[This message has also been posted to linux.debian.user.] In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Manon Metten wrote: > Art Edwards wrote: >> I have had several CD burners die. They read just fine, but they stop >> writing after a very finite number (say tens) of CD's.r >> > My cd writer of white label died after just two years of heavy use. At > last it still was able to read but made a lot of errors during write.
> I have a new cd writer fitted now along with a cd/dvd writer, both of > label LG (it's hard to find another one here nowadays). Both seem to > work fine for the moment. I make a lot of Knoppix disks because the Green Party here gives them away. I get CD drives used or salvage or surplus, all kinds and ages. Over time I collected nine drives that stopped working: some wrote bad disks, others got read errors. Took the cases off and cleaned the lenses carefully with aqueous isopropyl "rubbing" alcohol on cotton swabs. Eight of the nine work perfectly now. Try it. The key is to remove the extra alcohol before it dries and leaves a residue. Use a wet swab and then a dry one. Note, even a perfectly good brand new CD-RW drive will write bad CDs if you burn at full speed. The maximum writing speed on modern CD blanks is very optimistic. Try burning at half the automatically detected speed, or 16x, whichever is slower. You will get a much higher yield. Your disks will be readable in marginal drives that can not read disks burned at full speed. Also, don't waste your time with CD-RW media. I have tried several brands and none erases well. Second burn yield is under 50%. Third burn is near zero. Cameron -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
