Cannot blank cd-rws with either cdrecord or cdrdao
Peter Schaffter
got one useless answer plus bizarre accusations of being a troll or
a spammer. I'm trying again here.
I can't get either cdrecord or cdrdao to blank audio disks I've
burned on my LG HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H10N drive, which is installed
in a Dell Optiplex GX160. The box is running Debian Etch; cdrecord
version is 2.01+01a03-5 and cdrdao is 1.2.1-6. My kernel is
2.6.16-2-686.
Both cdrecord and cdrdao will "erase" already blank cd-rws. Both
will also blank non-audio cd-rws that were burned on another burner
(and old HP of some sort; I was using a friend's machine and don't
have the exact model). Additionally, audio cd-rws I've burned with
the LG burner blank just fine when I erase them on a Mac running
OSX, even though cdrecord/cdrdao won't blank them with the LG
burner on my own box.
I've done several days of googling, and can't find a helpful
answer to my problem. The majority of posts requesting help with
a similar problem, for example, stop with the OP asking her/his
question, i.e. there's not much followup.
The cds I can't blank were created with k3b, using cdrecord. I
started a New Audio Project, dropped in a couple of mp3s, and let
k3b record them using its cdrecord defaults, basically SAO at 4x
speed. The burns went through without a hitch.
However, when I go to blank the same cds, either using k3b or from
the command line, the result is always the same:
---
<junk snipped>
Using generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-R/CD-RW driver (mmc_cdr).
Driver flags : MMC-3 SWABAUDIO BURNFREE
Supported modes: TAO PACKET SAO SAO/R96P SAO/R96R RAW/R16 RAW/R96P RAW/R96R
Starting to write CD/DVD at speed 48 in real BLANK mode for single session.
Last chance to quit, starting real write 0 seconds. Operation starts.
cdrecord: Success. blank unit: scsi sendcmd: no error
CDB: A1 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
status: 0x2 (CHECK CONDITION)
Sense Bytes: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 10 A1 00 00 20 30 05 00 00
Sense Key: 0x5 Illegal Request, Segment 0
Sense Code: 0x30 Qual 0x05 (cannot write medium - incompatible format) Fru
0x0
Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid)
cmd finished after 0.002s timeout 9600s
cdrecord: Cannot blank disk, aborting.
cdrecord: Some drives do not support all blank types.
cdrecord: Try again with cdrecord blank=all.
---
I've tried setting speed=4, which, in addition to not helping,
causes cdrecord to spit out that it's writing at speed 48, even
though I've explicitly said otherwise (including adding the -force
and -immed options, as well as and in addition to setting the speed
for the device to 4 with hdparm -E 4 /dev/hdc). Yes, I'm running
as root. Yes, I've played with turning dma off with hdparm. And
yes, I've tried every "blank" type cdrecord accepts. All produce
what you see above.
Cdrdao unhelpfully spits out, even with -v enabled high
---
Using libscg version 'schily-0.8'
ATA:1,0,0: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H10N Rev: JL10
Using driver: Generic SCSI-3/MMC - Version 2.0 (options 0x0000)
Blanking disk...
ERROR: Cannot erase CD-RW.
ERROR: Blanking failed.
---
On comp.os.misc.linux, the unhelpful answer I got suggested that the
problem came from the following bit of useless output from cdrecord
---
cdrecord: There are unsettled issues with Linux-2.5 and newer.
cdrecord: If you have unexpected problems, please try Linux-2.4 or Solaris.
---
I understand this has something to do with permissions, which,
since I'm trying to blank as root, strikes me as not applicable to
my problem. Additionally, cdrdao makes no mention of such issues
and problems.
Tracking down the problem logically, it would seem that one of the
following must be the source of the refusal to blank:
- the recording medium (maxell 80 cd-rw; I've tried a number of disks)
- the burner itself (unlikely, since I *can* blank some cds)
- the fact that these are audio cds
- something wonky in the way k3b uses cdrecord to burn audio cds
- something to do with the speed of the blanking
- something to do with the kernel (either a bug, or maybe some
modules I either ought to have loaded, or to unload)
- a bug in cdrecord and cdrdao
I'm getting a little tired of breaking my head over this. Is there
anyone out there who can at least tell me where the source of this
problem lies? I'm computer-literate (been running GNU/Linux for a
decade), but I confess that I don't know a great deal about burning
and blanking. For example,
---
Sense Key: 0x5 Illegal Request, Segment 0
Sense Code: 0x30 Qual 0x05 (cannot write medium - incompatible format) Fru
0x0
Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid)
---
don't mean a hill of beans to me right now.
I'd like to resolve this, but I simply cannot do it without some
guidance.
Thanks in advance.
--
Peter Schaffter
Chris F.A. Johnson
> I posted about this a couple of days ago on comp.os.linux.misc, and
> got one useless answer plus bizarre accusations of being a troll or
> a spammer. I'm trying again here.
>
> I can't get either cdrecord or cdrdao to blank audio disks I've
> burned on my LG HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H10N drive, which is installed
> in a Dell Optiplex GX160. The box is running Debian Etch; cdrecord
> version is 2.01+01a03-5 and cdrdao is 1.2.1-6. My kernel is
> 2.6.16-2-686.
ISTR that the output you posted in c.o.l.m included the message that
there are issues with the 2.6 kernel. Did you follow that up?
[snip]
> Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid)
> cmd finished after 0.002s timeout 9600s
> cdrecord: Cannot blank disk, aborting.
> cdrecord: Some drives do not support all blank types.
> cdrecord: Try again with cdrecord blank=all.
> ---
>
> I've tried setting speed=4, which, in addition to not helping,
> causes cdrecord to spit out that it's writing at speed 48, even
> though I've explicitly said otherwise (including adding the -force
> and -immed options, as well as and in addition to setting the speed
> for the device to 4 with hdparm -E 4 /dev/hdc). Yes, I'm running
> as root. Yes, I've played with turning dma off with hdparm. And
> yes, I've tried every "blank" type cdrecord accepts. All produce
> what you see above.
Did you try what the error message suggested: blank=all?
--
Chris F.A. Johnson, author | <http://cfaj.freeshell.org>
Shell Scripting Recipes: | My code in this post, if any,
A Problem-Solution Approach | is released under the
2005, Apress | GNU General Public Licence
Peter Schaffter
> On 2006-08-16, Peter Schaffter wrote:
>> I posted about this a couple of days ago on comp.os.linux.misc, and
>> got one useless answer plus bizarre accusations of being a troll or
>> a spammer. I'm trying again here.
>>
>> I can't get either cdrecord or cdrdao to blank audio disks I've
>> burned on my LG HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H10N drive, which is installed
>> in a Dell Optiplex GX160. The box is running Debian Etch; cdrecord
>> version is 2.01+01a03-5 and cdrdao is 1.2.1-6. My kernel is
>> 2.6.16-2-686.
>
> ISTR that the output you posted in c.o.l.m included the message that
> there are issues with the 2.6 kernel. Did you follow that up?
As much as possible. There is precious little information on the
nature of the "issues". And, as I mentioned in the original post,
it's been suggested that said "issues" (damn, I do wish cdrecord's
author[s] hadn't been so coy with that message) are related to
permissions and access to the device.
Additionally, cdrdao doesn't claim to have the same unsettled and
unresolved issues, yet I have the same trouble with it as I do with
cdrecord.
>
> [snip]
>> Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid)
>> cmd finished after 0.002s timeout 9600s
>> cdrecord: Cannot blank disk, aborting.
>> cdrecord: Some drives do not support all blank types.
>> cdrecord: Try again with cdrecord blank=all.
>> ---
>>
>> I've tried setting speed=4, which, in addition to not helping,
>> causes cdrecord to spit out that it's writing at speed 48, even
>> though I've explicitly said otherwise (including adding the -force
>> and -immed options, as well as and in addition to setting the speed
>> for the device to 4 with hdparm -E 4 /dev/hdc). Yes, I'm running
>> as root. Yes, I've played with turning dma off with hdparm. And
>> yes, I've tried every "blank" type cdrecord accepts. All produce
>> what you see above.
>
> Did you try what the error message suggested: blank=all?
Yes, indeed. That's what I meant when I said I'd "tried every
`blank' type cdrecord accepts" (all, fast, session, track, etc.)
What I find most confusing is that I can blank *some* cds--those
burned on an older burner, and the cdrecord doesn't complain about
blanking unwritten cds. Best guess I can come up with is that the
Sense Key: 0x5 Illegal Request, Segment 0
Sense Code: 0x30 Qual 0x05 (cannot write medium - incompatible format) Fru
0x0
Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid)
error messages are telling me something, but I haven't got a clue
what. How can Blk 0 not be valid on my Dell, but is obviously
valid on my Mac, where cds blank without a hitch?
--
Peter Schaffter