CD+RW drive problem

[Tom Mask]

This has been bugging me for awhile, but I havent really needed to address it until now.

My CD+RW 5.25" drive is not working. Sometime it will recognize the CD or whatever is in it, but not always. It never ever writes any discs even though its supposed to.

Anyone got any suggestions? It's not the IDE cable, I checked.

 

[raybay]

Nothing these days is more failure prone than the optical drive. They usually last about a year, with Plextor, Yamaha, some Pioneer lasting a lot longer.
At $29 average price per CDRW and, $49 average price for DVD-RW, you are still getting a good deal. If you don't need a burner, but just a player, $12 is the cost.
LG and Samsung are decently reliable. Avoid HP, LaCie, Acer, and especially Sony... maker of trouble.

 

[Tom Mask]

So basically I just have to buy a new one?

bummer... T.T;

 

[raybay]

A new one as a replacment will take care of most problems. If you have and HP, however, the cases are difficult to open for removal and installation of new drives.

 

[Tom Mask]

No no, i know how to. I just wanted to make sure i tried to see if there was another way thanks anyway, i'll just order another one.

 

[CCT]

WinXP manual steps to delete the UpperFilters and LowerFilters registry values that can cause CD access problems;
Warning ! Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system.

To manually delete the UpperFilters and LowerFilters registry values, follow these steps:

1. Start Registry Editor (Start, Run, Regedit)
2. Locate the UpperFilters value under the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
3. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click OK.
4. Locate the LowerFilters value under the same key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
5. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click OK.
6. Quit Registry Editor.
NOTE: After you remove the Upperfilters value and the Lowerfilters value, if you notice lost functionality in a particular program, such as CD recording software, you may need to reinstall that software. If the problem recurs, consult with the software vendor for assistance.
7. Restart your computer.

 

[mailpup]

While it is likely just a bad optical drive, if you haven't already, check the Device Manager to make sure there are no driver issues (no yellow symbols) and make sure the drive is set to DMA or UDMA mode instead of PIO mode.

You may want to consider upgrading to a DVD combo or DVD RW drive if your system supports the minimum requirements of the drive in question.

Edit: CCT posted while I was composing my post. If you are using a Roxio product, there is a utility available from Roxio for some versions to automatically fix the upper and lower filter problem. I know it works for Easy CD and DVD creator 6 but I don't know if it would work for other programs like Nero. However, it might. Now that I think about it, on one new PC build I tried Roxio, Nero and Pinnacle and couldn't get any to recognize the recording optical drive. After using the utility, Roxio worked and I didn't re-try any of the others. It is called DriveFixEZ and comes in two versions, one if Roxio is still installed and the other if it isn't any longer.

 

[Tom Mask]

Ok,
What I've Tried:

1) Switching the IDE cable
2) Checking the drivers
3) Trouble shooting with XP troubleshooter (I was desperate T.T)

In any case. Other stand-alone CD writers and DVD writers dont work either. I actually bought a firewire PCI card for my computer, set it up, and was able to connect a CD writer AND a DVD reader/writer through firewire. Those worked for the first time, but then after that I couldn't access them. The CD writer doesn't even open or let me explore it!

Should I do an uninstall / reinstall on my entire CD writing software? Where can i get another one? (Do they have TOAST for pc's? Mac software is so easy to use)

 

[mailpup]

I would check out the upper and lower filters issue first.