Petteri Pyyny
20 Sep 2002 2:30
Apparently the DVD-R drive heating problems Pioneer refers to in its press release have nothing to do with mechanical heating. Instead the heat problems are caused by the laser of the drive.
The problems occur when people try to use high-speed media not supported by the drive (eg. 4x DVD-R or 2x DVD-RW discs). The high speed media causes the laser to overheat the drive, which in turn can lock up the drive or even break it. So the warning is not about the known overheating problems with the A03 drives after all.
Also, there's a slight problem with this patch when it comes down to Apple's SuperDrives as well -- even though those drives are Pioneer A03/A04 drives, they use Apple's own firmware and hence cannot be patched using Pioneer's patch. So, Apple users need to wait until Apple issues a separate patch for their drives.