I'm having a bit of a problem with my CDRW drive. First, I'll give you my PC specs:

OS: Windows XP Profesional Corporate Edition
Sound Card: Monster Sound MX300 (soon to be upgraded to Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2)
Video Card: GeForce 3 Ti200
DVD-ROM: Toshiba SD-M1402
CD-RW: BTC BCE1610IM
Hard Drive: Maxtor 40 gb 7200 RPM
Motherboard: Soyo K7B Dragon Plus
Mouse: Microsoft Intellimouse Optical.

Okay, with that said and done, here's my little dilema: My CD-RW drive won't detect anything! I've tried sticking audio cd's, video cd's, blank cdr's, it won't detect any of those! I just says that nothing is in the drive. It opens and closes just fine. The drive is an IDE-based drive, and I have the DVD drive set as the secondary master drive and the CDRW drive set as the secondary slave drive. Does anybody have any idea how I can fix this?

Hi,

Have you make sure that the IDE cables are fixed firmly? Have you make sure that the jumper settings are correctly made? If the above solution is not valid, i believe your problem might have occured after installing the drivers and software for your new Audigy card. There must be software by Creative calld Disc Detector i think if i m not mistaken, try to disable it.

Yes, the IDE cables are fixed firmly and the jumper settings are correctly made. As for the Audigy 2 solution, I was in such a hurry when I posted this that I didn't read over the post before I posted it like I usually do. I haven't upgraded my soundcard to an Audigy 2 YET, unfortunately, I'm still stuck with my P.O.S. Vortex 2. I just ordered an Audigy 2 and should get it sometime Monday/Tuesday.

Oh yeah...ii forgot about this. Have you check whether there is an exclamation mark beside the CD-writter in the Device Manager tab which shows that the device is not working properly? If yes, uninstall the CD-writer by removing the drive from the Device Manger, reboot the pc to proceed reinstalling the CDRW Drive.

What CD RW burning programs are you using and have you recently unistalled any burning programs?

I think there's a typo somewhere above

The burning programs I was using were CloncCD and Ahead Nero, both of wich were the most recent versions of the program. I uninstalled both and I'm still having problems.

Yeah, I checked the manufacturer's site, and they don't have any firmware to download. I looked around but couldn't find any, so unless you guys know something I don't, I'm stuck with the firmware I got.

Thanks for trying to help me guys, but nothing worked. After taking it apart and cleaning it (based on a suggestion from another forum), I was able to get one more cd burned from it, then I left for a while to go out to dinner and came back, tried using it again, and it gave me the same problems. So I have come to the conclusion that the drive has died. I'm gonna trash it, and luckily, Office Max has some good deals on CDRW drives, so I'm gonna go pick one up for $30 (and it's faster than the one that I currently have).

I've had corrupted firmware on a CD-RW drive before, and that was more or less what happened. I would take it back to the shop if possible and get a different model.

I don't think the warranty is vaild on it anymore, I've had it for like 2 or 3 years. Besides, the CDRW drive that I'm gonna be getting is faster than what I've currently got. On top of that my dad and I have broken the warranty by opening it up and trying to clean it.

That's a pity. You can try and apply a firmware to the device as Rick suggested and then see if this helps. It might. On the other hard, the drive might simply be broken as has had it.

Yeah, I tried looking for firmware for my cdrw drive on the site, but couldn't find any for my model, go figure. It's just not worth it, with the pains that I've gone through trying to fix it, I might as well just let it die. Besides, for $30, I'm getting a better driver, so it's not like I'm spending a whole lot of money on another peace of hardware (no, that's my sound card - but I've wanted that sound card for several months now).

Well, that's the real thing: CD-RW drives are so fast and so cheap now, its probably better to buy a new drive. Its a shame but your old drive might be broken....

Yeah..CD-Writters are getting cheaper as its' speed has almost reach the limit like CD-Drives, there are some many choices out there with the introduction of DVD writters into the consumer market, further price drop is expected. It would worthwhile IMO to get a reasonable one, not those extremely cheap ones tough as they might cause you some problems like sudden breakdowns.

$0.02

cdr

I bought a cdr from Office Max for about $30, and it's a 40x12x48x. I've burned cd's at 24x with no problem. It didnt work the first time I tried it when I bought it. Ruined my cd, but lately I have been doing it at 24x with no problem. Weird. Hell of a deal though cause I can burn a full cd in like 3-5 minutes.