problems with Plextor PX-708A

[Baurzhan Ismagulov <ibr@radix50.net>]

Hello,

I have compatibility and performance problems with my Plextor PX-708A
1.12. As I understand
http://www.plextor.be/products/px-708a.asp?choice=PX-708A , the drive
should:

* write DVD-R at 4x,

* read DVD-R at least at 4x,

* write DVD+RW at 4x,

* read DVD+RW at least at 4x.


What I see is:

* Writing on Sony DVD-R 8x results in 3.7x, reading 5x -- ok.

* Reading a medium of the same type written by a NEC notebook drive
  results in errors like

  May 13 18:43:21 medeu kernel: hdd: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
  May 13 18:43:21 medeu kernel: hdd: command error: error=0x54 { AbortedCommand LastFailedSense=0x05 }
  May 13 18:43:21 medeu kernel: ide: failed opcode was: unknown
  May 13 18:43:21 medeu kernel: ATAPI device hdd:
  May 13 18:43:21 medeu kernel:   Error: Illegal request -- (Sense key=0x05)
  May 13 18:43:21 medeu kernel:   "28 00 00 02 03 39 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "
  May 13 18:43:21 medeu kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev hdd, sector 527588

  The NEC reads the medium without any problem.

* With firmware 1.08, writing on Verbatim DVD+RW 4x resulted in 2.4x,
  reading the same medium varied between 1.3x and 3x.

* Reading a noname DVD+R written by some other writer results in 4.7x --
  ok.


Am I doing anything wrongly? I've tried unmodified cdrecord 2.01.01a26
on Debian etch, kernel 2.6.18, glibc 2.5, and dvd+rw-tools 7.0. I can
repeat any test if more information is needed.

If this is a hardware problem, should I consider LG GSA-H12N-B? Would it
burn Ricoh DVD+RW 8x or Philips DVD+RW 8x at 8x, and read them
afterwards?


Thanks in advance,
-- 
Baurzhan Ismagulov
http://www.kz-easy.com/