Slow, unsteady burning via k3b

[TeaSwigger]

Thanks for the replies, j_xavier and Lykopis. Isn't k3b just a "front end" though? If so why would it matter whether one used k3b, kfc or TrollToaster for a front end? SuSE has been working out pretty well. It'd be many hours of trouble (at least) to change distros now and odds are I'd just run into different issues with another so thought I'd try sorting this out. I don't see why it wouldn't be able to operate a DVD-R drive right. Just thought it'd be something to set right and all would be well...

b) install iotop and monitor during a burn for clues, then initiate a discussion on k3b mailing list.

Monitor what for what? Then join their discussions on their mailing list... Well that's a thought I could poke at if need be though it sounds intimidatingly past end-user realm.

Any more thoughts, suggestions, pointers?

[caf4926]

Please post the terminal output of:

rpm -qi k3b k3b-codecs

[TeaSwigger]

Originally Posted by caf4926

Please post the terminal output of:

rpm -qi k3b k3b-codecs

Hi, thanks for the interest. Here's what came of that:

Name        : k3b                          Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version     : 1.0.5                             Vendor: http://packman.links2linux.de
Release     : 1.pm.19.20                    Build Date: Thu 01 Oct 2009 07:38:33 PM PDT
Install Date: Fri 02 Oct 2009 01:08:06 AM PDT      Build Host: pmbs
Group       : Productivity/Multimedia/CD/Record   Source RPM: k3b-1.0.5-1.pm.19.20.src.rpm
Size        : 12235357                         License: GPL v2 or later
Signature   : DSA/SHA1, Thu 01 Oct 2009 07:41:42 PM PDT, Key ID f899f20d9a795806
Packager    : Pascal Bleser <guru@unixtech.be>
URL         : http://k3b.sourceforge.net/
Summary     : Universal CD and DVD Burning Application
Description :
This package extends the opensuse package by some codecs.

K3b is a CD burning application that supports Ogg Vorbis, MP3 audio
files, DVD burning, CDDB, and much more.



Authors:
--------
    Sebastian Trueg <trueg@informatik.uni-freiburg.de>
    Thomas Froescher <tfroescher@gmx.de>
Distribution: main / openSUSE_11.1_Update
Name        : k3b-codecs                   Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version     : 1.0.5                             Vendor: http://packman.links2linux.de
Release     : 1.pm.19.20                    Build Date: Thu 01 Oct 2009 07:38:33 PM PDT
Install Date: Fri 02 Oct 2009 01:10:42 AM PDT      Build Host: pmbs
Group       : Productivity/Multimedia/CD/Record   Source RPM: k3b-1.0.5-1.pm.19.20.src.rpm
Size        : 191899                           License: GPL v2 or later
Signature   : DSA/SHA1, Thu 01 Oct 2009 07:41:42 PM PDT, Key ID f899f20d9a795806
Packager    : Pascal Bleser <guru@unixtech.be>
URL         : http://k3b.sourceforge.net/
Summary     : MP3 Encoding and Video Decoding/Encoding Plugins
Description :
Some codecs, which are not provided by the openSUSE buildservice.
One may install the buildservice k3b package and add this codecs package.

K3b can be used to create mp3 files from audio CDs with this plugin. It
can also convert video codecs via ffmpeg.



Authors:
--------
    Sebastian Trueg <trueg@informatik.uni-freiburg.de>
    Thomas Froescher <tfroescher@gmx.de>
Distribution: main / openSUSE_11.1_Update

[caf4926]

When k3b starts, does it report everything as OK?

If you open a terminal and type k3b
do you get error messages in the terminal

[TeaSwigger]

Originally Posted by caf4926

When k3b starts, does it report everything as OK?

If you open a terminal and type k3b
do you get error messages in the terminal

Thanks for sticking with this. When opening in a terminal, besides listing the devices as expected (I reiterate they are both on the original secondary IDE channel and were working fine before) there is this, which I don't know the relevance of so I'll just post it in case:

kbuildsycoca running...
Reusing existing ksycoca
(K3bDevice::HalConnection) initializing HAL >= 0.5
Mapping udi /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/storage_model_DVD_RW__DVR_116D to device /dev/sr1
Mapping udi /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/storage_model_DVD_RW_ND_3540A to device /dev/sr0
/dev/sr0 resolved to /dev/sr0
/dev/sr0 is block device (0)
/dev/sr0 seems to be cdrom
bus: 2, id: 0, lun: 0
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: init()
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 feature: CD Mastering
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 feature: CD Track At Once
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 feature: CD-RW Media Write Support
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 feature: DVD Read (MMC5)
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 feature: DVD+R
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 feature: DVD+RW
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 feature: DVD+R Double Layer
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 feature: DVD-R/-RW Write
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 feature: Rigid Restricted Overwrite
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: dataLen: 60
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: checking for TAO
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: checking for SAO
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: checking for SAO_R96P
(K3bDevice::ScsiCommand) failed: 
                           command:    MODE SELECT (55)
                           errorcode:  70
                           sense key:  ILLEGAL REQUEST (5)
                           asc:        26
                           ascq:       0
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: checking for SAO_R96R
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: checking for RAW_R16
(K3bDevice::ScsiCommand) failed: 
                           command:    MODE SELECT (55)
                           errorcode:  70
                           sense key:  ILLEGAL REQUEST (5)
                           asc:        26
                           ascq:       0
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: checking for RAW_R96P
(K3bDevice::ScsiCommand) failed: 
                           command:    MODE SELECT (55)
                           errorcode:  70
                           sense key:  ILLEGAL REQUEST (5)
                           asc:        26
                           ascq:       0
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: checking for RAW_R96R
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: GET PERFORMANCE dataLen = 104
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0: GET PERFORMANCE successful with reported length: 100
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0:  Number of supported write speeds via GET PERFORMANCE: 6
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 : 8467 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 : 7056 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 : 5645 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 : 4234 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 : 2822 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr0 : 1411 KB/s
(K3bDevice::DeviceManager) setting current write speed of device /dev/sr0 to 3324
/dev/sr1 resolved to /dev/sr1
/dev/sr1 is block device (1)
/dev/sr1 seems to be cdrom
bus: 2, id: 1, lun: 0
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: init()
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 feature: CD Mastering
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 feature: CD Track At Once
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 feature: CD-RW Media Write Support
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 feature: DVD Read (MMC5)
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 feature: DVD+R
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 feature: DVD+RW
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 feature: DVD+R Double Layer
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 feature: DVD-R/-RW Write
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 feature: Rigid Restricted Overwrite
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 feature: Layer Jump Recording
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: dataLen: 60
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: checking for TAO
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: checking for SAO
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: checking for SAO_R96P
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: checking for SAO_R96R
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: checking for RAW_R16
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: checking for RAW_R96P
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: checking for RAW_R96R
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: GET PERFORMANCE dataLen = 216
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1: GET PERFORMANCE successful with reported length: 212
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1:  Number of supported write speeds via GET PERFORMANCE: 13
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 27700 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 24930 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 22160 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 16620 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 13850 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 11080 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 8310 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 5540 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 4570 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 4155 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 3324 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 2770 KB/s
(K3bDevice::Device) /dev/sr1 : 1385 KB/s
(K3bDevice::DeviceManager) setting current write speed of device /dev/sr1 to 27700
/dev/sr0 resolved to /dev/sr0
(K3bDevice::DeviceManager) dev /dev/sr0 already found
/dev/sr1 resolved to /dev/sr1
(K3bDevice::DeviceManager) dev /dev/sr1 already found
(K3bDevice::DeviceManager) found config entry for devicetype: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3540A
(K3bDevice::DeviceManager) found config entry for devicetype: PIONEER DVD-RW  DVR-116D

[caf4926]

Just clarify. Are these devices on the same cable?
I would try disconnecting them one at a time from the IDE cable.

See how they behave individually.

Obviously. Power down. Disconnect. - Power up.

[TeaSwigger]

Originally Posted by caf4926

Just clarify. Are these devices on the same cable?
I would try disconnecting them one at a time from the IDE cable.

See how they behave individually.

Obviously. Power down. Disconnect. - Power up.

Yes, they are on the same cable. I will try that tonight and report back.

[caf4926]

Both on the same cable often causes issues. It may be you have to get the jumper setting correct, one will be master and the other slave (I think). You may have to drop one altogether though.
I used to have 2 x IDE CD/DVD but not now, so I'm trawling back in the memory bank.

[TeaSwigger]

Hi, yes I've heard of people having problems with that. The weird thing being, in this case, that they were doing fine. Both were set "cable select" (and have always been) and were showing fine in the PC's BIOS by the way.

I tried it with just the Pioneer connected. This time it did not report media couldn't write at 16x, was more stable (software buffer was usually full, device buffer reported as between 40-90%) and speed topped at ~13x (same media and drive were doing ~16x though). Does that seem normal enough for k3b?

[caf4926]

Sounds about right to me.
I guess you will have to work on trying different jumper settings. Remember it can be important which connection on the cable you give to Master and Slave.