Software → Nero 5.5.9.14 - recorder buffer level fluctuates

I've been noticing this behavior only with Nero 5.5.9.14.
During a CD burn, the recorder buffer level will go to
97-98% like it did on earlier versions, and then gradually
decrease to around 10%. It will then increase again back
to the previous level only to drop again - this happens
continuously while the disc is being burned. The
previous version (5.5.9.0) didn't do this - it stayed pretty stable.
I was wondering if this is due to
an interaction between Nero and XP SP1, or possibly
also with Roxio Direct CD. I haven't had any
trouble with the CDs I've burned - I was just curious
what was going on here.

I had that problem when I was burning a CD and I accidentally left Norton AV 2003 Auto-Protect on. Once I temporarily disabled AV, it worked fine.

Sammie

I use 55914 and it has nothing to really do with it. I use an 866mhz P3 with 384 mb of ram. And if you're using windows 98,ME its going to happen. I use XP pro and it never does that at all. If you're using XP then theres a problem. I leave NAV on and it Burns CD's @ 36x with no problems. perhaps its time to move on to a better OS.
[text was edited by author 2002-10-13 08:04:19]

Make sure that you have UDMA setup on the CD-R/RW drive if the drive supports it.

>>perhaps its time to move on to a better OS.

I have Windows XP, Home Edition. My burner's always been twitchy. I've never really worried about it, since I don't use the burner enough that it becomes a huge problem.

Sammie

i have XP pro with a sony 40x, and it rusn beautifully

Never had problems with XP, but I did have that problem on a 98SE box. Problem turned out to be I forgot to put the drive to use DMA.

Odd you should mention DMA - I checked the FAQs on the
website for Nero, and it suggested that DMA be turned off
as it would interfere with the CD Writer software. I am
still seeing the fluctuations in the recording buffer
level, as well as nearly 100% CPU usage while Nero is
burning a disc. I was thinking this had something to do
with SP1, but I seem to recall burning a disc or two
after upgrading, but before I went from Nero 5.5.9.9 to
the latest version, and didn't see the buffer level
fluctuate. I also checked a few other things that
I read that can cause problems: Roxio DirectCD is off and
so is IMAPI CD Burning (a Windows XP service). I also
edited the registry so that Autorun is off (HKEY_LOCAL_
MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdrom Autorun=0)
I haven't had any problems with the CDs burned using Nero,
so for now I'm just going to ignore it. I may try to roll
back Nero to the previous version and see if that improves
anything, or even do a clean install of 5.5.9.14.

My Nero has always worked this way, and I've always assumed it was just normal. It never gets down to 0%, and the discs always burn successfully and work with no problem. I don't disable, even temporarily, any programs or services.
I have
1.33 gig Athlon tbird
512 megs RAM
XP Pro
It does get scary watching that level go so far down, but since the burning is successful, I've stopped worrying about it.

I have an older version of Nero but it should be the same.

I was having the same problem as you were having.

I had a problem with my CD-R drive not being in UDMA mode. Don't ask, BIOS update fixed it.

After I did the BIOS update and changed the CD-R drive to use UDMA mode in Windows XP Pro and rebooted the system, I discovered that my CD-R burning woes were solved.

So I don't know why Nero tells us to turn off UDMA on the drive. I have never had a problem with having it on.

I've discovered what the problem is: it isn't Nero, nor
is it the CDRW drive, nor interference from Roxio. I ended
up restoring an image I took just before upgrading to SP1 -
the buffer level is stable at 98%, and Nero is using at
most only 5% of the CPU. The problem is SP1's CDROM
drivers - and if you try to restore just the old driver
files, XP will overwrite them and put the newer buggy ones back in.