Need help with CD-RW drive

Airplay355

My CD-RW drive won't burn CD's anymore. It recognized CD-r's as CD-RW's and when I try to burn it says an error occured. No specifics as to what that error might be however. When I put in a CD-RW it doesn't even know theres a CD in the drive. I have tried all of the gruntball **** like reinstalling the driver, rebooting, resetting the bios blah di blah. The comp is a sony vaio and its the stock cd player, model number CRX 175E. I started having the problem after I moved the software I was using to burn CD's, Roxio Easy CD Creator Platinum, to a different partition. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling on the C partition, defraging and disc checks and nothing is working. As of now the Roxio software is not installed. Aside from getting a new drive and using the system restore discs to completely wipe out my HD, does anyone have any ideas as to what the hell is wrong?

Pauly

Win XP? Pro - Home? You install and service paks latley?

Pauly

cfrizz

But your drive has died. You will have to get a new one. I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago.

However, you shouldn't have to reformat your hard drive. You just need to get a new cd-rw drive which doesn't have any info on it.

Shizelbs

Get a DVD burner while you are at it.

exalted512

Originally posted by Shizelbs
Get a DVD burner while you are at it.

hell yes, a dvd burner, dvd shrink, nero, and blockbusters all you can rent a month for $15 are all your friends
-Cody

Airplay355

win xp home edition....and are you guys sure its dead? and is buying a new drive as simple as it sounds? do i just have to uninstall the old driver for the cd-rw drive and plop in the new one? that won't mess up the IRQ ports or anything? i don't really know what IRQ means i just know i **** it up once by changing around hardware.

any suggestions on a new burner? i was thinking this one from newegg..... the samsung TS-H552B/WBCH....it seems pretty good to me but i dont really know what to look for.

nadams

IRQ's pretty much died with the old legacy win9x based OSs. It is just as simple as droppning the new drive in. Windows will likely even have it set up for you before you realise that it was installing hardware.

One thing I would try before buying a new drive, is burning at a slower speed, or with a different program. My Lite-on DVD burner will NOT work with Nero anymore for some reason. I have to use Roxio to burn anything.... UGH!

It used to work with Nero, now it just doesn't. I'm guessing the program got screwed up somehow, I just don't know how.

nadams

billbillw

Originally posted by Airplay355
win xp home edition....and are you guys sure its dead? and is buying a new drive as simple as it sounds? do i just have to uninstall the old driver for the cd-rw drive and plop in the new one? that won't mess up the IRQ ports or anything? i don't really know what IRQ means i just know i **** it up once by changing around hardware.

I wouldn't buy a new drive yet. They rarely just die. I think there is a problem with your setup somewhere.

Without knowing exactly how you changed your setup, its hard to diagnose. First you said you just moved the software, but your last reply indicates that you made some hardware changes. What exactly did you do?

If you changed the physical location of the IDE connecton (from one cable to another or within the same cable) make sure that the jumper setting on the drive is correct for that configuration (master/slave/cable select)

If you put the drive on a previously unused IDE location, make sure that the BIOS setup has all the locations activated. Sometimes the setting will be set from the factory to "unused" or something like that.

There are also settings within Windows that could cause problems like this. Check your system device manager for anything unusual.

Have you tried deleting the item in system mananger and letting windows re-install it?

Airplay355

Bill,
You seem very knowedgeable about computers. I didn't change anything as far as hardware goes. I never touched the drive, where it was plugged in or anything. The only thing I moved was the location of the Roxio software. After I realized this caused a problem I uninstalled the Roxio software from the D partition and reinstalled it on the C partition. This didn't help. I then removed the device from device manager and rebooted, letting windows reinstall it. I've done this many times and nothing has changed. I've tried using roxio and the windows xp burning software imbedded in the OS. Each time I get an error. I have talked to Sony support and they are worthless. One drone suggested resetting the bios, so I did, twice. Didn't help. Another suggested defragmenting and running disc check to try to recover bad sectors. I disc checked and defraged both partitions. As of right now I do not have the Roxio software on either partition and my drive still doesn't work. I don't know how this could be a hardware problem considering it will still read and play regular CD-ROMs and regular audio CD's, even if the audio CD was recorded on a CD-R. Theres got to be something I havent tried yet.

billbillw

Airplay,
It sounds like either your drive is dead or there is a software
problem.

When you "moved" the software, did you un-install 1st and then re-install to the different target location? I'm assuming you did, so lets move on.

I would search around at the Roxio website and see if they have any FAQs that might pertain to your situation. Perhaps they have a program that does a more complete "un-install" that will in turn allow you do a clean install. Or, perhaps Sony had some custom configuration of the software that is not recreated when you reinstall.

Here is another option. Try downloading and installing the trial version of Nero Burning Rom and see if it will burn a disc for you.
If it works, obviously the problem is with the Roxio software install. Its worth a try.

landry_p2000

I just had a similar problem. I killed my old cd burner, and replaced it with a new one (cheapie off-brand), which also gave me problems after a week. I took it back and found an HP burner (52x speed), and re-installed the Nero software that it came with. I have had no problems with it since. I also made sure that the blanks were 52x just like the burner. The speed may not make a difference, but it sure helped my burner operate flawlessly. I would get a new drive, and install whatever software the new one come with. I can also use Roxio which is where my mp3 files are stored. Just my 2cents.:)

Airplay355

well i didn't actually uninstall and reinstall, i just moved the folder....click and drag kinda thing....i didn't think it would be a problem at the time but i guess it is lol.

steveinaz

These drives can act strange. My ASUS burner just started (yesterday) having trouble reading some burned discs, but not others--go figure.

I'd recommend reloading the driver for **** & grins, doesn't hurt, and it just may fix your problem. I'm gonna give that a shot myself tonight. Also look at BIOS updates for your motherboard. Just be careful when flashing your BIOS, follow the instructions to the letter, and back-up any critical data before hand.

nadams

Airplay- by moving the folder you broke all kinds of DLLs, that may never quite be right again. I'm guessing that since the problem with your burner started when you did that, it lies with the software, not with the hardware of the burner

Airplay355

so how do i fix these DLLs? I was thinking reloading the operating system but that would mean wiping out my C drive.

AsSiMiLaTeD

First, you don't really 'fix' the dll files...

It sounds like a reformat may be in order. I do this a few times a year anyway, just because Windows gets 'clogged up' with all the crap my wife downloads...you can uninstall stuff and even remove registry settings, but it's still there...

Anyway, if you have a couple of partitions, which I think you said you do, then just back everything up on the second partition and reinstall the OS on C:\. If you have a mass produced PC like an HP or something, doing the system restore thing MAY also delete any extra partitions or data on them...so you'd want to confirm that BEFORE doing this. If it's a PC that was built, then you should just be able to format and reinstall the OS on the C partition and keep the D in tact...I do this all the time...

I hate .dll files and the whole idea associated with them...

billbillw

Airplay,
Moving those files is definetely what caused your problems.

When you say that you "uninstalled" do you mean that you went to Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs? Or did you just delete the files? Likewise, when you said you re-installed, did you use the original disk and go through the guided install or did you just cut/paste files?

When working with program files, always use the uninstall program in windows. It cleans up and repairs links/dlls/etc. Likewise, never move program files manually. You must uninstall and reinstall so that the computer knows where the files are and makes the appropriate links.

If there is still a remove option for your Roxio software in the Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs, use it. Then try to reinstall with the software disk install program. If that doesn't work, I don't know what to tell you. A windows reinstall is probably in your near future.

Airplay355

When I say uninstalled and reinstalled I mean I went into add/remove programs and uninstalled and reinstalled using the CD. I think moving the files is what f***** me. I'm going to try reinstalling the C drive using the system restore discs. Hopefully That will fix my problem and won't force me to completely dump my HD.

steveinaz

There is NO NEED to reformat. I repeat, no need. Reformating the HD for this problem is like tearing down your house because the family room needs painting.

Do an uninstall, then a clean re-install of your cd software/drivers. Chances are your registry has bad entries because of the file move. If you have a registry "cleaner" like Reg Mechanic, or something similar; after you uninstall, run your registry cleaner to remove the orphaned entries. Then reinstall from scratch. Verify that all old directories from the CD software were in fact removed after uninstalling via windows explorer.

Airplay355

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers many many times. It's still not working. I will try reg mechanic because I'm desperate and don't really want to erase my C partition.

Airplay355

Well the free version of reg mechanic only fixed 179 of the 461 errors in my registry. What the hell is a registry and are all these errors bad? I haven't found out if it fixed my cd-rw problem yet. Corss your fingers, toes and whatever else you are skilled enough to cross.


Well it didn't work. Do you guys think that its worth the $30 and is there a good chance it will fix my cd burner problems? As well as whatever else might be wrong with my wonderful mess of a comp. Man I gotta stop downloadin ****....

steveinaz

It's hard as hell to troubleshoot long-distance. That being the case, I would replace the drive.

Download:

Spybot Search & Destroy
AdAware
Registry Mechanic (buy it)

Those 3 tools will keep you out of alot of problems. I don't think Reg mech is going to fix your problem, but it's a good utility to have anyway.

Shizelbs

Don't forget Microsoft's new and free spyware utility.

Airplay355

I'm not replacing until I reformat the C drive. I'll probably do that tomorrow and see how it goes.

Airplay355

Well, I'm sitting here with a reformatted C partition and a CD burner that doesn't work. Hurray, computers suck.

cfrizz

This is exactly what happened to me. I had to take it in and get a new cd drive, and have my system put back on.

I hope you had all of your important stuff backed up on disc.

Airplay355

I only erased the C drive, I put all the important stuff on the D drive because it wasn't worth the risk of losing everything.

Airplay355

So whats the deal? Is my drive dead? I reinstalled the OS and it still doesn't work. I got another registry checker just to make sure there weren't any problems left over and everything is fine. Is it just a coincidence that I moved files and my drive died?

Would physically unplugging the drive and then plugging it back in do anything?