the same problem.

<beezer***@gmail.com> wrote in message
Show quoteHide quote

Please disregard this absolutely horrible advice if you are on broadband.

If you disable your NIS while burning, you will get infected.

Advising anyone with broadband to turn off their security is irresponsible
at best.

The fact that you have to turn it off in order to use Studio shows that
either you have a substandard computer, or you do not have it configured
properly.

You should *NEVER* tell anyone to turn off their security at any time.

Bobby

Show quoteHide quote

NoNoBadDog! wrote:
  That is if you feel it necessary to be online all the time by default to
begin with. Does it escape everyone these days that constant connectivity is
not a good thing. Especially when editing and burning video. Close all
running applications including AV and not going on line would be understood
one would think.

Show quote Hide quote Your "average" user would not know to turn off the connection.  Those that
do understand the implications of an always on connection take appropriate
steps to secure the connection.

A reasonably powerful computer should not have to have anything turned off
to burn DVDs.  There are several computers in my home, including laptops,
and not a single one of them has issues with burning without turning
anything off.  Low memory, slow processor, on-board video an improper system
configuration can all be causes for problems when burning DVDs.

Bobby

NoNoBadDog! wrote:
Show quoteHide quote That was my point exactly. The average user should already know this but it
seems to have escaped most these days. Some like to burn and surf and can do
so without fail but still not a good idea. Good that you pointed out what
you did.

DaWalRus wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteBeing online and being connected to the internet are two different
things.  If you have a broadband connection you are connected to the
internet even if you are not surfing or checking email (i.e. being
online). Turning off network security exposes your system to the
internet (unless you have some hardware protecting you). Since most home
users don't have the hardware protection their only protection is the
network security software.

ken

ken wrote:
Show quoteHide quote I can not possibly know what most people do but to connect directly to
broadband with no hardware router does not excuse most people from
misunderstanding what should be common practice. I am not sure if I
understand you because to me going off-line means disabling my broadband
connection and vise versa.  I would agree with the statement to never turn
off their security but I guess this means different things to different
people.

I still can't figure out where someone would get the idea to connect their
cable to the modem with no router but if this is seen as common practice
then I will take your word for it. Even If I were to do this I would for
sure turn off my modem when not needing to be 'online'.

NoNoBadDog! wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteTrue but if you turn off things like NAV you should first disconnect
(mechanically not just via software) from your internet connection. That
is logically required.
FK

Boyd L Colglazier wrote:
Show quoteHide quoteIt's a function of the processor speed and the memory available. I have
done many conversions of my video tapes into files eventually burned to
DVDs. However I have a box with a Pentium V @ 3.2 GHz and 512 MB fast
memory and an fast front side buss. Never had to turn off NAV,
ZoneAlarm, SpySweeper and couple of other background tasks. I suspect
your processor is too slow. So it should help to kill all processes (try
"EndItAll") before running Studio 9 for the conversion.
FK

Hi Brian,
<beezer***@gmail.com> wrote in message
Show quoteHide quoteI have a similar, but not identical, problem open with Pinnacle Support
at present. I had used Studio Plus V9 (the last release 9.4.3.70) to
burn several DVD+RWs (Verbatim  4x)successfully using an ND-3540A and
then needed to put a project out to Dual Layer (about 6Gb). The initial
attempt went as you describe, with premature termination while writing
the lead out resulting in an 8.5Gb coaster. Googling to see if others
had encountered this took me to the VideoHelp.com forums where there was
a suggestion that upgrading the firmware to 1.04 might help. I contacted
NEC Support (Europe, since I am in the UK) and they pointed me to the
most recent firmware to download saying that "The latest firmware update
improves media compatibility so should resolve your problem."

I downloaded the update, followed their instructions for updating the
firmware and flashed the burner to 1.04. Device manager showed the
ND3540A as "This device is working properly." and both Nero InfoTool and
EAC would display the device properties.

The problem I am getting, however, is that upon opening Studio the  the
Disc writer device box is greyed out and displays the message ***No disc
writer device found***. I have been going round the same loop as you, I
suspect; uninstall the patch, uninstall version 9, delete the folders,
run regdelete (twice), also run DualLayerFix.exe, PSDRVCheck.exe then
reload the Studio software. All to no avail on 9.4.3.70 (bearing in mind
that my problem is that Studio cannot see the drive although Nero and
Device Manager can).

I did discover, however, that when I loaded my Studio Plus 9.30 build 43
(International version) software the burner was visible in Studio. As
soon as I load the 9.4.3.70 patch, Studio loses sight of the burner. I
decided to chance another coaster, went once more around the de-install,
re-install loop and stopped at 9.30 build 43. At this level of Studio
and the ND3540A at 1.04 the DVD+R D/L burn went to end and works fine in
my standalone DVD player as well as the PC. The media (in this case
RiDisc 2.4x  printable) may be a factor, but your ability to burn the
same media using the Sonic MyDVD software should rule that out. I am not
familiar with MyDVD. A workaround for you might be to use Studio to
render and create a DVD image on hard disk, then use MyDVD to burn the
actual disc from the previously rendered image if it can do that.

Would agree that Support seem to get to a point where they just keep
telling one to go over the same ground over and over again. I have done
everything they have suggested to date and the crunch, for me, always
seems to be loading the 9.4.3.70 patch. The burner is there and works OK
from within Studio up to that point, then cannot be seen as soon as the
patch is applied. What puzzles me is that I am sure I was running
9.4.3.70 when I burned the DVD+RWs and could see the burner then, prior
to flashing the burner firmware.

So I am not sure that I am seeing the same problem as you. My Hard drive
controller is NVidia and I have the latest driver. Pinnacle Support were
suggesting that Intel, or, VIA controllers may need updating. Does
Studio write a log file of the burn? Suspect it would help both you and
Support to work out what was going wrong if it does.

Mike Hardy

Mike and All,

First:  Thanks everyone for the lively discussion on online/web
security.  Yes, thank you, I am PC-hygenic and never turn off my
firewalls and virusware (Trend Pc-cillin) until I physically switch off
my modem and router.

Second:  I finally went on a deep dive and got the Studio Plus 9 up and
running.  In the latest effort, I deinstalled all of my Sonic DLA,
Sonic Record Now! and Sonic Record DVD software.  Then deinstalled
everything related to Pinnacle Studios 8 and 9.  Then I manually
trashed the files for Studio 8, Studio 9 and Pinnacle that remained
under C://Program Files.  In some cases I needed to force delete files.
Then I ran StudioRegDelete v9.  The installation went fine (other than
the fact that 9 or 25 SmartSound files did not load.  Hmmm, I'll need
to chase them down someday).  And I was able to compile, render and
burn successfully.

How much trashing was truly needed to get rid of whatever goblin was
preventing a successful burn?  Don't know.  Don't care.  My personal
guess is that it was a Sonic update.

Thirdly:  Mike:  I had a similar issue with Studio back several crashes
ago.  In my case, I could see the burner as an Administrator, but other
users were "greyed out" of the burner.  And yes, I got the same
suggestion from Pinnacle Support to mess with the hard drive
controllers.  It must pop up on their solutions matrix as a broad
spectrum fix attempt.

When my nightmare was much younger, the techies also suggested the
PSDRVCHECK.exe route.  That didn't work for me, either.

This is probably not much help, but I am happy to commiserate.  I think
the thing that finally go me working right was a deep wipe of every
vestige of Pinnacle I could find combined with (maybe) removal of a
burner app that might have been causing conflicts.  Between my son and
I, we have managed to install so much software with burning capacity
that it doesn't surprise me that conflicts occur.  I am also of
theopinion that once something is crooked in the Registry files, the
problem becomes virtually unsolvable.

Brian

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