Problems with my CDRW Drive.

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Master Toddy

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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?
 
If the drive doesn't recognize CDs when the IDE cable isn't attached, you better hope it has some warranty left.

I think there's a typo somewhere above :p
 
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.
 
Just a long shot and might sound like a novice guess, but maybe your firmware is corrupted. Upgrading your firmware (if you can) may fix your problem.

Check out your manufacturer's website for more details.

I would do this only as a last resort however.
 
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.
 
Figured after following this thread and its still not solved I'd chime in with a suggestion. Maybe it will work, maybe not, but you will be no worse off than you are now right?

Locate your drive in device manager, delete it. Reboot, let windows detect it. I'd first let windows try and come up with a driver. Try the drive then. If that doesn't help then if you have your own driver for it then use it. See if that works.
Maybe also you drive is just bad, is there any chance you can put it in another computer to verify?
 
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.
 
I dont know. LOL! I never did figure out which numbers stood for what. Haven't had the time, at least when I thought about asking someone or anything. I think the first number is the read speed. I am pretty sure. I seriously don't think their are any cdrs out there, at least for the general public that can burn at 40x.
 
Did you make sure the CDRW is labeled as a slave drive or a master drive. Check the little jumper on the back to see what it's set to. If you regular CD-ROM is master then your CDRW should be slave, if the CD-ROM is slave the CDRW should be master. Is the CDRW showing in the My Computer menu, if not then that's your problem, the master/slave jumper is incorrect. If it's showing up and not reading then most likely it's busted.
 
Generally speaking, the lowest number is the cd-rw speed.

The second lowest number is the cd-r (once only) speed.

The highest number is the read speed.

Support for writing to cd-rw disks is still not that fast.
 
The quality of the media you use has a big effect on burning speed. I gave up on memorex (CMC) media after two spindles that wouldnt even burn at half their rated speed. maxells (Ritek) on the other hand routinely burn at twice their rated speed.

I dont know where you are but 40X media (CDR)is plentiful and cheap where I am at. I have a lite on 48x24x48 but the fastest CD RW media readily availablee is 10X sometimes you can find 12X but not often.
 
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