VGN-FW51JF/H - Combo Blu-ray drive doesn't burn CD-R media above 4x

[VaioPMNS]

Hi,
I’m a newbie VAIO user having bought a VGN-FW51JF/H, which has a Blu-ray combo drive.
Only in the last few days have I decided to try out a simple CD-R burning and was quite shocked to notice the drive can only write at 4x, when the specs claim it goes up to 16x for CD-R!
The built-in drive is a Pioneer BD-ROM BDC-TD01 (firmware 1.01) and I tried three different software burners to no avail,(including Nero )all listing 4x as the top speed. Also tried 3 or 4 brands of CD-R…Sony, Memorex, Verbatim and nothing! Not only is the drive picky on the speed (taking 20 mins), but even pickier with the media…some burn well, others don’t (Memorex failed right at beginning, but Sony media pulled through).
I installed all the available updates from the support page, but apparently there is no firmware update, for the drive, to correct these serious issues. I still haven’t tried the normal DVD burning, but inserted one and at least the speed was displayed as expected, 8X, so I assume it’s only behaving like this for CD-R media.
In a store, also made a small test on another PC, exactly the same model, and once again the reported speed was 4x, so this is not exclusive to the one I bought.
Does anybody else have this issue ?
Is there a firmware for this drive ? I tried everything and couldn’t find anything…
I have one day to decide if I should keep the PC or not, as there are no guarentees Sony will acknowledge this bug and release a firmware to correct it L
Thanks in advance

[kaepten-koma]

Sony told me again to either send the notebook to the repair center or live with it. I decided to buy a cheap netbook and to send the laptop to Sony. I will let you know if Sony replaced the drive, when I get my laptop back.
Even though I love the Sony Vaio design, this was definately my last Sony Notebook!

[meister00-01]

Hi vaio users,
are there any news about this topic?
The german hotline told me last week, that Sony doesn´t support any burning software excepting the preinstalled one. After this statement I bought a new HDD, Win7 Prof. 64 bit and installed the system completely new without any Sony software, but the problem is still the same.
Now I´ve started some threads in other forums and the first owners reply with the the same problem, so I hope that Sony have to react in near future when there are many users who`ll complain about this problem.
If there are any news about this problem, please be so kind and write it here!

Jogi

[lemoineyves]

Hello again VAIO lovers,

Here below some news concerning the "4x versus 16x" Pioneer BD-TD01 story :

It took me 2 months and an half in discussions (negociations ?) with the Sony hotline before my VAIO VGN51FWM/F was sent for repair ...ouf (as we said in French)

I received it back today with a short written report telling me (although not explicitely) that everything was OK, no need for repair.

I retest then CD-R burning = same story 4x not 16x !!!

At once I called back their hotline and ended (by phone call transfer) at their European repair center (in Alsace, France), speaking to a lady who was totally unable to tell me more about the controls they made ....
to my question : what type of CD-R were they using to demonstrate a 16x "normal" burning speed, I did not receive any precise answer ....

What Sony is thus claiming : a burning speed of 16x but strictly restricted to certain CD-R, which label will remain confidential ...what a customer nightmare

Sorry, I'm no longer VAIO fan, viewing this case ...

I would appreciate to know if someone of you has successfully identified the type of CD-R needed to indeed reach a 16x burning speed ...and receive news from others who also sent their notebook for repair.

Greetings from France

[meister00-01]

Hello again,

I`ve tested the CD´s from SONY, Samsung and Maxell and the burning software Nero 9 reloaded and Roxio WinOnCD 10. It was everytime the same result - only 4x instead of 16x!
From my point of view the main thing is, that all the FW51 users never give up and complain once a week to the support.
I hope we`ll become a firmware update.

Greetings from Germany

[Thalamus.]

what type of CD-R were they using to demonstrate a 16x "normal" burning speed, I did not receive any precise answer 

The best I can offer is that they would have tested with a Sony CD-R using the burning program supplied with the vaio..

If anyone' still having a problem then I'd suggest you keep contacting vaio support..

[meister00-01]

Hi Thalamus,
sometimes I can burn audio cd´s between 16x and 24x with a Sony CD-R. But only audio and only 1 out of 20 CD-R´s.

A VAIO VGN-AW41ZF user reported the same problem with this drive at the german thread, so it´s definitely a problem of the firmware.

Why doesn´t Sony react to this issue, Pioneer could solve this problem but they are not allowed to do this (Sony is in charge of this firmware).

Greetings
Jogi

[Thalamus.]

Why doesn´t Sony react to this issue

Hi Jogi,

My opinion only - Perhaps not very many Vaio FW owners have reported the problem to Vaio support.. I guess this could be because perhaps not everyone who owns a FW series VAIO burns CD-R's, as I expect more use DVD's now, or if they do perhaps they have not checked the burn speed..

All I can suggest is that you all keep chasing vaio support for a fix for your respective vaio's..

[Thalamus.]

Hi Thalamus,
sometimes I can burn audio cd´s between 16x and 24x with a Sony CD-R. But only audio and only 1 out of 20 CD-R´s. 

Hi Jogi,

could you check the cd-r disc's that you used and post back what colour the disc's were, ie light-blue, dark-blue, light-green, dark-green, colour-less, etc. that you used. Especially the colour of the ones that have been used to successfully burn at 16x.

[meister00-01]

Hi Thalamus,
I burned an audio CD successfully (24x) only for one time!
This disc was from Sony (CD-R 700MB) and had a light green colour.
Tests with black or golden discs weren´t successfully.

Jogi

[Thalamus.]

Sony (CD-R 700MB) and had a light green colour

Thanks Jogi,

could anyone else test burning with a similar disc please.?

or

has anyone been able to successfully burn a CD-R at 16X speed using another brand or colour disc.?