CD Burning woes: pulling my already sparse hair out...

[ulrich steffens]

Am Mittwoch, den 26.10.2005, 19:35 +0200 schrieb Niki Kovacs:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm an ex-Slacker (100% GNU/Linux since 2001) recently converted to
> Ubuntu. I like that distro, though there's one annoying (and severe) bug
> in Breezy that's a real PITA: burning.
> 
> I installed Breezy in "expert" mode and gave "-d1" as disk parameter
> during install. hdparm /dev/hdc gives this:
> 
> /dev/hdc:
>  IO_support   =  0 (default 16-bit)
>  unmaskirq    =  0 (off)
>  using_dma    =  1 (on)
>  keepsettings =  0 (off)
>  readonly     =  0 (off)
>  readahead    = 256 (on)
>  HDIO_GETGEO failed: Invalid argument
> 
> So I *think* dma is on, wouldn't you? But then, here's the output of
> cdrecord:
> 
> # cdrecord -scanbus dev=ATAPI
> 
> Cdrecord-Clone 2.01.01a01 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2004
> Joerg Schilling
> NOTE: this version of cdrecord is an inofficial (modified) release of
> cdrecord
>       and thus may have bugs that are not present in the original
> version.
>       Please send bug reports and support requests to
> <cdrtools at packages.debian.org>.
>       The original author should not be bothered with problems of this
> version.
> 
> cdrecord: Warning: Running on Linux-2.6.12-9-386
> cdrecord: There are unsettled issues with Linux-2.5 and newer.
> cdrecord: If you have unexpected problems, please try Linux-2.4 or
> Solaris.
> scsidev: 'ATAPI'
> devname: 'ATAPI'
> scsibus: -2 target: -2 lun: -2
> Warning: Using ATA Packet interface.
> Warning: The related Linux kernel interface code seems to be
> unmaintained.
> Warning: There is absolutely NO DMA, operations thus are slow.
> Using libscg version 'ubuntu-0.8ubuntu1'.
> cdrecord: Warning: using inofficial version of libscg (ubuntu-0.8ubuntu1
> '@(#)scsitransp.c      1.91 04/06/17 Copyright 1988,1995,2000-2004 J.
> Schilling').
> scsibus0:
>         0,0,0     0) 'DVDRW   ' 'DRW-1S45        ' 'GBG3' Removable
> CD-ROM
>         0,1,0     1) *
>         0,2,0     2) *
>         0,3,0     3) *
>         0,4,0     4) *
>         0,5,0     5) *
>         0,6,0     6) *
>         0,7,0     7) *
> 
> So? To -d1 or not to -d1, may I ask most Hamlet-like...
> 
must be something else, cause i also get this message and burning works
like a charm here. the only differnces:

hdparm /dev/hdc (my cd/dvd-burner)

/dev/hdc:
 IO_support   =  1 (32-bit)
 unmaskirq    =  1 (on)
 using_dma    =  1 (on)
 keepsettings =  0 (off)
 readonly     =  0 (off)
 readahead    = 256 (on)
 HDIO_GETGEO failed: Invalid argument

so i think you should have a look at /etc/hdparm.conf. maybe when
choosing expert-mode ubuntu doesent set up all things like it does in
normal mode? 

> Why I tried this? Because all (!) GUI apps for burning (Gnomebaker,
> Graveman, Nautilus, K3B) bug, freeze, or burn painfully slow. 
> 
> Thought this was a problem of IDE controller not being compiled into the
> kernel, so I grabbed some recent 2.6.12 sources, configured them from
> defconfig and hard-included only what lspci and dmesg told me to
> include. Rebooted on the new minimal kernel, no way, still a whole mess
> with burning.
> 
> Now I'm clueless. BTW, I migrated to Ubuntu because of the ease of
> administration. Slack is somewhat hard to administer, but _everything_
> works (included 40x-burning). Never a coaster with K3B... (sigh).
> 
that is why i just pressed enter while installing, cause easy of use is
not expert-mode ;)

> Suggestions _very_ welcome, because I've started to like this otherwise
> perfect-looking distro. 
> 
> Niki Kovacs
> 
> PS: Ubuntu server A-OK. Easy to maintain, so this one will stay for
> sure.
> 
> 
hope this helps

ulrich