DVD Writer - sporadic behavior (IDVD16DD or DW1620A)

[Carthik Sharma]

I have a I/O Magic internal dvd+-RW/+-R (16X) drive, model no. IDVD16DD.

This drive is very fickle when it comes to writing DVDs. I have tried
all DVD burning tools (gui-based) such as K3B, gnomebaker etc. On a
good day, the writer writes one out of every 2 attempts, on bad days
not at all.

The first problem is that none of the writing software tools seem to
be able to figure out what speed they can write to this drive at. I am
unable to set the speed manually, since the dropdown menu doesn't have
any values!

This drive is the same as a BenQ DW1620A, which I found out when I
called customer support to figure out if this is a firmware problem. I
downloaded the latest firmware, but can't figure out a way to update
the firmware using Linux (and no, I don't have any Windows computers).

So folks, how is it that the DVD writer behaves in such a fickle
manner, writing when it likes to?
How can I update the firmware from within Linux?
How do I write DVD (and rewrite DVDs too)? - even a command line
script suggestion would be welcome

Thank you!
Carthik.
-- 
Ph.D. Candidate
University of Central Florida
Homepage: http://carthik.net