cdrecord OK on CD_RW; fails on CD-R; growisofs OK [SOLVED]

[bhepple]

Here's a puzzle from the Twilight Zone.

<bleat>

I can't write CD-R discs with cdrecord - it objects on the grounds of my giving it DVD media - but I'm feeding it CD-R blanks.
CD-RW discs work just fine as do DVD-RW with growisofs.

I _used_ to be able to write CD-R - I have several as evidence from a couple of months ago. Since then I have changed nothing substantial. Same old CD writer, same old kernel, same old computer. Gentoo itself gets fairly frequent updates - about once a week to do a sync & emerge -uvD world. But cdrecord depends on no shared libraries other than:

root@raita:complete/ # ldd `which cdrecord`
linux-gate.so.1 => (0xffffe000)
libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0xb7e3b000)
/lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0xb7f6e000)

I tried different CD-R blank media (from el cheapo to expensive Verbatim). Same individual discs work on another computer at work having failed at home.

I tried several old and new versions of cdrecord (app-cdr/cdrtools-2.01.01_alpha07, app-cdr/cdrtools-2.01-r1, app-cdr/cdrtools-2.01-r3) and cdrecord-prodvd (app-cdr/cdrecord-prodvd-2.01.01_p03) as well as a 6-month-oldish FreeBSD dual-boot OS on the same hardware (with cdrecord - burncd never worked for me).
I tried downloading Jorg Schilly's latest cdrtools-alpha direct from his website without the Gentoo patches.

I even tried strapping it as a Master IDE instead of as a Slave.

All give the same result.

Kernel is 2.6.14-gentoo-r5
</bleat>

root@raita:complete/ # cdrecord -dummy speed=16 dev=ATAPI:0,0,0 -data driveropts=burnfree *.iso
cdrecord: No write mode specified.
cdrecord: Asuming -tao mode.
cdrecord: Future versions of cdrecord may have different drive dependent defaults.
Cdrecord-Clone 2.01.01a06 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2006 Jörg Schilling
scsidev: 'ATAPI:0,0,0'
devname: 'ATAPI'
scsibus: 0 target: 0 lun: 0
Warning: Using ATA Packet interface.
Warning: The related Linux kernel interface code seems to be unmaintained.
Warning: There is absolutely NO DMA, operations thus are slow.
Using libscg version 'schily-0.8'.
Device type : Removable CD-ROM
Version : 0
Response Format: 1
Vendor_info : 'OPTORITE'
Identifikation : 'DVD RW DD0405 '
Revision : '140E'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc2 DVD-R/DVD-RW.
cdrecord: Found DVD+ media but DVD+R/DVD+RW support code is missing.
cdrecord: If you need DVD+R/DVD+RW support, ask the Author for cdrecord-ProDVD.
cdrecord: Free test versions and free keys for personal use are at ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/cdrecord/ProDVD/
cdrecord: Sorry, no CD/DVD-Recorder or unsupported CD/DVD-Recorder found on this target.
cdrecord: This version of cdrecord does not include DVD-R/DVD-RW support code.
cdrecord: If you need DVD-R/DVD-RW support, ask the Author for cdrecord-ProDVD.
cdrecord: Free test versions and free keys for personal use are at ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/cdrecord/ProDVD/
Using generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-ROM driver (mmc_cd).
Driver flags : MMC-3 SWABAUDIO BURNFREE
Supported modes: TAO PACKET SAO SAO/R96P SAO/R96R RAW/R16 RAW/R96P RAW/R96R

<... longish pause of about 1 minute with no lights on the CD-recorder .. then: >

cdrecord: No disk / Wrong disk!


root@raita:complete/ # cdrecord -scanbus dev=ATAPI
Cdrecord-Clone 2.01.01a06 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2006 Jörg Schilling
scsidev: 'ATAPI'
devname: 'ATAPI'
scsibus: -2 target: -2 lun: -2
Warning: Using ATA Packet interface.
Warning: The related Linux kernel interface code seems to be unmaintained.
Warning: There is absolutely NO DMA, operations thus are slow.
Using libscg version 'schily-0.8'.
scsibus0:
0,0,0 0) 'OPTORITE' 'DVD RW DD0405 ' '140E' Removable CD-ROM
0,1,0 1) *
0,2,0 2) *
0,3,0 3) *
0,4,0 4) *
0,5,0 5) *
0,6,0 6) *
0,7,0 7) *



AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!


... or perhaps the hardware is on the way out - but how come I can write the (supposedly more-demanding) CD-RW and DVD?????

Bob

[bhepple]