Hey Webslinger?

[Clams]

Please take this post an put it under the thread you think it'll do the most good.

Aside from all the other errors you gan get when burning a DVD, another one really worth mentioning is "the induced power brownout factor". If the computer that is burning a DVD is on the same circuit (sometime even the same house) as a large electic motor, the initial dead short of starting that motor can cause just enough of a brownout to cause an "anomaly" in the disk being burned.

I won't speculate if the speed of the disk motor flutters with the voltage bump, or if the intensity of the laser momentarily dims. But what I *do* know is that I have to shut-off my cental air / heat pump when burning a DVD to keep things absolutely kosher. I only discovered this by keeping a log of strange DVD anomalies vs electrical incidents. I also know that the low "voltage incident" is not enough to cause the computer to re-boot - and I don't know if a UPS will react fast enough to smooth out the bump. But I'm sure from deliberate and methodical testing that I can intruduce a DVD stutter by starting my cental air in the middle of a burn. So if you have a fridge, AC, furnace, water pump, or any other large electric motor or compressor that runs on your house AC - try to do your best to isolate it from the computer that's doing the burning. Your CPU has additional power conditioning and regulation supplied by the motherboard, your drives run straight off the PC power supply. Food for thought.

-W

 

[Webslinger]

O.k. I linked to your thread here:

http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=321
In step 11


For future reference, I can't sticky or add everything people ask me to. I don't want anyone to get offended if I don't, but it's not always going to be possible.

That said, I do appreciate everyone's thoughts. Thank you.

 

[Webslinger]

and I don't know if a UPS will react fast enough to smooth out the bump.

A good one will.

 

[MelonSplitter]

Dude, get yourself a better quality power supply unit from a reputable manufacturer such as Antec, with at least a 400 watt output.

 

[Webslinger]

Dude, get yourself a better quality power supply unit from a reputable manufacturer such as Antec, with at least a 400 watt output.

If there's a wiring issue in the house--or if there is a big appliance nearby, it's true that doing so might not help. But buying a good power supply is always an excellent first step to any system, I agree.

Sadly, if you're a serious gamer 400 watts is no longer enough.

If and when I buy a directx 10 video card, I will probably be looking hard at 800watt power supplies (and upward).

 

[Clams]

Dude, get yourself a better quality power supply unit from a reputable manufacturer such as Antec, with at least a 400 watt output.

Dood. The average user of AnyDVD, (and surely the average user of noob friendly CloneDVD2), does *not* know how to change a PC power supply.

My good machine has a 450 watt supply. The old clam I use for such mundane tasks as burning DVD's only has a 250 watt supply. And while I could change it, I'm very unlikely to, considering that turning off the AC for the few minutes it takes to burn a DVD is not a real pain at all.

-W

PS: to Webslinger... I know you can't include them all - just the really good ones.

 

[TPLAT]

Either you need some new breakers or need to add to your houses electrical box.

 

[Clams]

Either you need some new breakers or need to add to your houses electrical box.

Actually....... no.
Like Websliger said, some of these problems are inherant. In my case there's a 100' run of wire from the pole transformer to my house meter, this followed by a 50' run from the meter to the main breaker box. The guage of the wiring can handle the normal/max load at that length, but there's still a quick "blink" when the big AC unit fires up. The guage of the feed wire (at that length) is not able to handle *that* kind of load for that instant. (remember a stopped electric motor presents as a dead short - for a moment). And if the fridge / freezer / oven happen to be all drawing a normal large load when the big AC unit turns on, of couse it's more pronounced because the main house feed is already moving a good load before the offending power guzzler kicks in. (though the effect is still momentary).

I'm in good shape once we're actually *at* athe breaker panel. The AC unit is on it's own (short length) 220 feed and breakers, and the room itself is near the box on a short feed with it's own breaker. My problem lies *solely* with the long feed length between the pole transformer and the main breakers.

However, my "problem" is also one to consider for people with with a window box AC or a fridge on the same breaker as the burning PC. That could indeed be a "fix it at the breaker box" type issue.

-W

 

[rolling56]

I've been using a UPS for 3 years now. 4 times i lost power to the house. My UPS never even looked like it was going to loose power and i have a lot of stuff depending on it too. It makes flashing drives more comfortable and when the power in the house does go out i have at least 30 minutes to shut down safely. I have central a/c and heat and no brown outs using UPS. It's not good on your machine to have black or brown outs especially when flashing your CD/DVD drives.

 

[mmdavis]

Every time a storm came through I usually got several quick surges or the electricity went off momentarily. Didn't take me long to get a couple of 750w APC UPS.

In Texas, an UPS is MUCH better than turning the AC off for a while.

 

[rolling56]

Every time a storm came through I usually got several quick surges or the electricity went off momentarily. Didn't take me long to get a couple of 750w APC UPS.

In Texas, an UPS is MUCH better than turning the AC off for a while.

You know what i mean then. I'm in SW Missouri. I have an 825W UPS