From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 21 13:41:49 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A6D361065694 for ; Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:41:49 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mahlerrd@yahoo.com) Received: from web51007.mail.re2.yahoo.com (web51007.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.38.138]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 5CC278FC27 for ; Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:41:49 +0000 (UTC) Received: (qmail 2818 invoked by uid 60001); 21 Sep 2009 13:41:48 -0000 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=yahoo.com; s=s1024; t=1253540508; bh=JpKHrcP7iwICuW4WrGVktEFHHE1lMJ1elOUsVj1QOcA=; h=Message-ID:X-YMail-OSG:Received:X-Mailer:Date:From:Reply-To:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type; b=BN9kktDxYheGjhqSdb0kN+QU6yFuoMsm9GbYcxdkUvjQJaT6s30TpOXoXGNc+XPaTsL55QHKs/bXKyVqFYoT4yLmkYwWe+ZLVCUrLcbVeQX7S8BCuXXUNjP9OemLWzTgb3ZGEownE4+uEc4ReWgwxI0TTCAiBvnZBIwFTOR+AmE= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; h=Message-ID:X-YMail-OSG:Received:X-Mailer:Date:From:Reply-To:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type; b=YFlgAVpizKYuJY5oEy3UkYIU1rUAzKrfuF0jykS9yxgwAH7pXyP9hJz1IWnOZmiYy7KTll5hBPN4qAok/6ENi0uvzHY5OdKV+4ORxNcSdcIRRvVJhPgdnZv4Zdwrl057DSxOlzxzByh3DFiDqi/uLyY+NxlbBaehyMmzx892p+8=; Message-ID: <747770.524.qm@web51007.mail.re2.yahoo.com> X-YMail-OSG: 64f0GCgVM1ncH5NYb0xYg4j9ij.iOC4l2uRbPxc10wgeeaJVsrpPIYzuoRItYzOP3m.IJ.TJEC6iY2dmgIv0bf3GDSN60dqxN95VJ1oDtm0.i7gLgmDt0D6KESJAQdVsRsuPm5kClNSmdbmbt1a9MkBmHJJTykeMS_8giGRBeRZOHqza3hy8hHxRdaAVXCXWh0eE_Xq.RjuI6M_Co82024BBO5OJwAG76m5uM40lNpVeFjt.hBLt4NYK.bdqbY5V0VCQA66YZqx3kwLH4E6bQI2BZKKc.RLYRQnaAFjB5_aLseeBHFsw5roHP.jZw845m5qk01Z3ftAvD6EDV.O9yILY0AYKPFJjVsVOFA-- Received: from [74.40.57.42] by web51007.mail.re2.yahoo.com via HTTP; Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:41:48 PDT X-Mailer: YahooMailClassic/7.0.14 YahooMailWebService/0.7.347.2 Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:41:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Richard Mahlerwein To: FreeBSD-Stable In-Reply-To: <5f67a8c40909201812l4a364cb5y46dffbf3ff6b0d49@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Subject: Re: What happened to DVD writing? X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: mahlerrd@yahoo.com 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 13:41:49 -0000 >From: Zaphod Beeblebrox >Subject: Re: What happened to DVD writing? >To: mahlerrd@yahoo.com >Cc: stable@freebsd.org >Date: Sunday, September 20, 2009, 9:12 PM > >On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 4:35 PM, Richard Mahlerwein wr= ote: > >> >> 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).=A0 I took = it out >> of the drive bay and hooked it to another PC to test and it worked fine >> there.=A0 I put it back in the original PC and it failed.=A0 I was swapp= ing >> 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.=A0 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.=A0 The cage itself exert= ed a >> bit of pressure and that was enough to make it fail at any attempt to bu= rn a >> CD. >> > >This is not necessarily odd.=A0 The CD burner is one of the highest draw b= its >in your system... save possibly your CPU and/or graphics card (depending o= n >what they are).=A0 I have found that various DVD drives have been very >sensitive to power supply voltages and fail to burn properly when they're >marginal.=A0 Your description here seems to point in that direction.=A0 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 problem= s. Sorry, the kids woke up from naps and I sent without realizing I hadn't qui= te finished. Yes, you are completely correct.=A0 There was another story where it was a = power supply that was inadequate (should have been, but it was aged and see= med to just run out of steam earlier than it used to).=A0=20 Anyway, the point I intended to make and forgot to was that in this case I'= d confirm that the DVD drive itself is OK by popping it into another PC, if= one is available.=A0 If it fails in a different known-OK PC it is likely t= o be a hardware problem.=A0 If it works OK there, try a different power cab= le on your existing PC, or try swapping out the power supply if you can.=A0= You could also try just disconnecting any other power-hungry yet unneeded = items temporarily (like additional CD/DVD readers/writers or that old 6x 9G= B drive SCSI2 RAID array :), if you have any. =0A=0A=0A