Cannot burn to CD -R but can burn to CD RW

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charliej5

I have two drives. 1 is GCE 8481B, a CDRW. The 2nd is Lite-On DVDRW LDW 451S. I have Easy Media Creator V7.5 installed now. Prior was EMC V7.0. Also have available Musicmatch V9.0. Also, Windows XP, Media Player 10.
Suddenly (2 weeks ago), on both drives I cannot burn a CD -R Audio on either drive. I can burn a CD RW audio with no problem. I have been to Roxio support - no answers, to Microsoft - no answer and searched the internet. I have used 5 different brands of CD -R's, burned at the lowest speed possible, scratched my head and finally am pulling my hair out.

I hope that you guys can draw from your experiences and point me in the right direction to correct this problem.

I am using a Dell Dimension 4550, 512 ram, 533 mhz fsb,Windows XP Home SP2 with all updates. I have Norton System Works 2005, Ad-Aware, Spybot SD, Microsoft Anti Spyware.

Many thanks.
Charlie
 
Well, I'll tell you that you will get more help if you post in the correct forum.

I have moved it there now :)

BTW
:wave:Welcome to TechSpot:wave:
 
Posting in wrong forum

I apologize for my error. I am trying to navigate the site and obviously doing a poor job.

Will you please tell me the forum to which you moved my post?

Again, I apologize

Charlie
 
Hi charliej5

I'd recommend the following:
1) Remove the GCE 8481B and leave the Lite-On DVDRW LDW 451S. Now try burning the CD-RW and CD-R. Any problems?
2) If (1) is ok, remove the Lite-On and try the GCE. Does it work ok?
3) If both (1) and (2) are ok, it means that the 2 drives are not compatible with each other.
 
It is in the storage and networking forum.
No worries, happens to a lot of people their first time. That's what we (mods) are here for :)

See ya around ;)
 
Thank you both for your advice.
I will try using individual drives on a separate basis when I get home tonight. I am will to try anything. However, both drives were functioning together previously, but who knows...maybe the "gremlins" finally awakened.
Again, many thanks.
 
If you have got both of them on one IDE connector try swapping the slave master setup for each drive. Altough as you explain they were working two weeks ago presumably both together in their present setup.

You could always try putting them on different IDE connectors although this may cause problems with buffer under runs if you write to the writer and it is connected to the HD that you are writing from ( i know buffer underrun protection, but i find this to be very fickle at best). I personally have mine on separate ide connectors now, i have in the past had problems with a Sony DVD writer and a benq DVD writer when on the same connector. I just make sure that when i write to either writer i always use a USB 2.0 HD attached to the computer to write from.

Just a thought ;)

did this happen at the same time that you upgraded to 7.5?
 
Thank you for the input. I just tried disconnecting the DVDRW drive and burning to CD-R on the CDRW drive. Success! But...............when I hooked the DVDRW back and disconnected the CDRW, the DVDRW burned a coaster!!!! Frustated? Me?? Yepper!!!! Thanks again.
 
For lack of a better suggestion, check the IDE controller that the optical drives are connected to in the Device Manager. Right click on it and check properties to see if any of them are switched from DMA mode to PIO. If so, try switching them back. If they won't stay switched, uninstall the controller and restart to have Windows reinstall the controller driver.
 
Many thanks...but unfortunately no cigar...YET

I checked the properties and found that the GCE drive was set for PIO. I uninstalled it and it was then detected as DMA. The Lite-On was already DMA.

Despite the change, (they are both using DMA now) there is no change in the operation. I sincerely appreciate your response, and if you think of anything else, please let me know. Incidentally, I still have NOT heard from Roxio Tech Support.

Once again, many thanks.
 
It is such issue as this why I created a thread asking for CD drive testing programs. lol

Hard to tell at this point whether your problem is software or hardware related.

Might I suggest trying a different app to burn an audio disk with?

Go and download CDBurnerXP Pro from http://www.cdburnerxp.se/download.php
It is free, small, and won't mess up your current burning software. I use it on multiple PCs and really like it. Try burning an audio disk with it. Actually, you may want to see what it says about your drive first. Have NO disk in your drives, open the program, choose the top option to create a data disk. Then when it opens, click the "Recorder" menu and click "Recorder Information". It will then pop up a box telling you everything it knows about your selected drive. If it looks right, try checking your 2nd drive.
Then, go ahead and put in a blank disk, start a new project and choose audio, create a disk and see what happens.

good luck
 
Success with CDBurnerXP Pro 3 - but not EMC

Vigilante:

THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!

I followed your suggestion to the letter: i.e. downloading & installing CDBurner XP Pro 3, checking info regarding both recorders and then burning an audio CD on each of the drives. They BOTH play in my automobile CD player. Needless to say, I am most appreciative of your assistance and expertise.

The only "glitch" that I have seen thus far is that the song titles are displayed on the GCE 8481B drive, but the identification on the Lite-On is
"song 1," "song 2," etc. Do you have any thoughts on this?

Now that I conclusively know that Roxio EMC software is the problem, I will deal with Roxio on this issue. By the way, if you or anyone you know would like a very large quantity of "coasters," compliments of EMC, I will be most happy to send them.

I certainly support your thread asking for CD drives testing programs. Maybe some enterprising person will write one.

Once again, I am most grateful for your efforts.

Charlie
 
Success - More!!!

I cannot explain anything about this, but on a lark, based on CDBurner XP Pro 3 having successfully burned an audio CD -R on both drives, I tried Roxio EMC V7.5 again. It worked flawlessly on both drives.

I was still in shock, so I created a backup image of my entire computer, and then restored my computer as it was last night when I made an entire computer backup. Remember, at that point I had not heard about CDBXP. I tried making backups using CD -R's on both drives, and all I got was coasters.

I then restored my system to the state it was in and successfully burning. Once again, using EMC V7.5, both drives worked flawlessly.

I am very thankful for this turn of events, but I sure would like to know what the successful catalyst was.

I wish to again express my appreciation to you Vigilante, and all others who have given me suggestions.

Charlie
 
Thanks.

I had said in my first post, "...It is free, small, and won't mess up your current burning software..." guess I failed to mention it will FIX your current burning software. :) Oh well.

Can't say for sure why that is, perhaps it just changed something with the drivers?
 
Thanks again for your insights.

I will be content to live with the "fix", no matter how it occurred.

It feels like my PC is "whole" again!

Please continuing sharing your excellent insights to others who are as perplexed as I was. (Incidentally, Roxio Support has yet to come up with any answers.) I don't need them any longer, thanks to you.

Happy Thanksgiving.
 
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