From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 21 01:12:26 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DE04C106566C for ; Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:12:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from zbeeble@gmail.com) Received: from mail-ew0-f208.google.com (mail-ew0-f208.google.com [209.85.219.208]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6A6F98FC08 for ; Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:12:26 +0000 (UTC) Received: by ewy4 with SMTP id 4so2036755ewy.36 for ; Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:12:25 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :date:message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=tVbBjwoDwHZjcR5b6+t0XIc0GD07Ag8hvWbrMfAGLCE=; b=XW82EciiASUVBiYWgEnbOaT+L8iqIZGcB7AWrw7XVFOGmhxspZaLLSWM6o5Qu3EZU4 Syz1Yp5BPE8Mk2Zu9VMZRx+NK5aRr58VE6MffecBqjoDPRDyfMs/7wcME80tEUOwJdZY Hr8uKOrWOBvhyJ839f2YYUIReEOhnGaC8MbcU= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; b=GTr2KuRxqIBon8Jdi2RNkReHUasA6OIUPxOYn274JcjES7CW/cf079gbN8SSfm1ZAh qlZPbenKh6xFDDJWeDn/1jHtuVNz6dI0sshhwByYxKMAy9uj7nP7GJhD8Y2/bF2RxodL 2IsUD+qTqd0zNLSdRHOii4Akbp11IErMIwIlw= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.216.10.3 with SMTP id 3mr1191963weu.60.1253495545364; Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:12:25 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <673698.21068.qm@web51004.mail.re2.yahoo.com> References: <673698.21068.qm@web51004.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:12:25 -0400 Message-ID: <5f67a8c40909201812l4a364cb5y46dffbf3ff6b0d49@mail.gmail.com> From: Zaphod Beeblebrox To: mahlerrd@yahoo.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: What happened to DVD writing? X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:12:26 -0000 On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 4:35 PM, Richard Mahlerwein wrote: > > I have had several exhibit behavior even more odd. > > The most unusual was this particular CD writer... It read both DVDs and CDs > but would write neither (it had worked fine the week before). I took it out > of the drive bay and hooked it to another PC to test and it worked fine > there. I put it back in the original PC and it failed. I was swapping > things around on that PC (assuming bad cable, bad power, etc) and had it > sitting loose on the desk and found that it now worked again. Put it back > in the drive cage and it again would not write, though reading was fine. > Anyway, I finally figured out that even slight pressure in on the sides > where it mounts would make it fail to burn CDs. The cage itself exerted a > bit of pressure and that was enough to make it fail at any attempt to burn a > CD. > This is not necessarily odd. The CD burner is one of the highest draw bits in your system... save possibly your CPU and/or graphics card (depending on what they are). I have found that various DVD drives have been very sensitive to power supply voltages and fail to burn properly when they're marginal. Your description here seems to point in that direction. If it works in computer B, try using B's power supply for A --- or maybe B has other lighter draws. Power supplies can also degrade over time --- especially if you have some cheap capacitors in there. I find the DVD drive is often the canary for spotting power supply problems.