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CD-R / DVD Combo Drive Reads DVD but not CD's 2

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TheTuna

TheTuna

Programmer
Dec 13, 2002
544
US
I've got a compaq presario 900 with a combo dvd/cd-r drive. Gradually, I noticed that burning CD-R's failed more and more, then one day the drive stopped reading CD's all together. I assumed that the drive wouldn't read DVD's anymore, but today I found that it will. It reads dvd's just fine. What might be causing this? Is it possible that the CD reader / writer can be saved?

Thanks in advance for your advice!



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Ever feel like you're banging your head against a tree? I did, so I cut down the tree.
 
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If you're saying that the drive will no longer burn or read CD's, then it may be defective.
 
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Well, yes, that's what I'm saying. Beyond the obvious 'defectiveness', I was wondering if anyone else might have seen this behavior and perhaps might shed some light on this issue... before I purchase a replacement, could there be a fix (firmware update maybe?)

Thanks



[fish] No Dolphins were harmed in the posting of this message... Dolphin Friendly Tuna!

Ever feel like you're banging your head against a tree? I did, so I cut down the tree.
 
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Thanks for confirming things. It's tough interpreting what one is trying to say when they switch thoughts in midstream.

Firmware will not save it, even if it were available.
Stick it in another system. If ng, then replace it.
 
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I'm sorry Ski I can be hard to follow sometimes but I din't realize I switched thoughts... ;)

The drive is in a laptop, I don't have another laptop to put it in to verify if it's working. I went and purchased an external burner today because I really need to make backups of my code, etc.

The external drive worked (read/write using windows xp capabilities) as a until I installed the software that came with it (its an iomega and it came with HotBurn).

After installing hotburn so I could burn image files, the drive will not read anything, and is acting just like the one in the laptop. So, right now, I'm uninstalling all CD buring warez maingeek suggested. this is totally annoying to deal with though!

Thanks again for the input!

[fish] No Dolphins were harmed in the posting of this message... Dolphin Friendly Tuna!

Ever feel like you're banging your head against a tree? I did, so I cut down the tree.
 
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It definitely sounds like a software problem. First of all, Windows XP doesn't seem to play nicely with older burning programs or versions. Also because of its built-in burning capabilities, you need to make sure you have the right ASPI drivers installed. Perhaps this site can help in that respect:

So in addition to that, make sure you also have the latest version of your burning software. I understand you received HotBurn with your external writer. However, whatever software you were using before needed to be removed first. Otherwise the problem would still have a chance to exist.

Good Luck!
[thumbsup2]

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
 
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I should emphisize that at one time, the cd-r/dvd that came with the laptop worked fine. Over time, the recorder gradually failed to burn CD's. I thought I had a bad batch of cdr's until the drive stopped reading cd's as well. There had been no software additions that would coincide with the failure. For months now I had just assumed it died. Just by chance I tried a DVD and discovered it to be working.

Also, after un-installing the HotBurn software, the external drive seems to be working fine. (!)

I have also un-installed Nero Burning ROM leaving only Roxio EZ CD creator (which came with the laptop) but the internal drive hasn't changed it's behavior (oh I was really anxios for it to come back to life). ;-)

I got another surprise too... the USB Ports on the laptop, which is only a year old, are not USB 2.0 as I thought, so the external drive is SLOOOOOOOOOW. All this time I thought it was 2.0, I just never used it. Now, I have another choice to make. Buy a replacement internal drive and pay way too much, or buy a USB 2.0 card. Either way, I've spent more than I care to spend (time and money).

Here's thanking everyone for their help.



[fish] No Dolphins were harmed in the posting of this message... Dolphin Friendly Tuna!

Ever feel like you're banging your head against a tree? I did, so I cut down the tree.
 
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Try first to unistall the Roxio software, it is prone to give funny problems. You also will have to go into the registry and manually delete all regerences to Roxio. After that download a trial version of Nero 6 or up. It is quite possible that this will fix your problem. Good luck

Jurgen
 
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I am in complete agreement with jurgen. Roxio Easy CD version 5.x is officially supported in an XP environment, and usually works fine at first. However, it does make adjustments to certain registers in the registry that can eventually cause problems if not immediately on some systems.

Take a look at this recent thread and pay close attention to txfink's suggestion about editing the registry:

thread602-761238

Be sure to uninstall Roxio Easy CD 5.x and reboot first before you attempt to edit the registry. Then reboot again afterwards.

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
 
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Thanks cdogg and jurgen... I was avoiding uninstalling Roxio because I can't replace it... nero I have a cd for though... but heck, no sweat, I hate roxio anyway, nero beats it hands down.

If this works, you guys saved me an easy 300 bucks. I'll report back.

[fish] No Dolphins were harmed in the posting of this message... Dolphin Friendly Tuna!

Ever feel like you're banging your head against a tree? I did, so I cut down the tree.
 
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Forgot to mention that the very first thing you can try is to make sure Roxio is fully updated to 5.3.5p - go to this site:


Also, there's more important information on Easy CD listed here:


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
 
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Well, the drive is just 'bad'. Thanks everyone!

[fish] No Dolphins were harmed in the posting of this message... Dolphin Friendly Tuna!

Ever feel like you're banging your head against a tree? I did, so I cut down the tree.
 
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