Please Help with a MATSHITA UJ-840D

Hi everybody,

As said in the title, I have a MATSHITA UJ-840D.

It's on a Sony Vaio VGN-FS660 laptop, about a year old. When bought the DVD-+RW would write/read/burn/everything just fine at max speed. However a few months ago, things started to go awry. The drive would read only certain CDs and not others (I couldn't find a pattern), and it would never successfully burn/copy CDs. The image-making half would go through fine, but when it reached the burning half of the process, it would reach at most 11% and say that Burning has failed. I have been using Nero for this. If it can read a CD once it always can read the CD, just that it just won't read some CDs. This has been pretty annoying and if anyone could help me, it'd be great. I don't even know if the problem is software or hardware related.

Thanks all.

I have a sony vgnfs675ph with the same drive (Matshita 840-D) and have the exact same problem. I also suspect it is hardware related, but don't really know. I contact Sony's parts center and they want $299 + tax for the drive. ROFL. First I would like to say that that is horribly overpriced for a dvd rw, and second -- they should give me the damn thing because it is obviously a problem from the manufacturer. Anyway, anyone with more info please post.

hi.
you guys can look in the link below if there is a firmware update for that drive.
http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_all.php
sometimes firmware fixes the things.

Try going here. http://www.gidforums.com/t-1805.html
I was experiencing the same problem before, but changing one setting fixed it. Hopefully you have as much luck as I did

Did you try reducing the burning speed?

I am assuming you are using Nero. If so, check the 'Simulation' box. I'm not sure why, but before I did this, Nero wouldn't give me any useful error messages. After Nero runs the Simulation, it will attempt to burn the disc (and will probably fail again). When it does fail, hopefully it will give you some more information than before. I received a "Power Calibration" error. Have you looked at the Nero log at all?

Agreed, it is not just a Nero problem. Do a search on power calibration error. I read some posts saying to try better cd-r's (which I think is b.s. but o well) and also to try cleaning the eye on the cd drive. Incidentally, it was in one of these posts that I read about the setting in administrative tools. I am still confused as to why that worked for me... Good luck, let us know how you made out.

my toshiba laptop with a similar matshita drive started giving me problems after a year also. first I realized the max speed availale was less and now it'll burn but theres errors although it completes the burn and says there was no errors and that's on the slowest speed. made it difficult to burn drivers and such to cd hen I just setup my new desktop

just celan the drivelens whit a little household alkohol on a cottonstik,it helpt me.

apparently the firmware update said my drivers were up to date already

however i tried the alcohol thing and surprisingly it worked!!
thanks!! =)

Hi all,

I also faced the same probleM. Surprisingly whn i tried the alcohol cleaning, it worked. This is really amazing. Thanks all for the information.

cheers!
priya

Hi all, I have both Nero and Sonic on my Compaq Presario. I had the problem as well. cleaning the lens with alcohol actually worked perfectly. It worked for me. But there's a pattern in all the forums here. Why is it that the problem starts at about a year after installation. I started having the problem just after a year of purchasing the system. It obviously had to do with the manufacturer.
Thanks to you all.

Answer is: replace the drive ! I replaced the UJ-840D in my 2 year old Vaio VGN_F315E I bought a LiteOn DS-8AZP-021C 8x DVDRW at £32.99 from play.com all you need is a small Philips screwdriver I had gone through every known check before replacing it including what sony suggested, they wanted a £142 deposit before it left the house for something that takes half an hour to do You have to set it to your DVD Region after installation in control panel, system, hardware.

I'd just like to say thanks! I also have the same drive in my 4 year old HP laptop. It would not burn CD/DVD's at all, nor was it reading burned CD's. I tried updating the drivers first, after uninstalling and reinstalling the existing ones. I figured that maybe it was time to just turn the old girl in. It turns out simplicity wins again. Cleaning the lens worked like a charm.

To anyone reading this:
I was like many facing problems with Matshita. I tried the cdgone.reg, unistalling drivers, uninstalling Nero 9, intalling Roxio RecordNow Deluxe (As it comes with Compaq laptops, sometimes it brings the drives back to life)... anyway a bunch of things none of them work.
So I unmounted the drive (just 4 screws keep it there), gave it a good clean, even blow the inside of my laptop, and put it back again... And Voila! it was recognized again. As I write this, I'm burning a Dvd.

Hope this helps anyone.

Pablo.

Wow! I had that same problem and tried wiping my lens and its now working!
Thanks

I cleaned the lens and my CD/DVD writer now works fine again, too. Thank you to the [long-ago] replies who suggested trying this simple thing before more complex solutions. FYI, my optical drive was able to read OK, but would not write -- until I cleaned the lens.