Nero Speed Problem

[Nightwolf]

I've had this strange problem with Nero for some time now and I was wondering if anyone could offer a solution. I have a 52x burner and my CD-R's are rated at 48x. I have no trouble at all burning video and data CD's at 52x, but when I try to burn an audio CD at that speed it always fails. If I check the box that says "Determine Maximum Speed" it says it can only burn at 16x! Why would that be? Does it take longer to read mp3's from the hard drive than other files? My hard drive is 7200 rpm, and I always keep it defragged, so why does Nero have trouble reading mp3's from it? I'm not sure but I think this only started when I upgraded from Win98 to XP. I also tried upgrading from Nero 5.5 to 6, but both versions had this problem. Any ideas?

I'd also like to know at what speed everyone else burns their audio CD's.

[DWk]

Have you tried different brand cd's?

Are these the same CD's you burn data in?

[Nightwolf]

Well, the ones I have right now are Memorex which I think are a good brand. But like I said, it's been doing this for a long time now and I've used many different brands since I got this burner over a year ago. I'll have to wait till this 100 pack runs out (which will be soon), then try it with whatever kind I get next, but I'm pretty sure the results will be the same.

Maybe my 550 mHz P3 is too slow. But that still wouldn't explain why it can burn video and data at 52x, but not music.

:frusty:

[Xero Grid]

I have 32x CD-Rs, and a 40x Lite-ON Combo drive. No matter what, Nero says the maximum speed I can write is 40, even on 32x CD-Rs. I thought that was a little strange at first, but your situation is definately curious.

You say that this started when you upgraded from 98 to XP. Did you upgrade through windows or do a clean install? If it was a clean install, then I don't know what it could be. Do you have Service Pack 1?

Have you tried maybe a firmware upgrade? Going to the developers site. Maybe there's a new driver or something that may fix the problem.

-- Xero Grid --

[4th gen]

Try converting the mp3's to wav's before you burn them (with something like dbpoweramp).

[Nightwolf]

So far I have determined that it's not a problem with my burner or the discs, by using alternates and getting the same results.

Xero Grid, I upgraded from 98 to XP rather than a clean install but I don't know why that would be a problem. I've tweaked and cleaned my system, and when I test my hard drive's read speed in Nero's preferences I get the same numbers I got with 98. Everything else on my PC runs as fast now, if not faster than it did before - except for this one problem with Nero, and that's only with audio CD's.

4th gen, I used to have to convert mp3's to wav's many years ago when I had Easy CD Creator 3 and a lousy 2x burner, and I have no desire to go back there again. ;)

Something is causing a lag when Nero reads mp3's and I'd like to know what the problem is. I can actually see it pause for a few seconds as it reads each individual file. Here are some log files if anyone can make sense out of them...

Audio Log - 24x (http://home.comcast.net/~weidnerd/Messageboard/nero_audio_log.txt)

Data Log - 1003.4x (http://home.comcast.net/~weidnerd/Messageboard/nero_data_log.txt)

[Xero Grid]

I can't think of a damn thing. The logs look fine and your configuration looks fine. There should be nothing wrong.

have you tried this only when writing? Or have you tried performing just a speed test and simulations?

I saw that you were using Nero 6.3.0.0. Try upgrading to 6.3.0.2. There are significant upgrades. Personally, I don't think it'll help, but it couldn't hurt.

This shouldn't make a difference, but Do you have a valid ASPI Layer?
Check with this
ASPICHK (ftp://ftp.adaptec.com/software_pc/aspi/aspichk.exe)

-- Xero Grid --

[Nightwolf]

I think you may be onto something with the ASPI check. It says ASPI is not properly installed. Here are the results...

LOG0143: *****************************************************************
LOG0144: Starting ASPICHK installer on Tue Feb 03 16:42:59 2004
ASPICHK0438: OS = Windows NT (5.01.2600)
UPGRADE1004: c:\windows\system32\wnaspi32.dll dated 09/10/1999 16:06:00, 45056 bytes.
UPGRADE1062: c:\windows\system32\wnaspi32.dll version 4.6.0.1021
UPGRADE1004: c:\windows\system\winaspi.dll dated 12/10/2001 21:32:22, 4455 bytes.
UPGRADE1101: Unable to get c:\windows\system\winaspi.dll version info size 0x00000714
UPGRADE0965: File c:\windows\system32\drivers\aspi32.sys does not exist
UPGRADE0369: No existing file to compare, upgrade recommended
UPGRADE0965: File c:\windows\system\wowpost.exe does not exist
UPGRADE0369: No existing file to compare, upgrade recommended
ASPICHK0522: Inconsistent version numbers among components
ASPICHK0592: ASPI installation has problems
LOG0218: Closing installer log on Tue Feb 03 16:42:59 2004
LOG0219: *****************************************************************



So how do I fix it?

[Xero Grid]

I'm gonna post something for you. Gimme a sec....

--- EDIT---
Okay, here ya go.
ForceASPI 1.7 (http://myimages.fourvalve.com/xerogrid/Force%20ASPI%201.7.exe)

This is something I found a while ago and I don't remember where I got it, so I put it on a file hosting site.

Now, with this you can check the current ASPI Layer, back it up or saftely get rid of the one you have, and install the most compatable one to come out (V 4.6).

It comes with all the documentation you need in one self-extractor.

-- Xero Grid --

[Nightwolf]

Well, that fixed the error in ASPI Check - but not the speed problem. :(

:frusty:

Any other ideas?

[Nightwolf]

Another thing I just discovered is that it makes no difference whether I use mp3's or wav's. The problem must have something to do with the way Nero converts data files into audio tracks. Maybe my CPU is just too slow.

[Xero Grid]

I'm stumped.....

Wait.
Did you upgrade Nero? What about checking for a firmware upgrade? Like I said before. I can't think of anything else.

A slow CPU should make a difference in the speed of writing to CD-Rs, especially when you've done higher speeds before....

-- Xero Grid --

[Nightwolf]

I got the latest Nero, and there is no upgrade for my burner. But I don't think that's the problem because the read speed from the hard drive is always between 16x and 24x, even if I don't actually burn anything. I guess I'll just have to live with it.

Thanks for trying, Xero Grid. At least you helped me update my ASPI. :)

[Xero Grid]

:lol: No Prob.
Sorry, I couldn't help with the other problem though.

-- Xero Grid --