Are CD32s really finnicky with CDrs?

blur2040 · 20 November 2009, 00:40

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prowler · 20 November 2009, 00:46

Try burning one of your problematic CD-Rs at a much lower speed (even single speed may be necessary) to see if this improves reliability.

If CDRWin supports your CD burner, try the shareware version which is limited to single speed burning.

blur2040 · 20 November 2009, 01:00

Thanks for the reply.

I'm sorry I forgot to mention it, but I've been burning as low as burning software permits me. 2x in windows and 1x in linux. ( I changed OS/Burning software to ensure that there was no issue with the way in which I was burning the CDs).

prowler · 20 November 2009, 01:15

Burning at double speed should really be adequate to ensure maximum reliability with any media.

I am not aware of any incompatibilities of the CD32, but I can remember when recordable CD media were first made available that it was recommended to stick with brands which used a light-coloured dye on the recording surface, i.e. yellow as opposed to dark green.

In accordance with this advice, I bought only Philips media which used a bright yellow dye and never had any problems with them. Indeed, I still have some of these. Sony discs were also bright yellow IIRC.

However, most discs now seem to be light green in colour, which I would have thought was light enough not to cause problems.

I would advise against trying to adjust the drive's laser, unless all other owners have no problems with their machines and different CD-R brands.

blur2040 · 20 November 2009, 01:26

Well, examining the discs I have now, versus the Sony discs that I used (and got to work) previously, I can't really discern a difference between them.

I guess I'll just have to find some more Sony CDrs of the same variety I had before. I suppose that if that does not work, I'll have to try to adjust the laser.

My concern, though, is that I won't have anything to adjust. The system plays audio CDs just fine...and that seems to be the basis from which the laser adjust guide says to go from.

Edit:

Well, after noticing your advice regarding not adjusting the laser, I'll wait to hear feedback from others.

I'll also note, that I have swabbed the lens with a cotton swab moistened with Isoprobyl alcohol.

prowler · 20 November 2009, 01:32

Just a thought: Have you tried burning an Audio CD onto one of your problematic discs and trying that in the CD32?

If that works correctly, then I don't think there will be anything to gain by adjusting the laser. Knowing that, however, will bring you no closer to solving the problem, unfortunately.

TCD · 20 November 2009, 01:41

Given the answers in previous threads, your best bet is really to adjust the laser :
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=47527
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=28419
(in the second one you find some instructions how to do it)

blur2040 · 20 November 2009, 01:45

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prowler · 20 November 2009, 01:45

Another thought: If you have tried cleaning the lens with isopropyl alcohol, then there is only one further suggestion I can make.

Old CD-ROM drives (usually CD-R burners in particular due to elevated temperatures inside the enclosure when burning discs), sometimes develop read (and write) errors when the lubrication on the leadscrew mechanism begins to dry out.

This is the system which usually consists of two leadscrews which provide the radial drive for the lens carriage. These screws are, when new, very lightly lubricated with silicone grease.

To eliminate this possibility, you could inspect the drive mechanism to see if it is possible to introduce a very small amount of silicone grease along these leadscrews.

I must admit that I have no knowledge of the practicability of doing this to the CD32 drive mechanism. It is certainly not an easy task, and I would not recommend it unless all else fails.

Edit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Given the answers in previous threads, your best bet is really to adjust the laser :
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=47527
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=28419
(in the second one you find some instructions how to do it)

Nice find, TCD!

blur2040 · 20 November 2009, 04:46

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prowler · 20 November 2009, 21:18

Good luck with your CD32 console, mate, whatever you decide, and thanks for starting an interesting thread.

BTW, if you do decide to take the plunge and lift the hood on your CD32, let us know what happens and remember we like to see plenty of pictures too!

Retroplay · 20 November 2009, 22:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by blur2040

Thanks for the reply.

I'm sorry I forgot to mention it, but I've been burning as low as burning software permits me. 2x in windows and 1x in linux. ( I changed OS/Burning software to ensure that there was no issue with the way in which I was burning the CDs).

Setting burn speed to 1x or 2x doesn't necessarily mean it burns at those speeds.
If your burners lowest CD recording speed is 8x it will burn at that speed regardless of settings in your CD-R software.
And if it's a newer burner chances are that 8x is the lowest it's capable of.

DoogUK · 20 November 2009, 22:32

Sometimes and this goes for any cdrom/dvdrom based games console...it's not just a case of cleaning the lense. The way they are designed is the laser comes along horizontaly and hits a 45 degree mirror and then goes up through the lense verticaly.
This mirror over a period of time becomes dirty and this in turn affects the laser...cleaning it (which is difficult) produces excellent results and realy this is the first thing to try before any laser adjustments.
I used to buy playstation1 and 2's with read errors off the evilbay and a good 80% of them were revived this way.
Even had a PS2 with a dead spider under the lense.

Food for thought...

blur2040 · 20 November 2009, 22:49

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illy5603 · 21 November 2009, 00:55

blur2040,

I have found that burners in laptops often produce CD-R's that are not 100% compatible outside of the laptop they were burned on. I burn my CD32 ISO's with the new Nero Reloaded from my Windows 7 bootcamp partition running on an Intel iMac. I burn at the minimum speed (8X) and have not had one problem playing any of the 40 or 50 games I have burned.

Also, I noticed that my NTSC CD32 is less compatible with the disks I burn than my PAL unit is.

jabsy · 21 November 2009, 23:35

Try a cdr with a blue surface, ie a Verbatim or Mitsubishi.

I've had best results with them on my CD32.

tekopaa · 22 November 2009, 02:45

i recomend BURNIMG to burn CD32 games

there is opion to burn 1x speed if your cd,s support them

blur2040 · 22 November 2009, 05:31

blankblankblankblankblank

Retroplay · 22 November 2009, 05:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by tekopaa

i recomend BURNIMG to burn CD32 games

there is opion to burn 1x speed if your cd,s support them

Hardware has to support it too.
I bet you won't find a new burner which does that.

FOL · 22 November 2009, 12:29

I find this interesting.

I have never had 1 cdr not work, I burn at full speed always.

Even toni agreed with me, I think its a myth. The whole burning at lower speed rubbish. The cd mech is designed to run at 2x max, so it will read a 40x burnt cd at 2x. I would say the CD32's that have problems have possibly never been setup correctly (from the factory), or (already mentioned) dirty laser.

If you want to test the burning theory, why not burn yourself a load of music cd's and put them in your old CD player (not CD / DVD player as it will be a dvd lens. Not a fair test). Basically, the CD32 mech is a normal CD player mech as found in alot of home hifi's from the 90's and 00's.

As for the mirror, you got no chance of getting to it (its hidden, I would'nt recommend pulling it apart, the 1's doug is on about, is the sony lens with open bottoms). On the CD32 laser, it will proberly be the lens under the actuated lens thats dirty. I used to find that sometimes, but most times it was just the actuated lens.

20 November 2009, 00:40	#1
blur2040 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: USA Posts: 15	Are CD32s really finnicky with CDrs? blankblankblankblank Last edited by blur2040; 30 December 2014 at 17:19.

20 November 2009, 01:45	#8
blur2040 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: USA Posts: 15	blankblankblankblank Last edited by blur2040; 30 December 2014 at 17:19.

20 November 2009, 04:46	#10
blur2040 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: USA Posts: 15	blankblankblankblankblankblank Last edited by blur2040; 30 December 2014 at 17:19.

20 November 2009, 22:49	#14
blur2040 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: USA Posts: 15	blankblankblankblankblank Last edited by blur2040; 30 December 2014 at 17:20.

21 November 2009, 00:55	#15
illy5603 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: SPaT CiTY Posts: 557	blur2040, I have found that burners in laptops often produce CD-R's that are not 100% compatible outside of the laptop they were burned on. I burn my CD32 ISO's with the new Nero Reloaded from my Windows 7 bootcamp partition running on an Intel iMac. I burn at the minimum speed (8X) and have not had one problem playing any of the 40 or 50 games I have burned. Also, I noticed that my NTSC CD32 is less compatible with the disks I burn than my PAL unit is. Last edited by illy5603; 21 November 2009 at 01:06.

20 November 2009, 00:46	#2
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Try burning one of your problematic CD-Rs at a much lower speed (even single speed may be necessary) to see if this improves reliability. If CDRWin supports your CD burner, try the shareware version which is limited to single speed burning.

20 November 2009, 01:00	#3
blur2040 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: USA Posts: 15	Thanks for the reply. I'm sorry I forgot to mention it, but I've been burning as low as burning software permits me. 2x in windows and 1x in linux. ( I changed OS/Burning software to ensure that there was no issue with the way in which I was burning the CDs).

20 November 2009, 01:15	#4
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Burning at double speed should really be adequate to ensure maximum reliability with any media. I am not aware of any incompatibilities of the CD32, but I can remember when recordable CD media were first made available that it was recommended to stick with brands which used a light-coloured dye on the recording surface, i.e. yellow as opposed to dark green. In accordance with this advice, I bought only Philips media which used a bright yellow dye and never had any problems with them. Indeed, I still have some of these. Sony discs were also bright yellow IIRC. However, most discs now seem to be light green in colour, which I would have thought was light enough not to cause problems. I would advise against trying to adjust the drive's laser, unless all other owners have no problems with their machines and different CD-R brands.

20 November 2009, 01:26	#5
blur2040 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: USA Posts: 15	Well, examining the discs I have now, versus the Sony discs that I used (and got to work) previously, I can't really discern a difference between them. I guess I'll just have to find some more Sony CDrs of the same variety I had before. I suppose that if that does not work, I'll have to try to adjust the laser. My concern, though, is that I won't have anything to adjust. The system plays audio CDs just fine...and that seems to be the basis from which the laser adjust guide says to go from. Edit: Well, after noticing your advice regarding not adjusting the laser, I'll wait to hear feedback from others. I'll also note, that I have swabbed the lens with a cotton swab moistened with Isoprobyl alcohol.

20 November 2009, 01:32	#6
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Just a thought: Have you tried burning an Audio CD onto one of your problematic discs and trying that in the CD32? If that works correctly, then I don't think there will be anything to gain by adjusting the laser. Knowing that, however, will bring you no closer to solving the problem, unfortunately.

20 November 2009, 01:41	#7
TCD HOL/FTP busy bee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Germany Age: 46 Posts: 31,954	Given the answers in previous threads, your best bet is really to adjust the laser : http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=47527 http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=28419 (in the second one you find some instructions how to do it)

20 November 2009, 21:18	#11
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Good luck with your CD32 console, mate, whatever you decide, and thanks for starting an interesting thread. BTW, if you do decide to take the plunge and lift the hood on your CD32, let us know what happens and remember we like to see plenty of pictures too!

20 November 2009, 22:32	#13
DoogUK Doogster Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Dorset Posts: 1,069	Sometimes and this goes for any cdrom/dvdrom based games console...it's not just a case of cleaning the lense. The way they are designed is the laser comes along horizontaly and hits a 45 degree mirror and then goes up through the lense verticaly. This mirror over a period of time becomes dirty and this in turn affects the laser...cleaning it (which is difficult) produces excellent results and realy this is the first thing to try before any laser adjustments. I used to buy playstation1 and 2's with read errors off the evilbay and a good 80% of them were revived this way. Even had a PS2 with a dead spider under the lense. Food for thought...

21 November 2009, 23:35	#16
jabsy Yeah Hup! Join Date: May 2006 Location: Australia Age: 54 Posts: 345	Try a cdr with a blue surface, ie a Verbatim or Mitsubishi. I've had best results with them on my CD32.

22 November 2009, 02:45	#17
tekopaa Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Finland Posts: 123	i recomend BURNIMG to burn CD32 games there is opion to burn 1x speed if your cd,s support them

22 November 2009, 05:31	#18
blur2040 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: USA Posts: 15	blankblankblankblankblank Last edited by blur2040; 30 December 2014 at 17:20.

22 November 2009, 12:29	#20
FOL PSPUAE DEV Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Wales / UK Age: 45 Posts: 6,047	I find this interesting. I have never had 1 cdr not work, I burn at full speed always. Even toni agreed with me, I think its a myth. The whole burning at lower speed rubbish. The cd mech is designed to run at 2x max, so it will read a 40x burnt cd at 2x. I would say the CD32's that have problems have possibly never been setup correctly (from the factory), or (already mentioned) dirty laser. If you want to test the burning theory, why not burn yourself a load of music cd's and put them in your old CD player (not CD / DVD player as it will be a dvd lens. Not a fair test). Basically, the CD32 mech is a normal CD player mech as found in alot of home hifi's from the 90's and 00's. As for the mirror, you got no chance of getting to it (its hidden, I would'nt recommend pulling it apart, the 1's doug is on about, is the sony lens with open bottoms). On the CD32 laser, it will proberly be the lens under the actuated lens thats dirty. I used to find that sometimes, but most times it was just the actuated lens.

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