driver for Dell DVD drive?

[haus_kat]

I have Dell 6p811-a00 DVD Rom drive. I bought it from eBay. It reads CD-Rom and DVD just fine but when I went to burn a DVD the software would not recognize that it is a DVD Rom drive and would only allow burning of CD Roms. I guess I need a driver for it to correctly recognize this is a DVD Rom drive?

I checked Dell's website but, as usual, their website is totally useless and I could not find anywhere to download a driver for this model of DVD-Rom drive.

The burner software is some Roxio software that came with the drive and was on a CD-Rom and I installed it but never have used it before. Maybe just the software sucks? If so, could I download some freeware DVD burning software that would work with it?

[Allan]

Go to the dell support website and enter your service tag number. Then go to the downloads for your specific system. If you don't know the service tag number, download and run Belarc Advisor.

[Broni]

Optical drives don't need any extra drivers since Win 2K.
Burning laser may be out, but to confirm, try different burning program, like DVDFlick: http://www.dvdflick.net/

[Allan]

Agreed, but Dell does release firmware updates for the optical drives fairly frequently.

[Broni]

Firmware, I agree

[Computer_Commando]

I have Dell 6p811-a00 DVD Rom drive. ...

It will not burn DVD's, it's a Dell 6P811-A00 24x24x24 CD-RW/8x DVD-ROM Notebook IDE Drive
It will Burn CD's.

[haus_kat]

Computer_Commando: Yes, it's a DVD-Rom drive. I was under the impression that they will burn DVDs as well as play them? I believe the auction description had said it was a DVD burner. Now I'm confused. So a DVD-Rom drive will not burn DVDs?

[Allan]

Features/Specifications: 
Dell 6P811-A00 24x CD-RW & 8x DVD-ROM Notebook IDE Drive


General Features:
24x maximum write speed (CD-R)
24x maximum rewrite speed (CD-RW)
24x maximum read speed (CD)
8x maximum read speed (DVD)
2 MB buffer
110 ms CD access time
120 ms DVD access time
Connects to your notebook's CD-ROM/RW IDE connector


Front Panel Features:
Eject button
LED indicator light
Emergency eject hole


Supported Disc Formats:
CD-ROM
CD-ROM XA
CD-R
CD-RW
Photo CD
CD-I
Video CD
CD-Plus
DVD-ROM
DVD±RW


Writing Methods:
Track at Once (TAO)
Disc at Once (DAO)
Session at Once (SAO)
Multi-Session
Packet Writing
 

[Computer_Commando]

Computer_Commando: Yes, it's a DVD-Rom drive. I was under the impression that they will burn DVDs as well as play them? I believe the auction description had said it was a DVD burner. Now I'm confused. So a DVD-Rom drive will not burn DVDs?

DVD-Rom drive will not burn DVDs.
It will burn CD's.
ROM=Read Only Media (BTW, also means Read Only Memory)
DVD±R/W = DVD Read/Write, will read and write both "+" and "-" type media