Hi Norman,

Sorry you're having so much trouble with your DVD burners.
On one hand you can relax - IMHO , there's no such thing as "bad vibes" 
;)
Bad luck is either created by a person's own actions, like
neglect,carelessness etc  or it is just the luck of the draw ;)
can't fight that one.

Things that affect or reduce the lifespan of a burner are:
Assembly - using inferior components and careless assembly.
Handling prior to purchase or installation - rough handling will damage
some components.
Handling while installing - again rough handling will affect
lifespan,plus static induced damage from touching
    the circuit board.May not be enough to cause instant failure,but may
set it up for reduced lifespan.
Very frequent use.
Overheating from not getting enough cooling - obviously very important
during continuous or very frequent usage.
Corrosive or very dusty environment.Close proximity to a salt water
source like an ocean (living on a boat ;) 
    will cause early failure.

I would sortof rule out overvoltage as the cause,since that would have
caused damage to other components and devices.
Nevertheless, do a voltage check on the powersupply and the DVD power
connector.

That's all I came up with for now -there may well be more,but the above
is from personal experience.

Peter E
PS Hope you have better luck with your Samsung burner ;)


 -------- Original Message --------
 Subject: [PCBUILD] Failing DVD burners
 From: Norman Ushijima <[log in to unmask]>
 Date: Sun, October 04, 2009 8:57 pm
 To: [log in to unmask]
 
 
 Hello,> 
 I have an almost 3 yrs-old Dell 530 with WinXP SP2, Audigy SoundBlaster
and GeForce 8300 GS.
 
 I'll be replacing my DVD burner for the fourth time.  The first two
developed
 skips and pops when playing a CD...the original and replacement were
trouble-free for only a few months.  These were a Sony and Toshiba.  The
second one also began freezing my pc when a DVD (burned and commercial)
was inserted.  I would have to eject the disc with a paper clip and then
my pc would return to normal.  Tired of going thru Dell support again, I
purchased a LiteOn burner and it has lasted for over a year and a half. 
Now, it's begun to have the same problem as the second burner, except
the eject button still works and playing a CD is fine.  A Samsung burner
is coming in a few days, but, I'm wondering if it will also follow the
path of the first three burners.
 
 Is it hard luck (I've been told I have bad vibes) or is it something
within my pc that is causing the repeated DVD burner failures?
 
 By the way, I've never burned a DVD with any of three drives.
 
 Thank you,
 
 Norman Ushijima 
 

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