VGN-C1Z/B: DVR-K16M doesn't read DVD-RAM

[pinnecco]

Hi,
(first post! :smileygrin: )

I have a SONY Vaio Laptop model VGN-C1Z/B, which comes with a multi-burner DVD drive. I managed to read and format a DVD-RAM disc before without any problems, using Ahead's InCD packer writing software.

But now when I inser a DVD-RAM disc, the drive spins up but nothing else happens and any application that tends to access the drive seems to hang/freeze. Ah, I can also hear a suttle little continous beep (but it is very low).

Does any one have any idea of what might be happening? I already tried to uninstall InCD but the problem wasn't solved.

The drive currently has the OFFICIAL SONY 1.10 FIRMWARE (no hacked firmware on this drive!)

I am using Windows XP with SP2 (can't be bothered to install the free copy of Vista at the moment).

Please, any help is appreciated. I hope my drive is not broken

[pinnecco]

Hi there,

Well I have some interesting "twist" to add to this thread.

So I managed to have my laptop repaired. The service was quite speedy and convenient. First think I did as soon as the laptop returned, is to insert a Verbatin branded DVD-RAM disk into the drive and see what happens. It worked!

So I formated the verbatin disk with InCD and started to copy some files. It started well but, to my surprise, InCD gave errors during copies.

I decided to see if this was an InCD problem this time or not. So I decided to MASTER the Verbatin disk in Nero. That is, to start nero, create a compliation and drag about 3GB to the disk and see what happens. When choosing the disc format I wanted to master, since InCD is all about UDF filesystem, I tried master the disk using UDF. To my surprise, it failed two times (using two different Verbatin disks).

As a second part of the test, I decided to master a double-sided Panasonic DVD-RAM, this time using the ISO format -- it WORKED. But since time I used a different brand, I decided to master the other side of the same disk using UDF to see if the problem I was having was about the disk brand or the filesystem format... But it also worked.

Cuting short on the whole semantics, I found out after some more testing that the Pioneer DVR-K16M drive is a bit temperamental with regards to certain DVD-RAM disk brands.

[martingnash]

Hi, I'm finding the DVR-K16M on my 'new' VGN-C1 really frustrating. It has been back to Sony for a check on the drive. A DVD+RW recorded on this machine using Click2DVD played back on everything except the DVR-K16M on which it was recorded. Sony reported a recording fault and changed the drive but it still refused to play the DVD that worked on everything else i.e. at least 6 other DVD players. It is still very temperamental with privately recorded disks. It is as if it has been biased for Sony media. Fuji, Maxell+RW, Optron (Lidls) nearly all end up with glitches on playback if they playback at all! The most reliable media,apart from Sony, is Verbatim and, believe it or not, Tesco. Tesco just may be Pioneer in disguise? Yes, the latest firmware from the Vaio site has been installed and made no difference. Anyhow, I would be very grateful to her from anyone who is having trouble with this drive.