Hello,

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 that it is 6 years old. My Sony optical drive started to not read DVD blank media a few weeks ago.

All other media is fine, CDrw and DVD films and also dvd's that have recordings on them work great, just brand new blank DVD's will not read, they show up under properties as 0bytes, and Nero just kept saying insert appropriate disc.
I have tried 3 different blank discs, including Sony ones to no avail.

Naturally due to it's age i thought the drive was shagged so bought a second hand replacement, low and behold exactly the same problem.

I even tried a third drive from my wifes Dell and exactly the same problem, suggesting some sort of software issues.

I am running XP home service pack 3. I have tried a win Xp fix programme but nothing.

I would appreciate any ideas you might have as it's driving me crazy.

Thanks

Have you tried it with any other burning software?

You can try a free program such as ImgBurn. If this program recognises DVD's, this proves there's a problem with Nero.

Hello Again,
here is another FREE program
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/
you can also update Nero from their web site
regards Ben

Similar to my problem ! I have an Advent 5311 LapTop (Pentium Dual-core T2390), running Win Vista Premium.
The optical drive reads and writes CD disks no problem, plays DVD bought films OK, but refuses to (a) write to DVD (all types supported) (b) read "magazine freebie" DVD disks.

Running Nero, have tried several other freeware burner programs, but always have the same result : the programe does everything normally to the very end, then freezes before final finish ! Checking status shows nothing burnt to DVD disk. Inserting the "mag. freebie" type disk produces remark that no media is inserted !

Anyone got any bright ideas ?

Jantan email address removed by mod

Ive removed your email address, because being a public forum you may get spam emails. We always advise against displaying email addresses as any answers should be on the message board for others to see.

As regards burning dvd's have you tried other manufacturers discs, as some dvd burners have been known to have problems with certain makes. Also try reducing the write speed.

Another option is if you know the make of your dvd drive, check to see if there are any firmware updates on the manufacturers web site, as these can sometimes correct problems

NOTE, as with any firmware update be sure to follow the instructions, as incorrectly done can render the drive useless. So proceed at your own risk.