Just got a new dvd burner, an NEC3540A, 16x dual layer, +-, etc. I can only get it to write at 6x. The media is TDK 16x dvd from costco. I'm using Nero 6.3something. My friend has the exact same setup, except for the dvd media and it seems to work fine. Any suggestions?

 

Try using his media and see what happens. Start off simple before jumping into the more complicated details.

 

Also go to the makers site and see if there is a firmware update for the drive.
I have two Sony DVD burners, one is the double layer, and I had to update both of them to get max speed.

 

Also.... Do you know what the specific error is? If it's writing at 6x but not any faster, then I wonder you're getting buffer underruns..

How fast is your PC? How much memory you got in it?

If the drive is on the 2nd channel of a controller, did you enable DMA? Hit up:

 

I am with everyone on this one, upgrade firmware first then try different media.

 

Okie dok. I'll try that when I get home.

 

Hey Steve... did you ever resolve this?

 

Yeah, I let my friend try it on his computer and it did the same thing so we determined it was the drive itself. We sent it back with a request for a refund but for whatever reason they just sent us a new drive. The new one seemed to work once I installed it into the computer rather than an external encloser. For some reason it didn't like the external enclosure.

 

power requirements would be my guess

 

Cool - glad to hear you're running.

After recommending the drive to a couple of friends, and liking what I had seen, I went ahead and updated both of my CD drives to NEC 3550A's ($39 shipped at NewEgg!) and wanted to know if all was okay for ya'.