I can't burn DVDs!

[Fenris]

Some help folks. I went to back up my laptop the other day and found that I couldn't burn a DVD. In fact I can't even add files to the window.

I have always used the standrad window and added files to it then burned the disc. But this time any file I tried saif that Windows had a problem adding the file. So I couldn't even get the temp files into the window.

When I click on the disc is shows 0 free space. Now the drive still reads DVDs, and CDs and will even burn CDs. But I have a lot of big hairy files (all my disseration files) and I don't want to take 20 cds to back it all up. Any suggestions on what the problem is?

 

[SteelDraco]

How many DVDs have you tried, and did you get a new pack of them recently? DVD burning technology is a bit more complicated than CD burning - you have to make sure you get the right kind of DVDs for your burner. It should be either DVD+R or DVD-R; you have to make sure they're the same for the DVDs and the burner itself.

What version of Windows are you using, btw? Vista has some strange DRM stuff built in - I'm not sure if it's intrusive enough to interfere with burning a DVD, but it's possible.

 

[Fenris]

I have tried three different kinds of DVDs. One was RW, the other two were DVD-R. I tried some new ones. But I also tried the last of the pack that I know actually worked on this drive. I have used +R and -R on my desk top without issue though.

I am running XP SP2.

 

[SteelDraco]

Dang. That was the easy stuff.

How long have you had the drive? Sometimes the laser used for writing DVDs will give out on you, which will mean you can't write any DVDs. Did you have quite a few write errors recently, leading up to a complete failure? That would suggest the laser as the potential problem.

I'm assuming you haven't done any driver updates recently, as well. If you have, roll those back. It doesn't seem likely at all that a driver update would make the thing stop working, but 'maybe something went wrong with a driver' is a pretty solid generic suggestion. So is 'try reinstalling the drivers for your device that's messing up,' for that matter. You might try that.

You might also post the error message you're getting. I don't use the built-in Windows burning stuff much, so I'm not too terribly familiar with it.

Come to that, you might try using some burning software, just to see if it'll spit out a more detailed set of diagnostics. Nero Burning ROM would be my suggestion there.

 

[James Heard]

Yep.

I've found that sometimes DVD and CD hardware mysteriously goes offline or does some weird backflip that makes it perform incorrectly. I won't even guess why, but I usually find that uninstalling and reinstalling usually fixes things.

 

[Ranger REG]

I've found that sometimes DVD and CD hardware mysteriously goes offline or does some weird backflip that makes it perform incorrectly. I won't even guess why, but I usually find that uninstalling and reinstalling...

The hardware??? Can't I just do that with the driver?

 

[Thanee]

I would also try NERO (there should be at least a trial version available on their site) and see if it works or what it says why it does not.

The hardware??? Can't I just do that with the driver?

Not only can you, you actually have to, otherwise it is of little effect.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Fenris]

So the error message said that Windows could not copy this file, would you liek to try again, which never worked.

On the advice od a tech friend, I removed the drive, started the laptop and re-inserted the drive to try to get it to kick start it. No dice.

Nero however seems to be working well. So thank you all for your help. Luckily it seems to just be a software glitch. One of the many Windows updates I am sure killed it. As long as it works I'm fine (now if it would only hurry up )