Buffer Underrun Errors

[spandol]

I have been getting this error alot lately. It has never happened so much before. This time I got 2 successful burns out of 10 CD's. Is this something that will be fixed in the upcomming version (a system 8.6 problem)? Or is there something I can do to stop it? I tried using an image file but it didnt help. I also booted up from an 8.5.1 system and this had better luck but I still lost alot of CD's

I am using:
Powermac 9500/200
MLCD 2.1
System 8.6
Philips CDD 2600 CD-R

Thanks,
Steve

[Digi Engineering]

Steve,

Might have been your recent upgrade to OS 8.6. In that case, the upcoming version of MLCD (2.2) might help.

Since upgrading my beige G3 to OS 8.6, I get less underruns with MLCD 2.2.

Do you have Toast? Do you get buffer underruns with it?

-- Marc

[spandol]

Hi again Marc.

No, the only software I have ever used is MLCD. But I never had any problems until 8.6.

If you remember, I had recently sent in my burner for repair/recalibration, so I thought maybe the buffer underruns were somehow related.

It is very frustrating thought, losing so many CD's. I got 2 successful burns out of 10. Kinda expensive. Do you get the same results?
In my mind, I shouldn't have any underruns. do you get one every so often? Say 1 in 25?

Can you give me any idea when MLCD 2.2 will be out?

Would it help to raise the value in the HD buffer size in the setup menu? I think it's default is 8. Should I raise it to, say, 25?

Thanks for the help,
Steve

[spandol]

Did I lose you Marc?

Steve

[Digi Engineering]

Hi Steve,

No, I'm still here, but thanks for your concern Things have been pretty busy in Digi-land as you can tell by looking at our ProTools 5.0 page.

Buffer underruns should be a pretty rare occurrence when everything is functioning optimally. I did see a lot of buffer underruns when I switced to OS 8.6 and used MLCD 2.1.1. Things worked much better on my development version of MLCD 2.2.

You can certainly try raising your HD buffer size. It may or may not help -- hard to say since we haven't figured out for sure exactly what your problem is.

I think your best bet is trying 2.2 when it comes out which is very soon. I hesitate to give an exact date, because I don't know and I don't want to give any misinformation.

-- Marc

[spandol]

Thanks Marc.

I look forward to MLCD 2.2 as well as Pro Tools 5.0. In the meantime I'll try raising the HD buffer size. I'm trying to not burn any CD's until 2.2 because I've lost so many to buffer underruns. Hope that will work. Have any other suggestions/work arounds?

Steve

[Digi Engineering]

Hi Steve,

When you call customer support (650-842-6699), there's a lot of standard advice we give for avoiding buffer underruns. I don't know if you talked to them already (might want to if you haven't), but some of the common stuff is:

* Disable Toast CD Reader extension and/or FWB CD-ROM Toolkit drivers
* Shut off AppleTalk
* Check for SCSI ID conflicts, proper (preferably active) termination. Cabling sometimes makes a difference too. Shorter cable lengths and better cable quality help keep the signal lines clean.
* Hook drives up to the Mac SCSI bus or approved SCSI accelerator rather than a Digidesign Disk I/O card

However, if you're suddenly getting more buffer underruns after upgrading to OS 8.6, I'd tend to suspect that as a culprit. Personally, I've found MLCD 2.2 to perform better with OS 8.6 than past versions, so that might just do it for you. I'd be quite curious to know. It should be out real soon.

-- Marc

[Digi Engineering]

Hi Steve,

I'm proud to announce that the new version of MLCD, 2.2, is available for download.

Go to the "Support" section of our web site and click on "MasterList CD updates" -- or try this link: http://www.digidesign.com/serv/ftpmaps/mlcd.html

Let me know how it compares with the old version on your system. I hope that it reduces your instances of buffer underruns.

Enjoy,

-- Marc

[spandol]

Thanks for the info Marc.

I will let you know when I get it up and running. I won't be able to post for awhile because I am going out of town but as soon as I get back I'll let you know how it's running.

Thanks again,
Steve

[Digi Engineering]

Steve,

Have you had a chance to try 2.2 yet? I was wondering if it helped.

-- Marc