HI. I have had my plextor 12/10/32 for a little over a year, and untill last May it was great. But then I noticed that when I put in a cdr or cdrw to burn, it would "SKIP, SKIP, SKIP" and after about 20 minutes of this (the system pretty much halted) it would SOMETIMES get out of the skiping loop; other times it just won't get out of it. Then, if I am lucky to get out of the loop, and burn, it gets up to 99% complete, then "SKIP, SKIP, SKIP" and it just won't stop. The orange light keeps flashing like it is trying to write, but it won't get out. I tried ejecting the cdr, but it won't go, and the small hole for paper clips won't get it out either. My only option then is to restart, and then it imediatley acts like normal, boots fine, and the drive opens and closes.
 
I have a KT7A-raid, on IDE 1 (primary), checked jumpers, tried different IDE channel (but not the raid controller duh!), latest abit Bios update, latest firmware from plextor, Adaptec Easy CD 4 (latest version with patches and direct cd patches), latest 4in 1 (4.33), reset bios to default safe settings (but normally it's under AUTO detect for all ide drives), tried PIO mode in windows (normally udma), have done a fresh format with windows 2k (sp1, and sp2), and windows xp rc2... BUT NADA. And I am sure it isn't windows, becuase I have tried it in dos, and the same problem (skip skip). I think that is it... and ofcourse, the media: sony, tdk, compusa generic crap, all 12x certified worked fine up till MAY, but now all these medias give me problems. 300 watt power supply. On my IDE chain I have a pioneer 10x dvd as slave, and secondary master is a udma 66 maxtor hd (this is recent, and it still didn't work before I added this drive). PHEW. I think that is all the troubleshooting I have tried.
 
I talked to plextor, filled out the RMA, and ofcourse my warante has expired (and they want $100 to repair plus $15 for shipping? GAH!!!!!!). SO I saw a TDK 16x for 130 on sale with 50 rebate, but I really don't want to put any more money into cd burners, since XMAS time would be great for a DVD-R (I LIKE the pioneer internal, anyone else like it>?)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.