K3B Slow Burn / Low Device Buffer

replica9000 · 09-13-2008, 07:58 PM

I just installed a fresh copy of linux on my laptop. For some reason my CD/DVD burner can't burn that fast at all, even though it used to. The Software buffer runs fine but the device buffer drops to 0% at times.

How can I fix this? Thanks

stress_junkie · 09-13-2008, 08:01 PM

All device level troubleshooting starts with substituting a known good device to see if it works on the system. Can you use a USB attached CD burner to see if it works okay?

When you say that the CD burner used to work well do you mean with Windows or with Linux? Linux drivers are usually better than Windows drivers but may sometimes not work as well for a particular piece of hardware.

replica9000 · 09-13-2008, 08:16 PM

same hardware, used to work good under linux, but i installed a fresh copy and i am having issues with it now.

stress_junkie · 09-13-2008, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by replica9000

same hardware, used to work good under linux, but i installed a fresh copy and i am having issues with it now.

"...used to work well..." not "...used to work good..."

If you installed a later version of the same distribution you may have different drivers. That might explain the problems. I know that the latest version of K3B sucks compared to the version before it started using wodim. I don't even know what wodim is; I just know that K3B doesn't work as well as it used to work.

replica9000 · 09-13-2008, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stress_junkie

"...used to work well..." not "...used to work good..."

If you installed a later version of the same distribution you may have different drivers. That might explain the problems. I know that the latest version of K3B sucks compared to the version before it started using wodim. I don't even know what wodim is; I just know that K3B doesn't work as well as it used to work.

Well I manually selected cdrdao in K3B, still burns really slow with almost no device buffer. Only difference is the disk (audio) will work fine unlike wodim using sao

replica9000 · 09-14-2008, 06:52 PM

This is what hdparm tells me:

Code:

root@debsidian:/home/replica# hdparm /dev/cdrom

/dev/cdrom:
 IO_support    =  0 (default)
16-bit)
 HDIO_GET_UNMASKINTR failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
 HDIO_GET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
 HDIO_GET_KEEPSETTINGS failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
 readonly      =  0 (off)
 readahead     = 256 (on)
 HDIO_GETGEO failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

root@debsidian:/home/replica# hdparm -I /dev/cdrom

/dev/cdrom:

ATAPI CD-ROM, with removable media
        Model Number:       PHILIPS DVD+/-RW SDVD8820
        Serial Number:
        Firmware Revision:  AX03
Standards:
        Supported: CD-ROM ATAPI-3 -4 -5 -6 -7
Configuration:
        DRQ response: 50us.
        Packet size: 12 bytes
Capabilities:
        LBA, IORDY(cannot be disabled)
        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 *udma2
             Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
        PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
             Cycle time: no flow control=383ns  IORDY flow control=120ns

replica9000 · 09-14-2008, 07:33 PM

This could be the problem since I am running a 64-bit kernel:

Code:

root@debsidian:/home/replica# hdparm -c /dev/cdrom

/dev/cdrom:
 IO_support    =  0 (default)
16-bit)

nomasteryoda · 10-09-2008, 06:11 AM

It would appear the solution is to install a "legacy" kernel and see if that helps. The new kernels are not optimized for CD/DVD burning it would appear.

link

good luck

replica9000 · 10-09-2008, 09:34 AM

Well i had installed an official debian kernel over the sidux kernel. That helped. I was able to set the drives to 32bit, but had to do this everyboot.

nomasteryoda · 10-10-2008, 06:39 AM

The solution to that is to add the configuration line for your cdrom to your /etc/rc.d/* scripts once you're sure the system is stable.. source:
http://linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2000/06/29/hdparm.html?page=2

replica9000 · 10-11-2008, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomasteryoda

The solution to that is to add the configuration line for your cdrom to your /etc/rc.d/* scripts once you're sure the system is stable.. source:
http://linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2000/06/29/hdparm.html?page=2

Well what I had done something like that a week or two ago. I made a script called IO32bit, and placed it the /etc/init.d directory.

Code:

#! /bin/sh

hdparm -c1 /dev/hda
hdparm -c1 /dev/hdc

Then under the directories rc0.d, rc1.d, rc2.d, rc3.d, rc4.d and rc6.d I made a softlink to that script called K99IO32bit. Under rc5.d it is called S99IO32bit. This seems to work, except I noticed during the boot process output if the script is displayed twice. This doesn't seem to have any bad effects on the machine though. Is this good or is there a better way I could have done this?