Trouble with audio CDs made with LG GSA-4040B

[bdaniel]

I have a LG GSA-4040B DVD burner. I've burned some audio CDs with it, but my car's CD player refuses to play these CDs. The CDs <i>do</i> work in other CD players, though.
I've used burned audio CDs in my car before, with my old burner, and have never had a problem, so I don't believe it's a problem with the player.
I'm trying to find a way to diagnose what the problem is so I can fix it, or be able to approach either LG or Acura (the make of my car, with the original CD player that came with it) to correct the problem for me.

Specific details:
-My LG GSA-4040B is running with the latest firmware (A302).
-I'm running Win2k on the system in question. I've tried burning audio CDs with both BHA Gold 5 and Roxio EZ CD & DVD Creator 6, with the same results. I also tried with a CD burned by another friend who also owns the same burner, but uses different software (I don't recall which), and that also did not work in my car.
-The CD player in question is whatever by default comes with a 2001 Acura EL. I also asked a coworker who drives an Acura RSX (same year) to try the CD in his player, and he had the same results.
-As an additional clue, I noticed that the software media player I use (Core Media Player, at www.corecoded.com) crashes whenever I try to play an audio CD made in this drive. It has no problem with normal audio CDs or audio CDs I've burned on other drives. (I've tried to contact the people who write that software, but have received no response.) This last point makes me think that there's something wrong with the way the disks are burned, as opposed to it being a problem inherent in the player.(Other software players I've tried had no problems with these disks.)

I'm open to any ideas that won't require me to replace existing hardware. 🙂

Thanks for the help!

 

[phsstpok]

- Try 4X writing.

- Some Audio CD players don't like multi-session discs. Make sure you burn single session and finalize the disc.

- Try different discs with different dye types.

Players can have varying sensitivity to CDR discs having different chemical dye formulations. Sometimes the combination of CD burners, CDRs, and CD Players can cause problems as well.

Try different discs.

There are utilities which will tell you which dye (sometimes by name and sometimes by number) your discs have. (CDR ATIP Reader and Nero CD Speed come to mind). However, just try different discs. Look at the bottoms. Some are silver or gold (clear dye), some have a light green or light blue tint, and others have a slightly darker green or blue tint. The different color degree generally indicates that a different dye formulation is being used. Gold reflective material tends to make the discs look more green than blue.

The real dye names include Azo, Super Azo, Cyanine, Pthalocyanine (or something like that), and others.

Hopefully you will find one type that works.

For example, I have an old DVD player (home theater not DVDROM). It will only play audio from Taiyo Yuden manufactured (Fuji Brand) CDRs (light green color). It refuses to play any of the silver bottomed discs, and also old discs (dark green and dark blue).

I haven't tried all combinations (obviously). I stopped when I found that the Fuji discs (and some but not all Memorex discs) had the correct dye type (light but not faint green color). I must have tried about 8 different disc types (about 4 dye types) before I found the combination that works for me.

Try the 1st two tips before you start looking at dye types.

<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by phsstpok on 02/13/04 10:47 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[bdaniel]

-I've already tried 4x writing, to no avail.
-I've tried different brands of discs, with the same results. I've also asked a friend with the same burner (who uses different software and different discs) to lend me a CD he burned, which also had the same results.

I suppose I'll do a more thorough search of different dye types.

One thing I don't get, though, is why I would hit a <i>software</i> problem when playing this disc in my computer. I realise it's only one particular program that's failing with this, but that says to me that there's something different about the way this drive burns audio discs -- it can't be a problem with the reader there, as it's the same drive that burned the disc in the first place! (I also realise this isn't a support forum for that piece of software, so I'm not expecting a solution to that, but it just seems strange to me...)

 

[phsstpok]

Maybe I don't have enough facts but I'm seeing the your burner is the only common element.

- Pre-burned discs (on other burners) play in your car CD (and other players). Discs burned on your combo drive don't play.

- Discs burned on your combo drive don't play in your car CD. Your friend's discs (burned in identical burner) have the same problem.

- Discs burned on your combo drive, with two different applications, don't play on that same combo drive. Same with your friend's discs.

Am I missing any details?

Do you have any utilities that can scan your burned CDs for defects? Scanning in this way might give you some useful information.

I use Nero CD speed (comes with nero). One thing I like about Nero CD Speed is you can burn a digital audio extraction test disc and test the very same burner.

Obviously if the disc comes back with excessive errors you have a problem.

I find the test disc useful for testing combinations of drive/players/discs/dye types/burners.

Suggestions

- Try programs that perform exact digital copies. EAC (Exact Audio Copy) comes to mind. Music Match Jukebox also has an exact copy mode (burried somewhere in the options).

- CloneCD might be worth a try for testing. Not sure how it compares to EAC.

- Try rebuilding the ASPI layer. Ahead (Nero) has tips on this. Roxio (EZ CD Creator) should as well or just search the internet.

- After these tests you might head over to the forums at <A HREF="http://www.cdfreaks.com" target="_new">www.cdfreaks.com</A>, a site dedicated to CD (/DVD) burning.


Sorry, I don't have an exact answer for you.

Here's a list of good good CD/DVD resources. Hopefully one of them can supply what you need.

<A HREF="http://www.cdrlabs.com" target="_new">http://www.cdrlabs.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.cdrinfo.com" target="_new">http://www.cdrinfo.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.cdmediaworld.com" target="_new">http://www.cdmediaworld.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.cdfreaks.com" target="_new">http://www.cdfreaks.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.dvdrhelp.com" target="_new">http://www.dvdrhelp.com</A> (formerly www.vcdhelp.com)

<b>Update</b>
Oh, oh! CDFreaks.com posted a very negative <A HREF="http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/126/1" target="_new">review of the LG GSA-4040B</A>.

These comments seem very applicable to your problem, "Poor write quality and compatibility with many types of CD-R discs" and "Scored only 75 points in the CD-Speed advanced audio test, which may cause it to extract audio imperfect".




<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by phsstpok on 02/17/04 12:54 PM.</EM></FONT></P>