Note: it does appear to burn okay ; it returns no errors (using growisofs), it just doesn't work, even with the speed reduced to 1x. Is it possible to reset Arch to use /dev/hdc /dev/hdd for the burning ; if so I'll try it again ;-)

Seems definitely to be a problem with the new IDE driver introduced (ref the recent news item) ; replacing PATA with IDE in HOOKS and loading piix before ata-piix in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and rebuilding the kernel image returns the optical drives to hdc and hdd ; and burning appears to work reliably again.

what software are you using for burning?

what module you use for pata?

Burned using both Gnomebaker and growisofs from a CLI ; software didn't seem to make a difference ; reducing speed to 1x (my DVD Writer is 2x max) didn't improve things a great deal ; maybe about 1 in 3 burnt okay.

I was using ata-piix I *think* before ; switching this to piix and replacing PATA with IDE in HOOKS in mkinitcpio.conf appears to have fixed it. I think (from searching) that this returns to the old style of IDE drive access.

Now, lsmod returns

isofs 31168 0
zlib_inflate 14848 1 isofs
ipv6 252736 10
nvidia 6828532 22
ext3 119688 1
jbd 55336 1 ext3
mbcache 7044 1 ext3
snd_seq_oss 29184 0
snd_seq_midi_event 6528 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 46672 4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 6796 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
ppdev 7556 0
snd_pcm_oss 39072 0
snd_mixer_oss 14464 1 snd_pcm_oss
lp 9604 0
cx8800 29324 0
compat_ioctl32 1536 1 cx8800
joydev 8384 0
rtc 10416 0
snd_intel8x0 28828 1
snd_ac97_codec 91940 1 snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus 2432 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm 68484 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer 18820 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd 43492 11 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 6496 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 7816 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
parport_pc 35940 1
parport 31176 3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
i2c_i801 7564 0
psmouse 35336 0
serio_raw 5636 0
ppp_generic 23444 0
shpchp 29588 0
slhc 6272 1 ppp_generic
intel_agp 21276 1
pci_hotplug 27976 1 shpchp
agpgart 26200 2 nvidia,intel_agp
pcspkr 2816 0
usbhid 34592 0
hid 25088 1 usbhid
ff_memless 5256 1 usbhid
tsdev 6336 0
usblp 11904 0
evdev 8192 4
cx22702 6020 1
cx88_dvb 14084 0
cx88_vp3054_i2c 4096 1 cx88_dvb
cx8802 14980 1 cx88_dvb
cx88xx 60452 3 cx8800,cx88_dvb,cx8802
ir_common 26628 1 cx88xx
i2c_algo_bit 7304 2 cx88_vp3054_i2c,cx88xx
tveeprom 13840 1 cx88xx
videodev 25216 2 cx8800,cx88xx
v4l2_common 22656 2 cx8800,videodev
v4l1_compat 13956 2 cx8800,videodev
btcx_risc 4360 3 cx8800,cx8802,cx88xx
dvb_pll 12164 2 cx88_dvb
video_buf_dvb 4996 1 cx88_dvb
dvb_core 71336 1 video_buf_dvb
video_buf 20356 5 cx8800,cx88_dvb,cx8802,cx88xx,video_buf_dvb
i2c_core 17792 9 nvidia,i2c_i801,cx22702,cx88_dvb,cx88_vp3054_i2c,cx88xx,i2c_algo_bit,tveeprom,dvb_pll
r8169 25224 0
reiserfs 234624 4
ide_cd 35744 0
cdrom 34464 1 ide_cd
sd_mod 16768 8
generic 4740 0 [permanent]
ehci_hcd 29964 0
uhci_hcd 21520 0
usbcore 112392 5 usbhid,usblp,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
ata_piix 11908 6
ata_generic 5380 0
libata 94100 2 ata_piix,ata_generic
piix 9348 0 [permanent]
ide_core 108744 3 ide_cd,generic,piix

well could be a bug in ata-piix

Could be. Gentoo (tested it from there are still on 2.6.19 & using the old PATA modules. Couldn't find anything specific googling though. Searched the forum ; seems to be a few people with possibly vaguely related problems connected to the PATA stuff changes made but nothing specific.

Not a kernel expert ; could it be that growisofs actually thinks it's talking to a SCSI drive ? There've been warnings about the ATAPI interface in CDRecord for ages.

May be downgradable in priority if this is just me ; have reinstalled etc. so is a definite problem.

This is a problem with fam.

If you are using it, stop it and remove it completely from rc.conf.

fam is working here, and CD/DVD burning is OK.

any progress on this , else i close it tomorrow

It now seems to work. Problem is I've upgraded my old 2x DVDRW to an 8x DVDRW.

I've seen similar stuff on the Ubuntuforums (they seem to be changing Kernels back and forth every day !). It appears to be a known bug (if not yet fixed) that is limited to certain older hardware, and has a fix on Arch for those people who are affected (and it's in the forums).

I'll write a short Wiki entry on it, then probably it can be closed.