Hi All.
Thanks in advance for any help you can share.

First, let me say that I am lacking on computer lingo, but here I go.

I'm not sure how specific to get, so here are the details I can think of.

I am trying to burn an audio cd. I have tried in i-tunes, windows media, Sonic Record Now and Sony's SonicStage program. The programs go through the whole burn process, appearing to write every song. After going through the process, a pop up says the burn was succesful, ejecting the cd. But...when I check the cd in My Computer or one of the music programs, the disc is completely blank. I have burned audio cds on cdr's in the past and never had a problem. And a strange side note, I am able to copy word files as a data cd.

Not sure if I have a setting messed up somewhere or...?????

A little more info: I have a Philips cdrw/dvd cdd5263. I Peeked at the device manager and everything is showing up fine...from what I can tell. I couldn't find any firmware updates. I am using CD-R's. I am on a Dell Inspiron 6000.

Again, Thank you!!!!
Sarah

well Sarah, thats a first to me, some computer junky might tell you exactly what to do just by that, but i think it would help if you said what program you are using, and if you have tryed instaling or upgrading parts at all,

eather way good luck with that issue, ill try to find out something for ya

Thanks for the responses.

I am running windows xp.
And no, not doing a write test. It is a burn.
I've tried to slow down the write speed too, and that's not doing a thing either.

If it comes to buying a new drive, any suggestions on brand, etc? Again, for a laptop.

Thanks for the help. :wave:

anything for a laptop is sorta pricey, but go for it, all of them are pretty much the same thing, just make sure it is X16 speed o yea it is a life saver when u want to wake up make a cd and walk out the door 5:30 in the morning (i do it). but yea good luck finding it, im not to good with laptops even though i have one so i might be off on alot lmao, eather way high speed with mid price is the best way to go no matter what

One thing you might want to try is to burn a cd with the "verify data" option enabled. This should force the program to check that the data on the disk is the same as the data which was (supposedly) burned to it.

While it is possible to replace drives on laptops, it is, in my experience, much harder to do than in a regular computer.
Not only that, but parts from Dell usually come at a premium as they don't normally stock up on them. If it is within warranty, send it in for a replacement. (Or give them a call and find out what they charge to install a new burner for you)
If not, the cheapest option would be to do as SNGX says and go for an external drive.

I was able to get on another pc today to try and burn a cd, make sure I was doing everything right...and make sure it wasn't something with the cdr's I'm using. All worked just fine. Must be something bad with my drive. Ouch.

Thanks to everyone for the advice.

I've worked on quite a few laptops, and the only problem with replacing the drive is that you're stuck getting a replacement directly from the manufacturer. If it's still under warranty, it's best to go that route. Reason being that laptop drives are nothing like desktop drives. You can swap out desktop drives in a heartbeat. Laptops; well, only the manufacturer of the laptop has the correct drive for a specific model. I've searched high and low for laptop drives to save clients some money, to no avail. Some of these replacement drives can run as high as $250, or higher depending on the type (DVD-R/W CD-R/W combo drives). I've actually had clients with laptops that required new drives "live without" a drive and tell me if they have to spend that much money for a replacement, they might as well get a new cheap laptop.

ok here is a thought, if you have a DVD burner try burning a DVD and see if that works then get back to us so the problems are not so brod