DVD drive cannot read original game CD

[tacos40]

Hi there,

I have an original and shining (cleaned up) game CD (Star Trek: The Fallen). The main problem is that it is not recognized by a DVD drive (LG GDR8161B), i.e., no files can be read, no spin. Additionally, it is 'hardly' recognized by my CD-RW drive (Acer/Benq CRW 2410A), i.e. some files can not be read correctly.

I know these kind of CD's have smart copy protection systems like SafeDisc or similar ones; moreover, I know there are the so-called 'weak sectors' that finally mean some files are made deliberately unreadable by manufacturer. I assume the installation program 'knows' which files are unreadable for checking the installation is being executed from original CD or a copy (so reject in the latter case).

Well, the case is that autorun/install program only starts correctly sometimes (normally fails at 0% installation), when reading this game CD from my CD-RW drive (if you are lucky, it finally fails at 44% installation). So I think there are more 'weak sectors' (or my drives are weak) or this could be the case of a damaged/scratched CD, but ...

The game CD is right: It can be clearly read by my older CD drive!! (Acer 50X, dont remember the model, in an older PC). In fact, I used that CD 1 year ago and recently, I re-installed the game reading from that old CD drive (no problem). Both PC's use Windows 98se (on AMD XP1700+ powered PC).

So, Why this CD can be read by an older CD-drive, but it can not be read correctly by more recent drives (DVD drive and CD-RW drive) ? The former is the worst, because it reads nothing!! Is there a solution for this issue?

I have tried: Aspi drivers (Adaptec ASPI 4.60, the good ones); flashed new firmware on DVD drive; slow down read speeds; disable DMA, and others.

Any help? Any technical explanation? I haven't found other similar case in these forums (but excuse me if I am being a bit blind

Thank you in advance!

 

[Duracell]

Hi tacos40, Welcome to our forum!

the reason could be a bad pressed original; DVD-ROM are often bad in reading CDs, they have 2 different optical parts, one for CD and one for DVD; the CD part is often poor for economy reasons;
so it seems your old CD-ROM is still in a better condition than your (maybe decrepit) CD-RW;

3 solutions:
- email to the game publisher and ask for a CD replacement
- create a CD image with Alcohol 120% or CloneCD and mount this image into a virtual drive (Alcohol 120%/DaemonTools/CloneCD)
- replace your drive with your old CD-ROM or by a new/better DVD-ROM (e.g. Toshiba are recommendable)

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[tacos40]

Hi Duracell, you have good batteries, certainly

Thank you for your response. I have been searching the web for info to understand
this issue and solve this problem by myself.

I found out 2 useful programs: a simple one from Nero (CD Speed) and BlindWrite (I recently know it is a competitor or similar to Alcohol 120% or CloneCD).

I used the former to test/'scandisk' the original game CD (using my CD-RW drive, though I knew its reliability is at least suspicious); effectively the program identifies unreadable sectors, clearly marked as 'red' instead of 'green' blocks. Ok, valuable.

Then I used BlindWrite trying to make a clone of my original CD (expecting this copy would be 'somehow better' than original!): surprisingly it worked!!. It lasts hours to make first an image copy to harddisk; in fact it drastically reduced progress when it found unreadable sectors, but I could check it was really doing progress using a 3rd program (Iarsn TaskInfo -> growing opened file by BlindWrite). I leave it alone al the night and went to sleep . Next day an image was happily occupying 800 MB in HD.

Then I burned the image into a CD (using always my 'suspicious' CD-RW drive), using the option from the BlindWrite program (instead of Nero 5.5.x.x I use occasionally), this was very fast, reporting automatically DAO * writing method. The I tested scandisc/surface the new CD with Nero 'CD Speed' utility, and -surprisingly- there were the cloned unreadable sectors marked as red too!. I am a bit newbie for these things, I had never seen a new copy having 'weak sectors' (old CloneCD didn't achieve it but BlindWrite is a success).

Well the last test obvious (ok, not completed yet): try to use new CD to install from it. At least it does not report initial errors from my 'suspicious' CD-RW drive). Curiously, this new CD is completely unreadable by DVD-ROM drive (so I accept your explanation: these gadgets have a 'poor CD part'). Well I am going to uninstall the game and reinstall from this backup CD and inform you of final results. I am faithful because of Nero CD speed scandisk reported cloned 'red' sectors...

Question about DVD-ROM: Are there normally 2 separated lasers (CD part, DVD part) ? I seems to me I somewhere read DVD laser lambda is around 630 nm, but CD lasers are aroud 780 nm (?). This would complete your answer.

Than you

 

[Duracell]

Then I burned the image into a CD ... and -surprisingly- there were the cloned unreadable sectors marked as red too!.

weak sectors are usually a part of copy protections; never checked a CloneCD copy myself, but till now i thought weak sectors should be there too; i'm not a game freak;

Question about DVD-ROM: Are there normally 2 separated lasers (CD part, DVD part) ? I seems to me I somewhere read DVD laser lambda is around 630 nm, but CD lasers are aroud 780 nm (?).

quite right;

 

[tacos40]

Thank you for the confirmation about double laser.

About the original CD, at least I am going to email the game publisher to notify this issue. What I really wanted was not to reinstall my old CD drive in my new PC; and investigate the hard way. The good news is now I know a bit more.

Thank you again,