Hello!

I bought the Plextor PX-712A writer a few days ago and am quite disappointed, as none of the DVD-RW discs I tried (Verbatim, Memorex and Intenso) seem to work. Also, the DVD-Rs I tested (Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim, TDK) have a lot of errors after burning. Plus media works perfectly, but my stand alone DVD player is not compatible with that, so I am pretty much forced to use minus discs.
Anyways, on the official Plextor Europe site, I found an updated firmware (1.04) for my device and flashed my drive successfully. Unfortunately, the drive still fails to burn the discs I have and therefore, I decided to bring the device back and have my money back or buy another product. At the store, the guys told me that the warranty is void because I changed the internal software of the device and I cannot have my money back, nor can I request a RMA. Is that bull-shit or did I really lost my warranty? I wasn't able to find any details on www.plextor.be regarding warranty and firmware updates.

Regards,
Sebastian Mares

I'd be surprised if this voided your warranty, since I'm pretty sure Plextor wants you to upgrade your firmware and whatnot. Couple questions:

1) Which store is this? Never heard of one that checked firmware before accepting a return...
2) What's keeping you from flashing it back to 1.01 or whatever it came with? (I just got one a few days ago, that's what it had). Plextor supplies old firmware revisions on their website.

Also, have you tried bitsetting with +?

An official firmware upgrade is a piece of software intended to be applied by the end-user - so speaking of warranty void after applying an official plextor firmware upgrade is pure BS.

They will have to pay your money back (or you will get a RMA from Plextor).

First of all, I would try if the errors persist when writing the DVD-R at 6x instead of 8x ...

1. The German K&M Shop.
   
   
2. I already told the guys at the shop that I flashed to 1.04.
   
   

What do you mean? Changing the booktype or what?

Plus media seems to work fine, at least with the Verbatim and TDK +RWs and Verbatim +Rs I tested with.



There are less errors on the media when writing a 4x for example, but that's not an option. Speed was one of the reasons why I "upgraded" the NEC-1300A.

Some (most?) stores and dealer don't like RMA request. Often it seems to me they rather prefer a unhurried day than a happy costumer....
I myself don't think a correct flashing will defeat the warranty. I think a bios update is just the way to go - or is there a warranty-warning on plextor's web site?

So maybe try this: Make a phone call to the plextor support line. Describe your problem and ask if all your device problem would be a case for RMA. I guess it is. Perhaps they will even give You a RMA number. Moreover make a notice about the time/date and the name of the plextor supporter You have talked with.
With that information good back to your shop dealer, tell him that it's a case for RMA and if he wouldn't believe he should call the plextor supporter as You did.

That 'procedure' has helped me serval times for my own warranty affairs. I hope it may help You too.

The only thing I found on their site is the following:



Maybe "b" is what I did? The firmware program states that Plextor should be hield responsible to any damages done (probably when the updating crashes and my drive is rendered unusable then).



Thanks for the suggestion, I think that is what I am going to do. By the way, does anyone know what the costs of the phone call are (when dialing from Germany)?

Yay!



Going to the store now...

yeah, go back to the store and demand your money back. forget the plextor and buy a dvd writer from LG. in the last dvd writer tests in the german magazine c't, plextor didn't have had good dvd write quality, but LG always did.

-andy-

Yeah, in the current c't, they testested some 8x DVDs and Plextor performed quite bad.
Anyways, the guys at K&M Shop told me that they cannot give me the money back, but I should request a RMA. If I do so, I bet that Plextor will tell me that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the device.

Kick up a large fuss, make lots of noise, whilst other customers are present.

I'm not even sure that Plextor will check the device immediately upon arrival?

I'm in the UK and have just had a PX-708A replaced via RMA. The service was excellent. Someone came to my house to pick it up, the drive arrived in Belgium the following day and Plextor sent out the replacement drive the same day. The replacement drive arrived back within 3 days. The quick turn around makes me question whether or not they do any immediate checks.

I know of two places in the UK that will not replace Plextor's after X number of days. They just point you to the RMA service.

I will say one thing though. I had errors similar to yours (they were rather random, lots of failed -R discs with some coming out OK), with two seperate DVD-RW drives which, miraculously dissappeared after I re-installed XP. I didn't even re-install due to DVD-RW drive problems. I'd love to know what I changed to cure the problem but I suspect my VIA chipset drivers.

The latest 'ct review (if read & understood properly) does not state a bad writing quality for the Plextor 712A, but for all used devices (including NEC2510, LG4120, Pioneer 107) on so-called 8x certified media. Besides, the CATS tests do reveal more information than any K-Probe or Nero will ever be able to deliver.

What I find more interesting are the mechanical test results of blank dvd discs ... that review was one of the most comprehensive ones I have ever read - it did reveal quite a few interesting facts and reasons why the drive manufacturer isn't always to blame.

After all, 8x DVD writing has a transfer rate of more than 10500 kB/s ... imagine that for (the more-developed) CD-R - it would lead to some 72x writing on media that is much more sensible to any kind of disturbance than CD will ever be. Face it guys ... 8x is way too fast for secure DVD writing on any device with some media.

If I were you, I would wait at least one week - Plextor (who have announced that there is a number of 712A devices behaving very oddly) has announced a major firmware fix (1.05) for the end of august/first week of september that should fix most of the problems.

EDIT:

I found my writing quality (PX-712a, FW 1.04) to be greatly increased after trying the following tricks:

Deactivate firewall software
Deactivate antiviral software
Deactivate SM-Bus checking (Motherboard Monitor or similar)
Deactivate CPU-Idle (or similar)
Deactivate DSL internet connection

After doing so, the task manager shows only 17 processes running under Windows XP SP2 ... burning at 8x and PIPO checking with Plextools revealed that my burns were much better than before.

I guess you get a it replaced by the shop itself? - That K&M Shop hasn't give you any shop-own warranty on that device of e.g. one year?

Sending it to Belgium will take days/weeks indeed! - I remeber a older SCSI drive i had to send to Irland... 3-4 weeks it tooks and some money for the parcel deliverer i had to pay evidentally myself...

If the shop will replace it try to get a similar/better device (also if you have to pay something extra), but not a the same Plextor again. Or simply ask for a credit note.

They say that they won't replace / take back hardware with modified firmware versions. I should request RMA instead and wait until UPS picks up the device for free. Also, they told me that I should DVD Shrink and test if Video DVDs work. Also, they asked me which Nero version I am using and told them that the one which came bundled with my PC's old NEC drive (Nero Express 6) and they told me that I should get 5.5, as 6 would be crap. The most interesting part was "If you know DVD Shrink, you know where to obtain Nero 5.5". I think he pointed out that I should use warez, which is crap IMO.
That's the worst shop I ever seen, really. Customers are left in the dark, they advice people to use illegal software, the spread out bullshit information about warranty being void after flashing...

I'm glad that the folks at my local K&M shop know what they are talking about ...