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My CD burner has decided it hates me. I'm trying to burn a CD, and it insists that the CD has no available space. These are brand new 700MB CD-Rs, so I know that they're blank. I even went out and bought a different brand, thinking that my computer just didn't like the first brand I tried, but it still won't let me burn a CD. I've tried using Nero, iTunes (which is what I normally use to burn CDs), and Windows Media Player and it gives me the same response every time. I've never had any trouble burning CDs before. I've tried everything I can think of and nothing seems to work. Anyone have any ideas?
Posts: 1225 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Does it read CDs fine? If it's a combo drive, DVDs?
If you know the manufacturer of the drive, can you check for driver updates or just re-download the drivers?
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Doesn't sound like a driver issue; most drivers for burners work right out of the Windows box and there's no need to install new ones.
The only thing I could suggest is, depending on the age of the burner, to get a CD Lens Cleaning Kit.
Also, try open the "writable CD folder" in Windows Explorer: put a blank CD in, then double-click on the drive in "My Computer". It *should* open a folder that you can drag/drop stuff in to. Can you do that at least?
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Ok, so I actually read your post this time.
I don't want to assume you're a complete noobie or anything and so we eliminate all of the simple stuff from the equation, make sure the proper burn drive is selected for the burn. I was banging my head on Nero until I realized I had some "image writer" selected instead of "G: Lite-ON DVD".
Posts: 1236 | Registered: Mar 2002
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It's possible that "Enable Writing on This Drive" got turned off somehow. Assuming you're using Windows XP, go to "My Computer", right-click on the drive, and go to properties. There should be a "Recording" tab, and the choices there are pretty obvious.
Another possibility is that it got the drive type messed up, in which case you boot up the machine once with it unplugged in order to purge it from the system, then reboot it after you plugged it back in. I had that happen with a DVD/RW.
Another possibility is that it broke.
When was the last time it worked, and what has changed on your system since then?
Posts: 196 | Registered: May 2005
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I'm pretty knowledgeable about computers, I built this one about 3 years ago, and normally I can figure out what's going wrong, but I'm completely stumped on this one.
I last burned a CD about 2 months ago, and I haven't changed anything on the computer since then.
Posts: 1225 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Check your IDE cables then. I've had some really weird experiences with bad, (or about to be bad) IDE cables.
Posts: 317 | Registered: Feb 2005
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If you haven't changed anything on your computer since it last worked (no new hardware, no new software, no patches, no automagic updates, etc.) that pretty much shortens the list of things that could have gone wrong to a hardware failure, or a worm of some sort.
Assuming you're running some sort of anti-virus software, you're probably looking at a busted CD drive. Such things do happen.
Posts: 196 | Registered: May 2005
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I've known drivers to spontaneously corrupt. Have you tried restarting in safe mode and looking at all the drivers there? I'd do that, rip out the current drivers, then reinstall (from the XP discs).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Try opening the disc in windows explorer (my computer) and burning small files to it (text docs).
Posts: 1314 | Registered: Jan 2006
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The probable cause of your problem made MAJOR headlines back about a year ago. SonyBMG's eXtendedCopyrightProtection CDsmuck with your rootkit to prevent transfer to other media. Once activated, it can prevent all burning, irrespective of source.
Causing your computer to refuse to recognise that a CD is blank is the least of the havoc that XCP can cause: naively trying to extract Sony's sabotage can cause your computer to cease recognising that it even has a CD-ROM.
quote:Includes mechanisms to thwart removal by security or anti-spyware products. Cannot be uninstalled by Windows Add/Remove Programs and no uninstaller is provided with application... ...Caution: Access to the user's CD-ROM will be disabled if XCP.Sony.Rootkit is removed manually, due to the missing filter driver. Reconfiguring the CD-ROM driver to a functioning state will be beyond the ability of the average home user. No uninstaller is included with XCP.Sony.Rootkit. Sony BMG has indicated that an uninstaller is available here. Analysis of the uninstaller has shown that it leaves significant vulnerabilities open after running. These vulnerabilities would allow hostile web sites to remotely execute code on a user's machine, among other things.
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