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Checklist...applicable for most CDRs/CDRWs
 

Make sure that Auto Insert Notification is off !! This is the single most important setting ! (Aug27: This isn't relevant with ECDC3.0, which disables it internally when doing burns. Also, not supposed to affect EZCDPro2.1x. If you're using DirectCD, ignore the above! You should leave autoinsert notification on) Or, if you have it disabled already, perhaps it's time to upgrade that 486-33. Synchronous negotiation can be enabled/disabled (the MP6200 doesn't support it according to SCSI Explorer in EZSCSI4, even though the Adaptec2920 reports FastSync enabled upon bootup..the Plextor and SCSI HDs should have sync. negotiation enabled...this setting didn't make a difference for me tho), and disconnect is enabled (in win95, all 3 of 'em can be set in ctrlpanel\system\devicemanager\cdrom\settings\ ...checkmark=enabled). If you're using Ultra/UW adapters, get the bus speed down to 5 or 10MB/s for this drive (using Ctrl-A upon bootup for certain Adaptec controllers). If you have a marginal PC, having a SCSI HD and the CDRW on the same card might be bad. Other stuff relevant with a lower-spec PC: Unload network drivers, terminate Find Fast, background virus scanners, system agent, screen savers...anything that creates CPU overhead or more importantly, accesses the disk. Your Oracle is able to burn off a network drive. If all that still doesn't work, you might have a bum SCSI cable somewhere...some people use $$$ cables to eliminate this as a source of contention...I've heard good things about Granite Digital. However top-of-the-line cables are disgustingly expensive and could cost more than the SCSI card itself...I saw Belkin cables going for USD119 at Computer City...are they serious or what. If you didn't "close disk" with those would-be-coasters, you'd be able to create another session and reuse them (make sure it doesn't link to the previous session though). More things you could do involve optimizing Win95.

• Make sure your file cache doesn't exceed 8MBs. This is mucho important, especially on systems with lotsa RAM. In your system.ini, in the [vcache] section (create the section if you don't see it), insert these 2 lines:

 

 
 
 
 
 

MinFileCache=1024 (don't set this too small...have been told setting this = 256 is recipe for a DCD2 crash...minimum should be 512)

MaxFileCache=4096 ... 4MB should be enough for most any machine, increasing this to 8MB gives diminishing returns...however if you've 64MB RAM, 8MB is ok. If you want to following Microsoft's recommendation, vcache should be 25% of main memory. NOTE: The above is CASE SENSITIVE! It won't work if you type 'minfilecache=1024' !

• If the "typical role of your machine" is network server instead of desktop computer in Control Panel/System/Files/Performance/FileSystem/...you need to use a registry fix (caution: registry newbies need not apply...just stick to desktop computer) since this setting is bugged on Win95/win95A (it's fine with OSR2).This was taken from the MS Knowledge Base

 

 
 
 
 
 

Modify the NameCache and PathCache values in the following registry key:

Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FS Templates

NOTE: The value data for these settings is in hexadecimal format. For the Network Server profile, use the following data:

NameCache a9 0a 00 00

PathCache 40 00 00 00
 
 

• Next, you can limit your swap file size to a fixed amount, eg. 70MB is a nice figure for my 64MB machine (yeah, don't let win95 manage your virtual memory...fix this in DeviceManager/Virtual Memory). This helps to prevent fragmenting of the swap file too. Microsoft's suggestion for Virtual Memory is 3x system RAM...if you ask me, this is waay to much...probably would have made sense during the age of 16MB machines, but now, for machines with 64MB of RAM, 70-75MB virtual memory is sufficient for most purposes.
• Disabling Write-Behind Caching should improve DirectCD's stability, though at a cost in speed.
• Don't do anything funny while burning a CD..such as clicking on the CD Writer drive icon in the midst of CD burning...yeah, it's a hoot, I tried it...with a CDRW disc of course :)
• If you have a *slow* EIDE HD, try disabling Read-Ahead Caching (ctrlpanel/system/performance/filesystem/HD, set 'read ahead optimization' to 'none') if you're getting buffer underruns.
• Check that you *don't* have any 16bit real mode drivers in your config.sys, eg. EMM386, or any 16-bit ASPI driver.
• Keep a separate 800MB partition exclusively for keeping the files that are going to be burnt to CD. Extra space gives some leeway for smaller files, due to the larger 16K cluster size of this partition. This way you don't have to optimize your HD everytime you burn a CD, since you're trashing all files on that partition when you're through. Also, if you're doing audioCDs, you need 780MBs for 74 minutes of music, not 650MBs...(no 3rd layer error correction for music, so you can store more).
• Don't include 0-byte files, empty directories, or files in use when you burn the CD.
• Preferably, have your MP62xx on a higher SCSI ID, which gives it higher priority...the default ID of zero ain't good, get some jumpers and fix it. The scsi host adapter has the highest priority naturally (ID7). Also, put SCSI HDs on lower SCSI IDs, so that they don't hog the scsi bus (except some IBM HDs that demand ID6 to boot). Even though the CDWriter doesn't hog the bus, it is critical to keep a constant flow. This priority stuff does not make too much of a difference and only takes effect if there are 2 devices 'conflicting'...then the higher priority device wins.
• Don't use IRQ 9 for your SCSI host adapter...it uses an 8-bit interrupt vector (cascading to IRQ2). Use irq 10, 11 or 12(if not using PS/2 mouse).
• Get Microsoft TweakUI. Install it, go to 'paranoia', 'things that happen behind your back', and unclick 'play data CDs automatically.' You need autoinsert notification on for this to work...however you'd have it on already if you're using DirectCD (if not, turn it on).
• Easy CD Creator Deluxe's standard setting for a data CD burn is CD-XA. Change it to a standard Mode1 CD.
• Avoid ISA SCSI controllers...yeah, it's cheap, but you can avoid frustration in the long run. If $$$ is a consideration, at least get a 100 buck busmastering PCI controller....that way, you can add stuff later w/o taking a performance hit. Note also that Microsoft plans to phase out ISA support in coupla years FWIH...in fact the PC98 specs say by next year, there should be no boards in a PC using ISA (tho the m/b could still have ISA slots)...the year after that, no ISA slots.
• There are some reports of problems with TX boards. Apparently they use 3.3V for the external buses (PCI/ISA), when it was 5Vs all along. Some Seagate HDs (eg ST36450A) don't work with these chipsets, nor do some SVGA PCI boards. SCSI controllers could face potential problems.  One posting on comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips, "..there is a new issue that is only now coming to light; that of bus voltage.  Way back in the 486DX2 and VL-bus era, processor supply voltage dropped from the 5v logic standard to 3.3v, but at the time, all external busses (as used to carry data to RAM, PCI and ISA slots) remained at 5v and have done so until now.  However, the TX is said to power some or all of these three busses at 3v rather than 5v; it's been said Intel had informed hardware vendors about this, but it sure hasn't become general knowledge. This potentially causes huge problems for multi-system sites with a mixed inventory of components; what will work at 3v and what will not? So far, Seagate hard drives have been listed as a problem on the 'net, but a local tech at a large component distributor says he has problems with several PCI cards as well". There isn't much information out there about this though.
• If you have advanced power management, disable it/set it to a sufficiently high setting (e.g. >30minutes) for harddrives so that it doesn't spin down...if the CDR mastering prog needs to access the HD for whatever reason (temp file, program executables etc), it'll have to wait for the HD to spin up...you get a shiny coaster if it is writing a CD. Also, check CDROM spin down times. This is especially critical with on-the-fly copying of mixed-mode discs. I have an el cheapo IDE Goldstar 16x on my secondary machine that spins down in something like 4 seconds...a really bad candidate for a source CDROM...not to mention a big irritation...oh yeah, malaysian suppliers aren't in the habit of issuing refunds/exchanges for non-satisfactory merchandise...all sales are final, period. (also, see Mike Richter's CDR Primer for further info about spindown). Use this utility to set spindown times for SCSI/ATAPI cdroms. For the plextor, the default 2-minute spindown is sufficient time to get past the data track to the audio track, at least when writing at 2x...set it higher when writing at 1x. '98 Mar 21: Another freeware utility, by Matt Soler...this prevents spindown too...Spinup1.1. Matt came up with this prog because some CDROM manufacturers (including Toshiba) ignore the new spindown time that the previous utility sets
• If you have TCP/IP bound to your Network Interface card, make sure you assign an IP (if you're not disabling it during burns, in extreme cases), otherwise every so often, it'll be going off querying the DHCP server,  pausing while it does it, and then not finding it...you don't need this overhead.
• Disable Active Desktop if you have IE4...or remove IE4 altogether. This cures some serious cases of Buffer Underruns. From Alan Caruth, "Active desktop was not installed on either of them < two win95 workstations>, both were running IE 4.01 (I have not verified this with the straight IE 4.0). Test writes would go perfectly with no problems. When the actual writing happened was when the problem became apparent. I coastered 6 out of 9 CD's before uninstalling IE 4.01 and that corrected the problem. About a week later another guy called me and asked me why his CD-R was coastering CD's, after looking at his configurations etc. I uninstalled IE 4.01 and that corrected the problem on his machine too."
• Keep the temp file on a separate drive (do a SET TEMP=x:\temp in your autoexec.bat) where x is your other drive ...this is assuming you have > 1 drive obviously. Why? This reduces seeks, since the read/write head is already positioned at the temp dir location, and need not shuffle back and forth between temp files and data to be burned.
• Not really CDR related, but If you're burning while surfing the net, you might want to nuke proof your win95 (well, this fixes just one of the holes)...rename vnbt.386 in your system directory to something else. This disables netbios over TCP/IP. Pick up winnuke and see if you're really protected. Also, you might want to ssping-proof your installation. Check here for some fixes.
• If you're using the MP6200AR or any IDE CDWriter, get rid of busmastering in Device Manager, untick the DMA box if you're using win95B. If you're using the standard Win95, this probably doesn't apply to you, since busmastering drivers aren't enabled by default usually. IDE CDWriters don't busmaster. Hopefully, you have these cdwriters on the secondary IDE channel, thereby allowing you to use busmastering on your primary channel for your hard drives.
• Lone hint for NT users. Change this registry setting: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

\Session Manager\Memory Management" . Here should be a DWORD entry "LargeSystemCache=0". If this value is set to '1', you're ripe for coasters...this causes file caching to get higher priority than application code, which ain't good. On NTWS, default is 0, but is 1 on NT Server.
• Make sure you have the latest ASPI drivers (wnaspi32.dll). Use this utility to check it (112K). (I'm still using v4.54 tho'). If you're using an older version and are having problems, try updating it (290K). Latest as of '98 Mar 26 is v4.57
• If you're planning on doing a fresh install of win98 and blowing away your win95 directory, make a backup of these files from your win95's windows/system/iosubsys directory: cdfs.vxd,cdtsd.vxd, cdvsd.vxd. Once you're done installing win98, copy these files back to the same place, overwriting win98's version of these files if you're having problems...otherwise leave things be.

 

2. Problem : I erased a Direct CD disc with EZCDPro, and now I'm getting "Unknown Data Format"
Solution : Format again with Direct CD. Make sure you eject and reload disc first, open My Computer and hit F5

3. Problem : I'm getting audio glitches when extracting audio from CDs.
Solution : Reduce audio read speed down to 2x.

4. Problem : I'm getting audio glitches (pops/clicks) from the audioCD that I've written
Solution : If your source wave file is clean, but your audioCD isn't, your wav editor probably adds extra header information that EasyCD or any other CD mastering software does not remove when it writes the WAVs, resulting in pops. Solution is simple: turn off those extra headers which were added by default. If there are clicks between tracks, you've used track-at-once mode...select Disk-at-once mode.

5. Problem : Direct CD doesn't support long file names now, though it did before
Solution : Enable auto insert notification and/or hit F5 in 'My Computer' ... you might have to reboot

6. Problem : I blew my firmware
Solution : Send the drive back or use the 1.0 image above in the firmware section. See the power cycling method in the firmware page too.

7. Problem : My CDROM doesn't read CD-RWs !
Solution : Upgrade. See list of MultiRead drives above...or get 2nd generation DVDROMs.

8. Problem : My CDROM/Car CD player doesn't read CDRs
Solution : Change CDR media and/or CDROM. Mitsui Gold is supposed to be good, so's Verbatim. BTW, you did remember to close the disc didn't you? CD players hiccup or don't work with CDRs that aren't closed...this doesn't apply to CDROMs, though there are reports that some CDROMs take a bit longer to read the CDR.

9. Problem : I get an error-code 250-00-000 in EZCDPro 2.11
Solution : Uncheck the box that says Disk-At-Once (under the 'General' tab) ... the MP6200 supports it, but EZCDPro 2.11 isn't able to utilize it yet. The upgrade from 2.1 to 2.11 hasn't fixed that. Oct 17: Get the update to 2.11c...fixes this problem

10. Problem: I get error-code 169-00-71-04 ('closing session error'), with the error message "Writing Error" in EZCDPro2.11. Also, the CDRW can't be erased...the drive light starts blinking a while after selecting 'erase disk' and start.
Solution: If you've an Adaptec 2920, you need to get a driver update (even if you're using OSR2).

11. Problem: Computer stops responding when trying to erase RW disk
Solution: Enable 'disconnect' (must have check mark) for the MP62xx in Device Manager

12. Problem: I can't copy mixed-mode CDs...I get an error at the end of the data track
Solution: <am working on this...at present, it appears to me to be a function of the CDR mastering program+drive used (?)...the CDR FAQ says the 150 sector gap at the end of the data track is the cause of this, causing the drive to hiccup...however, no such problems with my Plextor as the source..hmm> Nov 6: Solution from Geff..."After removing that 150kb (from the end of the data track), I was able to make an ISO image of the data. I then singly extracted each audio songs into wav (what a pain) at 2X using the read tracks again and saving each track as audio1, audio2 and so forth. After I had prepared the ISO and the wav files, I chose making a mixed mode from an existing ISO image(there is another mixed mode option but this will just copy the ISO not as an image but a file so the user should be careful on what to choose.). I then drag all the wav files into the audio folder and browse where I saved the ISO image. Then, create a mixed-mode CD using the above as the ISO image" (cheers Geff!)

13. Problem : My scanner doesn't work with DirectCD
Solution : ver1.0 conflicts with TWAIN. However, DirectCD 1.01b build 026 appears to have this problem fixed.

14. Problem: MechWarrior doesn't work on my Mystique, nor does other games
Solution: You've got DirectCD installed, haven't you...this interferes with the Mystique's bus-mastering feature...solution, get rid of one or the other or disable busmastering if possible.

15. Problem: I got the Ricoh and another SCSI CDROM attached to the SCSI card...I'm told the last devices on the chain should be terminated, so I terminated the Ricoh and the other CDROM...now I"m having problems
Solution: If your setup is like this:

SCSI card -- Ricoh --Other CDROM, terminate SCSI card (either via a jumper or software setting or it might be done automatically) and the other CDROM..._disable_ termination to the Ricoh.

If you have a setup like this

Device1 --- SCSI card -- Ricoh , enable termination for both Device 1 and the Ricoh, _disable_ termination for the SCSI card. The SCSI FAQ answers questions like this...read it, or post to comp.periphs.scsi for answers if you've still haven't found the solution.

16. Problem: Adaptec Easy CD Creator 3.0 freezes at the splash screen.
Solution: If you're using Symantec's Internet Fast Find, disable Easy FTP. (thanks to Gary Klainer & Dale O'Connell). Can also be resolved by performing the following: Unload Fast Find and upgrade EZCD 3.0 to 3.01. Then reinstall Internet fast find (from B. Franks)

17. Problem: I can't erase the CDRW disk
Solution: Many varied solutions...from the mundane (use Nero to erase the CD, not DirectCD) to the mysterious (use an ultra-violet source on the disk for 10 minutes). You should check whether your SCSI card is at fault too (get latest drivers etc etc). If the drive doesn't even recognize the RW disc, what you could do is hit eject, put in the RW, then, without closing the tray select 'Erase Disk' with EZCDPro. The tray should close...Click OK at the 'Media Error', then tell it to Start (thanks to Brandon Higa!). Other suggestions, put in a good disc that gets the drive ready, then *manually* pull out the tray (personally, I'd be really leery of doing this) and replace the disc with the bummed RW...then try erasing it.

18. Problem: I have a ASUS PCI-SC875 SCSI Host Adapter , and CD writes give me these errors:

T0100: I/O error (0E/00/00) - sense code 0x00

T7118: TrackWriter error - Command retry failed

D0100: I/O error (0E/00/00) - sense code 0x00

Solution: (from Martin Burger) You need newer SCSI adapter drivers:

Go to ftp.symbios.com/pub/symchips/scsi/drivers and to download the bios-update and the win95-drivers. Updated your Bios from ver4.03.02 to ver4.08.00, next, install the new win95-drivers. Note: With FLASH8X5.EXE unzipped from the downloaded file, the update doesn't't worked, you have to do the following:

1) Format a diskette with /s. 2) Copy the bios-update (two files) from your original "SCSI Driver Diskette 1/4" to the formatted diskette (=update-diskette). 3) Unzip the downloaded flash408.zip. 4) Copy the file "8XX_32.ROM" to your update-diskette. 5) Insert the new update-diskette in your floppy-drive and reboot. 6) Start FLASH8X5.EXE and update.

19. Problem: I get error 141.xxx.xx.xx with EZCDPro (Logical Unit Failure)
Solution: I got these when I tried to burn some blue-green media (? brand) at 2x...reducing burn speed to 1x solved the problem, but not before producing 2 coasters when I was doing the 2x burn...or were they really coasters? Dug out CDTOOLS (DOS/freeware/Jeff Arnolds', see files section) and ran it with /FINALIZE parameter...and...voila, working disk! Still don't know what LUN failure has got to do with media, it's supposed to be hardware failure. Anyway, the Ricoh's coaster-free record still holds, though that was a close one :)
 
 
 

20. Problem: I installed the new internet explorer 4.0 and easy cd creator 3.0 .If I start the cd-creator programm and I go on a CD - ROM with an audio-cd in it, the program crashes !!
Solution: There appears to be a number of people on the adaptec mailing list reporting this, with the error "creatr32 in modul mfc40.dll" . So, don't install IE4 until a fix can be found. Suggestions to people with this problem, do a file compare before and after you install IE4 and see what files get replaced (you do keep a backup of your files before doing anything major, dontcha)...mebbe you'd wanna check if the mfc40 (M$ foundation class library) has been updated in IE4...out with some old bugs, in with some new. 11 Feb 98: Possible solution, upgrade ECDC to 3.01a (from Giovanni Scarrone)

21. Problem: I'm getting some sense code errors
Solution: ??? I've never seen this, but a couple of people have. Guesses...is your bus speed <=10Mbps ? If so, try another SCSI adapter and see if the problem persists.

22. I have a Matrox Millennium ][ or Mystique
Solution: Disable busmastering...however if it is disabled already and you have problems, enable it.

23. Problem: I get errors in the middle of an audioCD burn
Solution: something that might work...try turning off' 'play data CDs automatically' with TweakUI...let me know if this fixes the problem.

24. Problem: I can read CDRs but not CDRWs in my Ricoh...or vice versa.
 Solution: Try doing a full instead of a quick erase using adaptec CD creator (from Chris Worobec). However, this doesn't work for the vice versa bit

25. Problem: I damaged the SCSI connectors...and now the retailer is telling me to buy a new drive
Solution: Marvellous support they have in Europe. Hope you're handy with that soldering iron. This is from Kai Rohrbacher...take it away Kai..."I opened up the drive (voids the warranty, but who cares if the customer service isn't in existence, anyway). You have to be carefully on  that as the front lid's openings for the buttons & LED's are quite "deep" and thus, if you tilt the lid, it's easy to harm those parts. One then has access to the board with the SCSI connector, which in turn is connected through two copper-printed flexible strips and two normal cable connectors to the pick-up. Disconnecting the two cable connectors suffices  to get enough access to the board. then got me a short SCSI extension cord (roughly 3 inches, available for  DEC Sparc-Stations), a 6 watts SMD soldering iron and fixed it myself:  plugged in one end of the SCSI cord, cut open the isolation of the respective wire and soldered a patch wire from there to the pin on the board. Voila, did me take ~1hr and saved a few hundred bucks"

26. Problem: I keep getting error 165-xxx-xx-xx (bad media) in Easy CD Pro
Solution: Could be you have a bum drive, a bad batch that got released in Aug-Sep. Have been getting reports from people who've burnt coupla hundred CDs, and all of a sudden, this error. It's not media/computer setting...since a new drive works w/o any changes. I'd suggest returning the drive ASAP while still under warranty. Some other users report otherwise...(from Matthew Self)..."I recieved errors in  EZ CD creator (165-00-0c-09) copying from the hard drive.  I called Ricoh about this, and they said it was a general writing error or bad media.  She told me not to use Maxell, Sony, Verbatim and a few others.  She recommended using Ricoh, Kao, Kodak, TDK, or Tayo Yodin". From Anthony Smith"I get a writing error code 165-xxxxxxxx at around the 55 minute mark every time no matter what I do to my system settings.  Reducing the writing speed down to 1x also has no effect.  After contacting RICOH and sending them my drive for testing they told me that they were able to reproduce the error and that they think it is a software problem for Adaptec." Software problem? Hmmm... I don't think so.   Interesting thing about the 55-min mark...another user has reported a 70-min mark limitation for audioCDs (thanks to Amit Flashner). Firmware problem it is not, since those with problems have v1.2 or upgraded to v2.03...also, I've never gotten this error msg. Hope this is not like the HP spring problem, which manifests itself after a while (that however gives the error msg 171-00-50-00, i.e. incomplete writes). Could be a laser/tracking combo prob (?). '98 Mar 3: Possible solution...seems that lubrication could be a problem, especially if you do lots of burns (i.e. in the hundreds). So far, 2 individuals with MP6200s have lubricated the drive rails that the laser head rides on, and found that the problem was cured. Drive rail solution at Ricardo's CDD2600 page. A faint humming noise was also noted in those bummed drives. (from Corey Hedge). '98 Mar 21: 4th individual to report success oiling the rails after getting errors like:

T0100: I/O error (06/C5/00) - Write error - buffer underrun occurred
T0100: I/O error (04/09/00) - CD recorder error - track following error
T7127: TrackWriter error - Flush failed
T7118: TrackWriter error - Command retry failed

Andrew Mileski writes, "The key here is "track following error", which causes the buffer underrun and other errors (Tom's note: to *really* confirm that this is a hardware prob and not software, try out Nero first...if that screws up too, then consider this option)....  After trying every logical solution, I was desperate enough to try greasing the head guides. It seems to have fixed it. First test and burn worked!
Hints for potential grease monkeys:

  a)   I don't recommend anyone try this! There are too many ways to screw up.You have to be very desperate, very brave, and have a very good mechanical aptitude to try this. IMHO send the drive back to Ricoh. Check your warranty! Note that some credit card companies offer extended warranties for items purchased with their cards. You might want to experiment on an old CD-ROM drive from your junk box if you do decide to attempt this.
  b)   Don't follow the CDD2600 instructions to the letter. The easiest and safest access to the Ricoh head guides is through the top of the drive, not the bottom. The top of the drive is bolted to the top of the case, and the top disk clamp can be easily removed (just a spring) to access the head guides. You do not need a torx screwdriver for this either, which is good because the smallest one I have is a T8 (in comparison, a T20 is the most common) which is too big.
  c)   Keep it clean! The Ricoh has silicone grease everywhere inside the case. It is impossible to avoid, so have a supply of alcohol wipes on hand. Be careful when using a compressed gas duster, as it can spread the grease around. Remove every speck of lint and dust from inside the drive. Ricoh put effort into putting dust seals on the drive.
  d)     Remove the disk tray while working. It makes life easier, and is easy to remove and install. The only trick is to watch for plastic lever that moves the optical platform (lower disk clamp) agaist the upper disk clamp, as it must be oriented correctly, and it is not fastened in place.
  e)   Use silcone grease if possible. (Tom's note: in case you're considering WD40, don't...this'll eat plastic and rubber...don't ask how I know). I used lithium grease because that's what I had on hand, but Ricoh uses silicone grease by the looks of it.
  f)     Don't touch the optics! The optics are very delicate and can be easily damaged. To give you an idea of what to expect, the beam splitter is a cube about 1/8" per side, and lightly clamped in place (since glass and metal expand/contract at diferent rates). To remove dust from them, use a photographers squeeze bulb duster NOT a can of compressed gas (read the warnings on the can!). Don't touch the optics with anything other than a gentle puff of air.
  g)   Proceed at your own risk! Send the drive back if you can.

'98 Mar 26: Some pics of disassembling the drive! Thanks go to Corey Hedge.
'98 Apr 8 : Possible alternative solution from Carl Smith, "I got a 74 minute audio CD, popped it into the drive, and kept toggling back and forth between the first track and the last track.  I did it about 20 times, with the idea that if there was any grease pushed down to the end of the rail that maybe the repeated end to end movement of the laser assembly would pick it up grease and drag it back down the rails, and re-lubricate the slide rails. It seemed to work". Something to try out...hopefully this effect isn't temporary. May 5: The effect was temporary :( However, the afore-mentioned greasing techniques worked.
 

28. Problem: I can do a test write, but I can't do an actual write...or, I get an error msg when writing to TOC (in TAO mode) near the end of the CDR/beginning of the CDR if DAO.
Solution: If your software is somewhat less savvy than it should be, DISABLE AUTO INSERT NOTIFICATION MANUALLY! As far as I know, Easy Cd Creator Deluxe /EZCDPro does this, but if you're using other software, try doing the above. As soon as the Table of Contents is written, the Win95/NT will (try to) recognize the CD, and screw up the burn.

29. Problem: I get a flashing red/green light
Solution: Definitive answer does not exist. Some solutions:
a) From Rob Holland: I have FINALLY found out what's been screwy with my drive. If you have seen my post (and two other people's) labeled "flashing red/green indicator light" from awhile back, we were having problems with the Ricoh accepting a disc when you would put it in the tray. For me (I have a mp6200s) the problem was getting worse and worse as time went on. Every time I would put this one CDRW disc I had in the drive, about 20% of the time it wouldn't mount and the red/green light would just start flashing as if the disc were bad. I would eject and try again and eventually it would mount. Over time, though it would raise to 40% and 50% until it got to the point where other cd's (stamped and cd-r's) would do the same thing. I posted messages on the web, read every line on Tom's troubleshooting page, and the only thing that I could come close to was #26 on tom's page. Oiling the rail.

Well, I decided that I didn't want to wait for Ricoh to fix my drive so I went ahead and cracked my drive open and oiled the rail as per the instructions on Tom's page. Put it all back together and all seemed to be working fine. Thought that was it. Life is back to normal. WRONG. The drive starting acting up again, blinkin at me when I would mount a disc, made 2 coasters on an audio cd burn, giving weird read AND write errors until I decided finally that I would WATCH and SEE and HEAR what the drive was doing.
Everytime I would get the errors on mounting (and on the coasters I made) there was one common denonminator that was associated with the error. A noise. A very, very faint 'humming' noise which I at first dismissed as the optics head going back and forth along the rail. Thought that it was normal. I cracked the drive open, hooked it up to some power and watched and listened as I inserted and ejected a disc. For the longest time I couldn't get the drive to repeat the error and couldn't get the noise to come back, but finally it did and after hours and hours of trial and error (whew....I know that you are ready to get to the end of this so here it goes...)

There is a white plastic 'cup' that clamps down on top of the spindle (the deal on the bottom of the drive that goes into the hole in the center of a CD) when a CD is inserted into the drive. This 'cup' is magnetic and will slap down on top of the CD, securing it from the top holding the spindle on the bottom firmly in place. This 'humming' noise that I was hearing was a very, very minute vibration that was occurring when the disc began to spin. I finally found out that it was coming from this little white 'cup'. I tried several things to see what I could do about this vibration when it arose but there was little I could do...UNTIL I realized that the 'cup' was actually sliding around ever so slightly as the disc was spinning. This back and forth action at such high speeds made a 'humming' sound. What was causing the cup to slide on top of the CD you ask? Oil. Simply the oil from your fingers as you touch the top of a CD from putting it into the drive or back in it's case....specifically putting your fingers near the very center hole where that cup rides when the CD is in the drive. Months and months of taking discs in and out with oily center holes intern making that cup that rides on top of that center hole build up with oil until it started slipping during the spinning of the CD. The vibration would slow the motor down (will probably burn the motor up after time) and the drive couldn't read it to mount. If you were unlucky to have the cd start the vibration during a burn...hello coaster!

I took some "GunScrubber" (degreaser for handguns) and very carefully sprayed and dried the white cup freeing it of any oils and to this day (over 50 burns so far!) my drive never has once done the vibration, made a coaster, or refused to mount a disc. I am very careful now BEFORE I insert a CD into my Ricoh, I wipe the center hole on the top of the CD with a cloth so that the oil buildup wont happen again, and me and Mr. white cup wont have to face each other again for cleaning. A temporary solution if you are having mounting problems is to wipe the top (and I'm sure the bottom wouldn't hurt, too) of the CD around the center hole with a cloth to make sure that it's not slippery....if it is, I guarantee that eventually you will get vibration.

Anyone that tries this and is/is not successful please let me know. I'm sorry about the length, but I was so happy when I finally figured it out I just had to let everyone know the details!!!!!! "

Error msgs that might be seen in ECDC are:
T0100: I/O error (04/15/00) - CD recorder error - cannot seek to the
requested location
T7728: TrackWriter warning - Operation continues
D0100: I/O error (04/09/03) - CD recorder error - spindle servo failure
D0100: I/O error (04/E1/02) - sense code 0xE1

(with thanks to Howard Williams!)

b)  I myself had this problem after a year of use...however the problem vanished. Possibilities are: Better cooling, better power connection (power connector to drive was somewhat loose), more power (disconnected newly added 3rd HD from my 200W PSU)
c)  Check that you have enough juice to power the drive...some external cases don't put out enough power...the Ricoh needs 2.2A, anything less and you have problems
d)  You've got some really bad CDRs
e) The worst possibility is that the laser is out of alignment, in which case you'd better hope the drive is under warranty.
f)  Double check Vcache settings

30. Problem: Win98 crashes (tell me something new) with DirectCD and my ZIP drive

Solution: With best regards to Bruce W. Harkness: "Adaptec's DirectCD will CRASH YOUR SYSTEM in Win98 if driver CD_READ.VXD is present in your windows\system\iosubsys directory. I believe it'll do do this in Win95 as well.  CD_READ.VXD is part of IOmega's Recordit software which is supposed to allow you to record sounds directly to your Zip drive.  I downloaded this product from IOmega's website and loaded it but never used it.  Then my Ricoh MP6201s went haywire giving me exception faults all over the place with no way to recover without booting to a DOS prompt and renaming the DirectCD directory so the TSR wouldn't load.  All software revs were up-to-date (DirectCD rev 2.5a, device firmware rev 2.4, etc).  Uninstalling Recordit or removing that driver from the above mentioned directory will cure the problem"
 

Problem: I got some other problem.

Solution: Post to comp.publish.cdrom.hardware / comp.publish.cdrom.software / comp.periphs.scsi first, after doing your homework (i.e. reading these pages, searching through Adaptec List archives, DejaNews, documentation of your software, Mike Richter's CDR primer, the CDR faq). The collective wisdom of Usenet is at your beck and call there.  I monitor those groups, and am on the Adaptec mailing list (this is good for DirectCD/Easy CD Creator questions) too, besides the Hardware Group and Matrox lists.