CD-RW Problems

[david_2002]

Hello there! I am having problems with my cd-rw drive. It's a western digital 16x10x40(model no. DR-CDRW161040). The problems I am having are as follows:

1) I have used 1 cd-rw for multiple purposes, I had not experienced any problems until today. Just now, all the files on the cdrw are write protected and the computer is treating it like the cd-rom drive I had previously installed in the same position(same cable, jumper settings, drive bay). The computer is also reading that the cdrw is completely full(when looking under preferences). That is after doing a format. Note: ALL of this worked just fine until about 2 hours ago. I would really like for the drive to be recognized as a cd rw and I would also like it if the computer recognized my cd rw as a cdrw which also just started today while trying to burn some songs to transfer to another computer. The CDRW is a western digital piece of crap. I have not experienced problems burning to cd-r's however.

And:

2) Windows media player has not recognized my cd rw drive as a cdrw drive. When I try and use it to burn a music cd it says no cd recordable device detected. windows media player is version 7.01.00.3055.

Thank you in advance for your help

[Nuclear Krusader]

Hi david_2002 and welcome to the PC Mech forums!!

What are your system's specs?

I assume you have tried more than one CDRW disc, right?

[david_2002]

First off thank you for the welcome

I am running win 98 on an intel celeron 433 w/192 MB RAM. (I know it's old....forgive me ) Of course, as i said before, it DID work before.

Some more info: After looking some more, it appears win 98 does not have built in recognition for cdrws. In the device manager it tells me that it is a standard cd-rom device. It appears there is a cd rw driver on the cd that came w/the drive but it says it is not required. I don't want to mess w/it unless I have to since I'll have to edit the autoexec.bat file to get it to auto-load and i try not to do too much editing in the autoexec.bat file.

Oh...and yes I have tried more than one CDRW disc.

BTW, I am trying another full format right now...I'll tell you what turns up. But of course, it still won't fix the media player prob regardless.

[Nuclear Krusader]

What burning software are you using? Nero?

[david_2002]

The CDRW drive supposedly came with nero but instead it's just a series of progs, NTI CD Maker, FileCD are the 2 I am using.

[Nuclear Krusader]

How did you try to burn files in WMP? I've never heard it allows you to do so. At least not in W98, only in XP.

Oh, and BTW what is the maximum CDR burning speed you are getting with your drive?

[david_2002]

I just choose copy files to cd from the cd library. It works(well supposedly) in the version that i have but I just get told I don't have a burner.

16x is the max CDR burn speed.

[mike breck]

Hi david_2002,

the computer is treating it like the cd-rom drive I had previously installed in the same position(same cable, jumper settings, drive bay).

Did this trouble start when you moved the CD-RW drive?

What devices do you have installed on IDE1 and IDE2 at the moment and how have you jumpered them?

Is the CD-RW recognised properly in the BIOS?

How is the CD-RW listed in Device Manager?

What kind of cables are you using on both IDE channels - standard 40 wire/40pin or ATA 66/100 cables with the blue, gray, and black connectors?

[Cricket]

Originally posted by david_2002 Hello there! I am having problems with my cd-rw drive. It's a western digital 16x10x40(model no. DR-CDRW161040).

Western Digital makes CD-RW's?

Cricket

[david_2002]

Did this trouble start when you moved the CD-RW drive? What devices do you have installed on IDE1 and IDE2 at the moment and how have you jumpered them? Is the CD-RW recognised properly in the BIOS? How is the CD-RW listed in Device Manager? What kind of cables are you using on both IDE channels - standard 40 wire/40pin or ATA 66/100 cables with the blue, gray, and black connectors?

1) I never moved the CD RW drive, except when installing it.

2) It's configured as a slave(an recognised as one) to the hard drive on the primary IDE controller using the cable select method.

3) Yes, it's recognized properly in the BIOS.

4) The brand is right, but it thinks it's a standard cd rom drive.

5) I'm using 40 pin connectors.

[Michael]

It's a Digital Research cdrw, not WD.

http://www.dr-tech.com/products/dr-cdrw161040.htm

[david_2002]

DId I say western digital! Oops! It says digital research right on the friggin box...:-o

[Michael]

Have you tried simply removing it from device mamager and rebooting? Have you gone into safe mode and checked in device manager for ghost drives?

[david_2002]

Yes and yes, and all was normal/stayed the same.

[mike breck]

You can have problems with Optical devices using Cable Select.

Try moving the Burner to IDE2 and using a standard 40wire/40pin IDE cable instead of the ATA 66/100 80wire/40pin cable you are using on IDE1.

N.B. both these IDE cables have 40 pin connectors but the ATA 66/100 cable has 80 WIRES instead of 40 WIRES. You can usually identify the ATA 66/100 cables by their black, gray, and blue connectors. But if there is any doubt, just count the wires on the ribbon. Each bump on the ribbon is one wire.

Are you using an ATA 66/100 80wire/40pin cable with the black (HD), gray (slave), and blue (mobo) connectors on IDE1?

Cable Select only works with this type of cable.

If you are using a standard 40wire/40pin IDE cable on IDE1, then change the jumper settings to Master and Slave for the devices.

However, you won't get the full performance out of the HD unless you use an ATA 66/100 cable.

What make of HD is it on IDE1?

[glc]

Mike: If his motherboard doesn't have an ATA66 or 100 controller, there's no point in using 80 wire cables. If this is a proprietary system (Dell, Compaq) they may have 40 wire cable select cables, if so, the cables will be labeled as such.

Go into the BIOS and set all IDE channels to AUTO, then boot up to SAFE MODE and remove ALL drives from the CD section of device manager and reboot. If you are loading a real mode CD driver in config.sys, REM it out.

[david_2002]

Mike: If his motherboard doesn't have an ATA66 or 100 controller, there's no point in using 80 wire cables. If this is a proprietary system (Dell, Compaq) they may have 40 wire cable select cables, if so, the cables will be labeled as such.

I am using an HP pavilion(it was bought I knew better than to buy a pre-made system). Since a lot of the pre-made systems are VERY fussy I tried to just leave the settings for the CDRW the same as they were for the CD-ROM drive which is cable select on IDE1 along with the HDD.

I will take your suggestion glc I'll post an update in a few mins.

[david_2002]

UPDATE: Tried your suggestion glc, but unfortunately I am getting the same results

I may try installing it to IDE 2 a little bit later

EDIT: I'm now going to install it as a master on the secondary IDE controller.

[mike breck]

Thanks glc,

I didn't know about the proprietary 40 wire/40pin CS cables in these systems.

[david_2002]

Installing as master on IDE2 had no effect. Not sure what to try now. I was considering tech support but I'll have to investigate their fees because quite frankly I am not paying more for something that didn't work properly in the first place.

[gladiator]

This may not be of help,

but When my Cr-rw stopped being recgonized I believe it was because of either installing Nero after I already had NTI installed and they conflicted. and or because of installing mediaplayer 7. which has some conflicts with certain cd players from what i've read on the MS site. have you done either of these??

I never did get it fixed I ended up doing a fdisk and reinstall.

If I knew how to fix the registry I probably could have saved my self that trouble.

[david_2002]

This may not be of help, but When my Cr-rw stopped being recgonized I believe it was because of either installing Nero after I already had NTI installed and they conflicted. and or because of installing mediaplayer 7. which has some conflicts with certain cd players from what i've read on the MS site. have you done either of these?? I never did get it fixed I ended up doing a fdisk and reinstall. If I knew how to fix the registry I probably could have saved my self that trouble.

Holy Exactly what I did, Batman!

Had NTI installed and just installed media player 7.4 about the time it stopped working.....now isn't that just crappy.

[gladiator]

Originally posted by david_2002 Holy Exactly what I did, Batman! Had NTI installed and just installed media player 7.4 about the time it stopped working.....now isn't that just crappy.

yepper sure is now if you can figure out how to fix the regisrty to get rid of the NTI and the media player keys you won't have to fdisk and reformat like I did.

I would have tried a little harder to fix the regisrty but it was high time I fdisk and reformatted anyway. it was like 3 yrs since I had built the computer!! and I had everything backed-up.

[mike breck]

Sorry guys, I'm having an acronym block - what's NTI?

[Michael]

NTI= New Tech InfoSystems

[mike breck]

Thanks Michael - so it's burning software.