The latest result of my experiments to restore my Plextor CD writer was a
complete inability to restore it to working capacity…and when blank discs
(DVD or CD) were placed in the tray the amber flashing lights signified a failure
to auto adjust for focus and tracking of the laser, which seems pretty terminal
(the Plextor was built in April 2004, and has seen a heavy life !)
Replacing it with a Lite-On writer saw an immediate resumption of burning ability,
across all the Wavelab platforms…and additionally the ability to use PlexTools with it !
Oddly, Plextools failed to launch when I attempted to start it with the Plextor burner
DVD/CD drives seem to be a disposable item nowadays, with a diminishing MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
so in my case replacement was the best option.
I’d like to thank all who contributed to this issue with advice and guidance, and hopefully
this thread will remain as a source of information for those who struggle with it in future.
Finally, for those who remain loyal to the Plextor brand, there is now a standalone utility which
provides the ability to flash to updated firmware (called ‘pxfw’) contained within a generally helpful
tool called QPxTool :QPxTool - check the quality
Apparently it will give you data like how many discs in total your CD drive has burned so far, as well
as total read and write hours ! It could be worth a further general Google search to see how valuable and reliable this
tool might be (or otherwise) ?