After wrestling with SCSI for the last 10 years, the only word of advice I have is to try replacing the cables before spending hours trying to debug other things.

this may or may not be of help, but my burner for some reason started writing blank discs, the red light would come on and it would start writing then say it was finished yet the cd would be blank. i later found out that for some apparent reason, the aspi driver had been removed. you would probably need to go to the adaptec website and do an aspi check. HTH

I had the same problem with a Ricoh MP9060A drive (DVD/CDR/RW combo)...9 out of 10 cds were coasters. Try to disable autorun, check for firmware updates, check Adaptec's site for the latest ASPI drivers (including the ASPI Check utility), make sure the SCSI chain is terminated properly, try burning at lower speed too, or try making an image on the HDD first. If all those fail, go get urself a new drive, pal.

Actually, on second thoughts: did u use the same CDR brand for a while? CDs have information written on them that instructs the CDR Drive how to adjust the laser power. I used to get that error too (Power calibration area error). In other words, it happens when u try to burn a 6x certified CDR at 8x or 12x (and a cheap brand too). Try different types of media as well...silver, gold layered (not Brand-wise)

Depends on how well your drive can cope with on the fly error correction as to how fast you can burn.
I've been burning some un-branded, 2x/4x media at 16x/12x without any errors.
The information burnt into CD's about maximum speed is only present on CD-RW's.
IE, if you get a 4X CD-RW it wont let you burn any faster, CD-R's you can burn at whatever speed you like.

"The information burnt into CD's about maximum speed is only present on CD-RW's.
IE, if you get a 4X CD-RW it wont let you burn any faster"
---------------------------------------
Bladeruner, I am afraid that doesn't make sense at all dude...r u trying to tell us that the burning speed of a CDR/RW is being read from a table written on the actual CDR ?????!! If I get a 4x CD-RW it won't burn any faster because it's physically limited, not because the Calibration Area on the CDRW tells it so...
 
Maybe I misunderstood ur statement after all..........follow up with a more articulate reply this time.

Yes, I am telling you that.
There is a small 'marker' burnt at the very start of a CD-RW.
This tells the drive and software what speed the disk is capable of.
Have you noticed the new 'CD-RW High Speed' symbol?
This indicates that the disk can be used at higher speeds.
I have some old 2x CD-RW's and my combination of CD Creator 4.03 & Yamaha 12x CD-RW wont allow me to burn any faster than 2x on these disks.

Thanks for the help guys, I checked for a firware update for my writer and I only upgraded it a month or so ago, but anyways the firmware version on the writer is 4.17, I'm on ASPI version 2 (I think) and up until all ths 2 weeks ago, I was getting no trouble with this writer, its really doing my nut.
 
I know it termintated properly because it was the only SCSI device in my computer.
 
I've tried that many diffeeent CDR brands I've got a nice lot of coasters now thats for sure. I've tried Trax Data, Aopen, Fuji Film and even some really crappy CD's that came with somethingI ordered as a freebie some time ago.
 
My old 6x2x2 IDe Re-writeris workinglike a charm, but I've just this minute parted with it in exchange for some money to go towards my new writer when I order it next week, I've got a choice between a 32x8 SCSI drive, or a 32x4x4 IDE CDRW, both drives are alomst the same in price, give or take a pound or two, whats your recomendations ?
 
Before I hand the drive over to the tip I'm going to put it into another computer if ti works in there I may well leaveit in that machione or sell it on with the ISA SCSI card that came with it orignally, I don't want to part with the PCI one just yet, I've got plans to get a SCSI Scanner in the future.
 
Anyway thanks again. Will try out what you've told me, even though I've done it about 10 thousand time already!
 
Behemoth

I have been using SCSI burners for the past 4 years. I really like them, but sometimes they can be tempremental. I used to have an old *** Adaptec ISA card (1520 or something like that), and it would work ok SOMETIMES. Then I borrowed my friends 2906, and that worked sometimes too.. seems like it would require a reboot every once in a while. Recently I got a 2930 (with a new cable mind you) and it works perfectly. I can burn at 8x (I have a yamaha 8x4x24), it works golden. It could be the cable, or it could be the card, but I hvae been using the old cable for those 4 years. Anyway, just thought Id offer that.
 
jeff

Thanks again guys, but the drive is definatley going in the bin when the new one gets here.
 
I tried another SCSI card which I have here, an Advansys ISA card that came with the drive when I bought it and I am still having the same results with that as I am the Adaptec card.
 
Behemoth