Computer is about 5 years old. Recently started having problems writing to discs. Reading has always/still worked perfectly. It will go through the writing process for several minutes, and then stop, and get an error message. Have been using pre-bundled software(hp record), and when that stopped burning correctly went to basic " right-click files/send to cd drive/right-click cd drive/burn these files to disc", and that worked fine for a couple of days, and I burned several cd's. Now that isn't working either. Even did a system restore to a couple of days before I had problem-no difference. Ideas anyone? Thanks.
its probably had its time... its probably the lazer to write went out and it just dying. I have the same problem with my laptop. Its a CD-RW/DVD-Rom. It reads DVD-Roms perfectly, but doesn't read/write CDs and this happened like a little more than a year after I've had my laptop So i just use my external DVD burner to read/write CDs.
Thanks for replying Dave. I wonder if I should get an internal or external drive. I've never worked on a computer before so I don't know how hard they are to change(internal). And my comp. has a USB 1.0 outlet instead of 2.0, and I don't know if that would make a difference with an external drive.
Was it out of warranty? My DVD burner on my Dell laptop was having problems and Dell shipped me a new (i.e. refurbished) drive overnight.
USB 1.0 will not work well with an external burner. It will probably work (depending on the drive), but it will be slow. Generally most external drives nowadays are predicated on using USB 2.0. They will generally run on USB 1.0 but they will run slow.
Thanks for the info bobrek. Will probably go with an internal drive then. Been checking on newegg, and they have a Pioneer cd/dvd burner(DVR-111D) for under 40 bucks. Seems like a good deal, and it has pretty good reviews.
It makes a huge difference. Do you have a firewire port (1394)? If so, Frye's has great deals on external cases and DVD Burners. If not, I would opt for another internal drive. USB 1.0 is rediculously slow.
yea, my warranty was only for a year with Toshiba I say the same, i would highly get an internal DVD burner. I got an external cause my laptop has USB 2.0 and still can use it with my desktop that has USB 2.0 on it. If your in Houston, check out Directron , really good ones for less than $40.
If you're going to stick to a 5 year old cpu, some of the new RW drives require fast processors. Don't buy something your machine can't handle.
Don't think I have a firewire port. May check Frye's out, but I ordered a couple of usb-ps2 adapters from them 2-4 years ago that didn't work, and they wouldn't let me return them. Was out about 40$, so they're not exactly on my a list. Got a 1.2ghz celeron. I'll have to check min.requirements. Will upgrade comp. someday soon, but unfortunately this isn't that day, and if I can keep this one going for 50$ or so it's worth it. Thanks guys.
I have a problem with my cd burner as well. Ive encountered this problem before, and usually rebooting my computer has helped fix the problem in the past. Now, nothing seems to work (Ive uninstalled the drivers, found new ones, but the old ones back on, tried using it in safe mode, pretty much everything). It runs CD's just fine of course. Basically when I try to burn a CD, especially with itunes tho I get the same error with using Windows own software, I get an error that the CD is already full or write protected EVERY TIME. Sometimes when I try and use the windows burner, it starts up, but gives me a crazy estimated time like 99 minutes. So I'll let it do its thing, but like 15 mins in, it gives me the same error. It kinda sucks not being able to burn CD's.
