DVD burner appears to work, but doesn't

[FalvinP]

I have what I think to be a software conflict issue. I have this DVD burner in my recent build:

Liteon LH-20A1L-06

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16827106072

The short story is that the dvd burner won’t burn projects when using several burning programs including iTunes7.5.0.20 (I haven’t downloaded 7.6…), Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 10 (retail version bought at store), Nero 7 Essentials Vista Ready (oem version that came with dvd burner), and Pinnacle Studio 11, Ultimate Edition v. 11.1.1.5224 (retail box bought through Newegg). The Roxio and Pinnacle software have the latest updates. I decided against updating iTunes, and I just put Nero on to try and diagnose the problem.

It will, however, burn a music data disc when I use the burning feature built in to Windows media player v. 11.0.6000.6344.

All four programs currently exist on my computer, in addition to Media Player that comes with Vista.

Soon after building my computer, I tested the burner to make sure it was operational. Since I didn’t have anything installed other than Vista, I just used the burning features to create a small data disk. I didn’t need the burner right away, so I didn’t install any type of burning software until I installed iTunes in January, ’08. I then had a problem with an opening error message, as well as a crash, that is documented in this thread on the Apple forums:

http://discussions.apple.com/message...305362#6305362

I didn’t get any definitive answers to the question. It wasn’t really a big deal at the time and I have never uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes.

The next thing I installed was Roxio Easy Media Creator. I needed to get the Vista version of this software to start on my annual softball video project. There ended up being a bug in the software that conflicts with my HP C7180 all-in-one printer. It has something to do with the cue service not working and is documented here:

http://forums.support.roxio.com/inde...howtopic=33899

As with the iTunes issue, this was merely an irritant and not much else. I have not done the fix that would potentially disable the buttons on my all-in-one. I don’t remember if I burned anything using this program before using Pinnacle Studio.

The Roxio product wouldn’t work the way earlier versions had. I couldn’t “dock” stuff unless the screen resolution was very high, making the type so small I couldn’t read it. Because of this flaw, I bought Pinnacle Studio.

I created a slide show project in Studio and output it to a disk file. First to the Pinnacle format file and then later to an ISO file. I then tried to burn both types of files to a dvd and, while the software seemed to be doing something, and took the amount of time that seemed reasonable for the project, it would not play, nor would Windows Explorer see any files on it. When I tried to reuse the same disk, the software said the disk already had information on it. One thing that is odd is that the drive doesn't make as much noise as it normally does while writing a project, even though the drive light flashes like it usually does during this operation.

To try to troubleshoot the problem, I attempted to burn a data disk using the Roxio. It did the same thing….appeared to be working but nothing on disk.

I then installed the Nero software for the first time. Same thing there. Wouldn’t work……..

Just to be sure that the burner was still operational, I burned an mp3 file onto a DVD using Media Player. Worked this time, so I suppose it’s not the drive.

I realize that I’ve given perhaps too much information about my problem, but I wanted those more knowledgeable than me to have all the relevant info. I realize that I could reinstall iTunes, but who knows if that would solve the problem? And it wouldn’t solve the bug that appears with Roxio that appears independently of iTunes.

Are there any ideas on what I should do? I’m sure the issue might involve uninstalling something. If I were to uninstall anything, it would be the Roxio, but I can’t reinstall it because I no longer have the installation disks for it. I was planning on uninstalling the Roxio anyway…………. I wondering if the problem relates all the way back to when I installed iTunes? I guess there’s no way to tell until I try it, but I wanted to see if anyone else has had this similar issue.

Thanks for your help.

[not important]

Very possible you have a defective DVDRW drive. I have seen dying drives that would burn CD's but not DVD's. I would try testing it in another PC to be sure.

[theginkamos]

I have the same problem. I also think its the DVDRW drive. I just don't want to buy a one . .

[FalvinP]

Earlier today, before I had read these replies, I decided to try the dvd(s) in my little home theatre system dvd. I was amazed that all three of them worked! I still can't make them play on my computer and Explorer still can't see anything on them. I'm taking the dvd over to a friend's house to see if it works in his laptop and desktop computers.

If the dvds work and can be seen by Explorer, I'll know it's a defective drive. It's funny, though........... everything onscreen shows that the dvd burner is working properly.....(looked up through device manager.)

[FalvinP]

My problem appears to be resolved.

When I took the DVD to my friend's house, I was able to successfully play the dvd, as well as look at the files on the disk. It played in both his set top DVD player, as well as on his laptop. This told me that the burner was probably performing normally. I figured that it had to be a software conflict.

I forgot to mention in my original post another installed program that I think has a burning feature built in to it. This was the Creative MediaSource that was used for my Creative Zen Microphoto mp3 player, which I've stopped using since I got my iPod. Since this was installed before iTunes, I decided to uninstall it first. That solution worked for me. I'm able to play the dvds, as well as examine files on the disk.

I thought I'd post the resolution to my problem in case others have a similar issue.

Thianks to those who replied to my original post.