Buggy Sony CDU-701--- Seems to read CD-R's only when it decides to :8..Your Worst Buy

[Airbag888]

I got a stupid ( I could be ruder but hey it's only a stupid CD-ROM ). Fact
is it doesn't seem to be reading any CD-R correctly and I've tried heaps of
brands (Actually 5 but hey that's a lot). These include (from worst to
"less worse" - can't say best here) Pine, Mitsubishi, Maxell, Basf,
Hewlett-Packard. Actually this rating is based on a kind of average cause
the CD-R's mentioned can perform like hell as well as really well...Let me
explain.
When I used my first CD-R, a Mitsubishi containing Starcraft which I copied
as my original CD was getting a bit scratched, performed like hell. First,
the music, which is streamed from the CD, was stopped from time to time as
the drive was apparently stuck on one part of the disc ( the light stayed
on -- no flashing) this slowed down the game everytime it occured (every 4-6
sec) as it used CPU resources (my bet is around 80% !!). I used MSinfo on
the drive for that disc and my drive turned out to be a 1x (instead of a
32x) with a data transfer of 150kbsec and used 70% of resources on a 233MMX.
I won't be talking about the cinematics which even in low resolution mode
couldn't be played continuously for more than 3sec with a 5-10 sec pause in
between.This occurred around the beginning of last year. I'll be sticking to
the Mitsubishi episode cause around the middle of the year, while I was
using my CD-R of Starcraft again, no problem seemed to exist... Everything
was perfect no problem with the sound nor the video scenes. It was as if the
CD-R was an original CD !!! You bet I wasn't understanding a thing and I
still don't get it. So I tried other CD-R brands. The next was HP on which
was a copy of my Encarta Encyclopaedia 99. The thing was simply worst.
Nothing would do. BUT when I tried a Starcraft copy of a friend from the
same brand, it wasn't perfect but it sure was the best I could get (Actually
from time to time, it would go with no problem at all or a little buggy with
the cinematics-- nothing far from bearable). It was the same with the Basf
CD which I bought later. I ended up swapping the Basf with the HP.
Finally last and least... The Pine CD-R. A friend lended me a Pine CD-R
containing FIFA99 and that is the most intriguing of them all. First try...I
got through minimal installation (couldn't risk losing time if the disc
would not be read) after 15mins. Started the game whose intro cinematic
wouldn't play (whose surprised) Got to the main menu (The music taking 5 sec
pauses every 6 sec) I'm still hopeful. Launch a quick game which finally
started after (no
kidding)....................................................................
............................................................................
............................................................................
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...............................................................(15mins at
least--I lost track) And even then everytime a commentary had to be made
in-game, the match would just stop and resume 2sec later as with the ball
somewhere else as if I had just stopped playing and closed my eyes (to make
a wish huh ! :)) I was just going to have it uninstalled when I decided to
give it a last try and... BINGO No problem except on the starting Cinematic.
Game loading time 1-2 mins no problem in game..etc Anyway I used the CD like
8 times out of which only three were ok.
This is a resumé of my CD-R problem.
But it doesn't end here when I play Audio CD's, the drive seems to get tired
after 1hr-1.5hr of play. It just stops playing (2secs)makes weird noise (I
like to think it's swearing :)) and resumes.

I got a final word.....HELP
Thanx for having read all the crap and please reply if you got a solution or
advice...
email me at grd...@intnet.mu Just to make sure I don't miss your reply!
Airbag888