Unusual DVD problem

[Allwayssomething]

Hello all!

I have LITE-ON DVDRW LH-18A1H for 2 years and since month ago i didnt have no problems with it until it stopped burning dvd's, it can read CD's and DVD's,can even burn CD's but it cant burn DVD's. Thought the laser was dead or something so i bought new DVD+RW/-RW Pioneer DVR-115DBK, after installation i have the same problem with it. In my computer under name it says:for liteon: DVD-RAM /for pioneer: DVD-RW and under type for both says CD Drive. I am using XP Professional.

Tried: *Installing new nero and some other burning programs.
           *Reinstalling windows.
           *Uninstalling virtual drives and programs of it.
           *Tried +/- DVD's,from few manufacturers.
           *Searched google,found same problems but didnt find solutions.

I really don't have any more ideas so any new ones would be most helpfull. Ill try them and post back how it went.

Thank you!

[stevejohnson1958]

When you do try to burn DVDs...do you get any error messages?

Also...describe the process you are using when you do try to burn DVDs.  If you're using copy/paste or drag and drop to drive...this isn't possible with any version of XP...or Vista for that matter.

You have to use an authored software program.  I see you've tried Nero...are there any updates to Nero that may correct this problem?

[Allwayssomething]

I used latest nero 8321.

When i insert blank DVD they: or cant load it or they load it like blank CD and in My Computer under name drive changes to CD Drive. So i cant get to burning.

[Crafty]

What name do these dvd drives show as in the bios? Do you have both drives connected or just one, if you have just the one connected, wich one is it and does its correct name show up in the bios?

What ide cable have you set this dvd drive to? Primary Master/ Primary slave/ Secondary Master / Secondary slave?

[stevejohnson1958]

Don't take this the wrong way...but are you using a licensed version of Nero...if so...what version?  Have you tried updating it?

You have also stated you've used other programs...can I ask which ones?

It just seems a little strange that the optical drive will read CDs, DVDs...and even burn CDs...but it won't burn DVDs.

So there could be a number of things...the media being used, the software...and/or how you're going about trying to record the DVDs.

Have you tried using DeepBurner's Free Edition?

You can download it from here:  http://www.deepburner.com/?r=download

[Crafty]

Saviour

His dvd drive is not showing up correctly in "My Computer." This is maybe the reason it is not burning the dvd's. That is why I have asked him to look in the bios.
 
 
 

[stevejohnson1958]

That's the part I didn't understand...

Okay, Crafty...will back on outta here...and let you handle it...

Good luck, my friend...

[Crafty]

That's the part I didn't understand...

Okay, Crafty...will back on outta here...and let you handle it...

Good luck, my friend...

All suggestions are welcome, That's all I am doing here "suggesting" I just didn't know if you missed that part of his post. You could still be right here, so do please stick around!!

[stevejohnson1958]

Okay, Crafty...will do.  Hopefully the OP will respond shortly to let us know what's what.

[Allwayssomething]

Please stay both of you guys,the more of us the better.

Sorry for waiting had to sleep and work a bit 

Ok back to business...

I checked BIOS and LiteOn is working on secondary IDE slave,Pioneer is on SATA slot with nonRAID(no jumpers).In BIOS they are recognised ok and booting with no problem.

As for programs issue, i have Nero6 original(on which LiteOn worked perfectly) and tried 8321 for trail period. Have also DeamonTools which i uninstalled because i thought it was causing problem with it's virtual drives.
Tried DeepBurner Pro as you said and when i inserted blank dvd nothing happened at first,than i dubleclicked on drive and it said I:\ is not accessible.Incorrect function. And when i went back under name it said CD Drive where first was DVD-RAM Drive.
Also have latest firmware for both.

I found similar/same problem while on google:

http://www.fixya.com/support/t162624-wont_burn_data_dvd
Stupid answer.

http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/516918-dvd-burner-wont-burn-dvd.html
No solution.

http://www.techimo.com/forum/technical-support/203529-dvd-burner-wont-burn-dvd-but-burns-cds.html
Problem is that i dont have Upper Filter and Lower Filter entries in registry.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/245695-14-drive-burn
No solution.
http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/forum/hardware-problems/38949-cd-dvd-drive-wont-burn-dvd.html
Same guy i think but also no solution.
http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/laptop-support/246224-cd-dvd-drive-won-t-burn-dvd.html
Same guy,different forum yet no solution.

This guy is using Vista,different hardware and i think he has the same problem. I tried all solutions they mentioned but nothing.

Thought it could be registry but than i remembered that i reinstalled OS after problem started so they are fresh, went on Microsoft page for their solution but didnt have Upper Filter and Lower Filter entries in registry and didnt find any solution.

I have 2 systems on my computer: 1st for gaming and 2nd for everything else on separate partitions and have the same problem with DVD on both. On gaming partition i have only network,drivers and games on modified xp by nlite (iso is around 160Mb only) and on 2nd i have normal xp with antivirus and everything else and same problem. Have 1 old and 1 newly bought DVD which are able 2 burn every DVD & CD media, even without any burning program i should be able to burn in xp with them.

Only thing that i can think of is that i format everything and start from scratch but that is toooooo extreme and i cant back it up cause of DVD issue(backup would be around 150~200Gb)!!


So i hope u understand my agony.
And this is computer hope forum for hopeless problems so im sure we will find an answer.

Here is my hardware:
MBO:Asrock 939Dual-SATA2
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+, MMX, 3DNow,2,2GHz (had it working on 2,6GHz hehe  )
Graphics:XFX 8600 GTS, 256MbDDR3
    2048MB RAM
HDD: Hitachi 40Gb, IDE
         Seagate ST3250410AS, 250 GB 16MB, S-ATA300, NCQ3, 7200
Power: Raptox 600W

Went to BIOS (939Dual-SATA2 version P1.50) for detailed info:

***LiteOn***
Secondary IDE Slave
Device:ATAPI CDROM
Vendor:LITE-ON DVDRW LH-18A1H
LBA MODE:Supported
PIO MODE:4
Async DMA:MultiWord DMA-2
Ultra DMA:Ultra DMA-4

***Pioneer***
SATA1
Device:ATAPI CDROM
Vendor:PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-215D
LBA MODE:Supported
PIO MODE:4
Async DMA:MultiWord DMA-2
Ultra DMA:Ultra DMA-4

Try looking at your BIOS for differeties.
Since im from EU i have Region 2 on them.

[stevejohnson1958]

I'm scratching my head on this one...but will try to do the best I can to help rectify the issue without you having to reinstall the operating system...which, of course, I know is something you definitely don't want to do.

First things first...

1.  The drives are recognized correctly in BIOS...right?

2.  Apparently Windows is not seeing them as it should...correct?

3.  This started happening about a month, or so ago.

4.  You've tried several different burning programs...but the only one that has worked successfully is Nero 6...correct?

This is my recommendation...however, before you do this...I'd like for us to get other opinions...okay?

I think the first thing we should do...would be to uninstall any authored CD/DVD burning software you have installed on your computer.  Hopefully, you'll have backups of this software, so that we can put them back...if need be.  The reason I'd like to try this is because the software may, in fact, have some files that may be interfering with the other programs installed that are there for the same purpose.

The next thing I'd do...is remove the hardware drivers for both drives and reinstall them...using the latest drivers/firmaware for each device.

Lastly...with the new drivers installed...hopefully, Windows will recognize the drives as it should...and you can reinstall Nero6...which (per you) was working flawlessly.

Is this something you have already attempted?

Again...I suggest we wait for additional replies, before we go "whole hog" on this...okay?

Remember...the above is only the measures I'd take to rectify the issue.

[Allwayssomething]

Well i did similar when i was reinstalling os, but it wont hurt 2 try now.
Ill be back shortly with results. Shouldn't take long.

In meantime could you please check in your bios if it says under Device:ATAPI CDROM or it says ATAPI DVD/CDROM or smth like that, so we can compare.

And when it worked on Nero6 it worked on all other programs as well,i could burn dvd on xp or any other program.

[patio]

The drives have reverted to PIO mode...this will not allow DVD burning sometimes.

1. Uninstall the secondary IDE port

To do that, open Device Manager as follows. Right-click on My Computer, select Properties, click on the Hardware tag, click on the Device Manager button, click on the plus sign to the left of IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller, right-click on Secondary IDE Channel, click on Uninstall. Deactivating is not enough.

Reboot to make the changes active and permanent.

After booting Windows will automatically reinstall the IDE channel and the DVD (or CD) drive. This Plug-n-Play process can take a little while, so give it a minute after the boot process finishes.




2. Check or reactivate DMA

But this may not always be not enough, because unfortunately Windows does not always automatically activate DMA on a DVD or CD drive. You have to check and, if necessary, tell Windows to try to use DMA first. It is possible that Windows XP with Service Pack 2 re-enables DMA automatically on reboot, but I have not tested this yet.

To re-enable DMA, go to Device Manager again. Right-click on My Computer, select Properties, click on the Hardware tag, click on the Device Manager button, click on the plus sign to the left of IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller, double-click on the secondary IDE channel, click on Extended Settings and change the relevant setting from PIO only to DMA when available.

On Windows NT and 2000 you now have to reboot a second time, but Windows XP applies the change instantly. Then you can go to the same place in Device Manager again and check whether the device is now actually using DMA mode. If so, all is well.

Note that many CD and DVD drives only use UDMA-2, because their data rate is much lower than that of a hard disk. This is normal and no reason to worry.

Try the above fixes first...if no joy-joy Post back...there is a registry hack that also works but let's try this before we go mucking about in there...

[stevejohnson1958]

Thanks for the assistance, patio...

[patio]

Anytime...