Ricoh MP 7083A problem

Sometimes it works fine and other times it makes the media (TDK CD-RW)
unusable. I've downloaded new firmware and satisfactorily flashed it,
but the problem hasn't gone away. I've also set the write speed in the
software to 1 x (it's an 8 x drive) but that hasn't helped.

Any suggestions - other than junk the drive?

By the way, I'm very new to CD writing.


William