Numerous problems

Question: I am having many problems with my CD-burner. Sometimes fixing fails, sometimes the written data cannot be read, sometimes the wrong directory is shown, sometimes a silly error report crops up, or the burner hangs. I am totally dissatisfied. What can I do?

Answer: There have been several people with one or more of the above problems. It is difficult to find the cause from a distance, although we have been able to help some people.

1. Use quality media only. If you have problems, try a few media of another brand. You can read about the experience of other MakeCD users with regards to certain blank brands in `doc/Compatibility'. Try those media reported to be the most reliable.
2. Give your CD writer its own SCSI case. Some burners do not work well when getting warm, which can happen when towered.
3. Check your cabling and the termination of you SCSI chain. Try to shorten the SCSI chain to its minimum. Only use think SCSI cables with good shielding. Please avoid cheap cables!
4. Boot with a virgin OS installation and without additional tools, then try MakeCD. Hacks sometimes cause programs to malfunction. .
5. Do you smoke in the vicinity of your CD-burner? If yes, you should certainly try cleaning the lens of your CD-burner. A user who smokes has told us that he has burnt the first half of a CD with a dirty lens and the second half with a cleaned lens. The difference on the CD-R was clearly visible -- and CD-Rs burnt with the cleaned lens worked properly again. Similar problems can also be experienced by non-smokers -- e.g. through candles or dust (e.g. open fire).
6. Try connecting your CD-burner to another mains adapter. One user has enormous problems with his brand new Yamaha CDR 200, used with an (AMIGA and a PC. Fixing often failed and the written tracks could not be read in many drives. He was using a PC mains adapter for the CD-burner. He tried the burner with the A3000 mains adapter, and suddenly everything started working perfectly -- similar to a cleaned lens (see above). There was presumably a defect with his PC mains adapter. A similar fault is also imaginable if the mains adapter is overloaded. The nasty thing about this was that it was not obvious that the mains adapter was at fault - the burner was obviously getting power and was even burning. So this is always worth bearing in mind.
7. You can clean your burner at your own risk. Dust clusters can sometimes block the mechanism so that the laser can no longer move freely on the carriage. This can produce peculiar results. Cleaning (and perhaps oiling the mechanism with a suitable lubricant) often helps. The authors of MakeCD have not tried this and are unable to help. Do not try this if you are unsure, and remember, it is at your own risk.

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