CD Burner Problems

[CyberSurfer]

My Creative Blaster 8x4x32 (Approx 1 1/2 years old) is refusing to work properly.

I took the drive out of my comp over the easter holidays to take home. Over the holidays, the drive was installed in my parents PC, and worked correctly. After the holidays, I put the drive back into my PC (it is plugged in correctly). My computer was not switched on between removing the drive and replacing it. The drive read data from CDs correctly when I replaced it, so I assumed it was working. When I tried to write a CD today however, it wouldn't work. I have encountered the following problems.

• It will write files, but hangs the computer if I try to delete files in Prassi abCD
• Nero refuses to detect blank CDs and when the "Insert Blank CD" screen appears, nothing happens. The drive LED flashes for a bit, then stops but the whirring noises continue.
• Nero detects the drive adapter as ESDI_506, which I don't think it did before.

The drive has been tried on both Nero and XCDRoast (Linux), both of which worked correctly before. the holidays. I also tried it on NTI CDMaker Pro, which I havn't tried before but still won't work. It basically did the same as Nero.

I've tried re-detecting IDE devices in BIOS, and checked the connector on the drive, which was plugged in correctly. I'm now at my wits end, and would be REALLY grateful if any of you guys can come up with any ideas. I really can't afford to replace my burner, and kinda use it a lot too..

Thanks in Advance...

[filburt1]

Make sure a jumper didn't get knocked out or anything...

[CyberSurfer]

The only jumper was that which set the drive to Sec Master, and it's still detected as such...My Mobo has mostly dip switches instead of jumpers, and I didn't actually touch the motherboard during drive replacement....I'll have a look later, though, just don't want to take my PC apart until I see if anyone else replies..

[Defaulted]

I just had the same thing happen to me, although I didn't have the drive out. It just quit detecting CD-R media when I'd try to write, but would read discs just fine. My drive was manufactured by Lite-On. Lite-On's web site said that if I tried several media brands and it still wouldn't detect, then the drive needed to be repaired or replaced. It was still under warranty - I had to pay postage to send it in - and I'm still waiting to hear back.

BTW, Nero would occasionally detect the CD after re-inserting it several times, but then it would just hang or give an "Unable to set fixation point" error - then the burn process would fail.

Good luck

[CyberSurfer]

Bugger....I'm hoping to avoid buying a new drive, as I can't afford it right now....I voided the warranty when I took the cover off ages back...

[Defaulted]

You probably already did this, did you go through all of the support stuff at the Creative web site?

http://www.americas.creative.com/sup...e.asp?centric=

[CyberSurfer]

Yeah, I'd already looked at that, and although my problem was mentioned, none of the suggested solutions worked...it's really beginning to look like it's the drive...anyone else have any ideas?

[Muddy]

Originally posted by CyberSurfer
...it's really beginning to look like it's the drive...

just make sure you move it back to your parents PC to make sure first.

i know you are confident that the cable(s) are properly connected, but it wouldnt hurt to reseat them anyway ...

just some (probably obvious) ideas ...

[JungleMan]

Flash firmware on drive maybe?

Otherwise drive may be fooked...my Yamaha did that

If you can check out Newegg they've got a Lite On 32x burner that's like $75 or somit...