Hello,
I have the above Sony DVD Recorder. It has worked fine for some time, but now it "randomly" decides that a disk is non-recordable. It does this on brand new disks as well on disks that i've just recorded recently. Sometimes if i keep swapping different disks it will finally go ahead and read the disk and play normally.

I googled around and found a thread or two about some sort of firmware glitch that causes this kind of error. The only solution I found was to disconnect the power for a long time. Supposedly this helps the machine forget the bogus error condition that causes it to reject good disks. I haven't had too much luck with this "solution" though.

Does anyone out there know of a fix for this? Is there another recorder that will play disks recorded on this machine that have NOT been finalized?

Thanks.

Hi Dart:

I don't have the RDR-GX300, but I have the RDR-HX900, and I have bought and worked with several GX300 units for friends, so I have experience with them.

Exactly which discs are you using? You are aware that the GX-300 is very sensitive to disc type, right? The best discs are Verbatim and the lower the speed, the better. Many of the newer discs will not work. If you look at the specs, the machine is only spec'ed to work work with:

+R: 8x or slower (or compatible)
+RW: 4x or slower (or compatible)
-R: 8x or slower (or compatible) [ver. 2.0 only]
-RW: 2x or slower (or compatible)


Now, assuming you're using appropriate discs, which version of the firmware do you have? It is a known problem. I've heard there is a firmware update to fix that problem, but not sure. Sony will usually deny this, but if you press them aggressively, you are likely to find out. It's best to speak with second level support, of course.

Also, check your PM.




Shplad





[QUOTE=dart;11330681]Hello,
I have the above Sony DVD Recorder. It has worked fine for some time, but now it "randomly" decides that a disk is non-recordable. It does this on brand new disks as well on disks that i've just recorded recently. Sometimes if i keep swapping different disks it will finally go ahead and read the disk and play normally.

Oh, I was just doing some reading, and was reminded that some of the Sonys have actual drive units that die.

See here:
(Under "Sony")
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic263168.html

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. (Don't shoot the messenger.)
On the bright side, some people have reported replacing the actual drive, sometimes even with a different brand, and having the unit start working again.


Shplad