Windows 7: DVD burner won't work properly (really strange)

I'm having a real strange case with my dvd burner. I was burning a series of dvds and everything was going fine until suddenly, immediately after successfully burning a dvd, it stopped working, refusing to burn correctly. I can't seem to return it to normal even though I've tried tons of stuff. Here are the grimy details.

1) It reads dvds just fine, though the autoplay function doesn't work. I can right-click and click on auto-play, but it doesn't come up automatically anymore.

2) When I try to burn raw data to a disc using the standard Windows function (double-click the black disc in the D drive) it crashes after a few seconds and the window closes, then the dvd drive won't open anymore unless I restart the computer. However, when I put the failed disc in another computer it shows all the files with their correct file types and sizes. I was even able to extract an .exe file from it and install it on anther computer, as well as view pictures, though ISO files and MP3s seemed to be broken.
I'm guessing either it only writes for a few seconds then stops or it keeps writing even though it seems to crash and acts as though it's frozen (and it therefore only partially written to because I restart the computer during the hidden write process, but this is only a guess).

3) When I try to burn a dvd using DVD Flick or Windows DVD Maker it fails shortly after it starts burning with a non-specific error message. However, the dvds are slightly written to. The dvd is titled as I wanted, but that's it, the rest is wasted. Also, when I tried to burn a movie using DVD Flick, it encoded and did everything else just fine, it only failed when it automatically opened ImgBurn to burn the encoded data.
However, I was able to burn a dvd using DVD Flick while in Safe Mode (hurray!), though the audio was about a second or two out of sync (though that may have been a coincidence since that has the rare chance of happening).

3b) Update: I uninstalled and reinstalled DVD Flick and it's working fine now, as well as Windows DVD Maker, but the issues listed in "2)" regarding burning data discs are still present.

4) I successfully burned an ISO of a program using ImgBurn. Also, I was able to turn an AVI file into an ISO file using ImgBurn (via the "create image file from files/folder" option), then successfully burned it to a dvd using ImgBurn. The result was as if I had burned it as data using the Windows "burn a disc" function. So it is possible to
make data discs, but only through ImgBurn it seems.

5) I uninstalled and re-installed (restarting as necessary) the disk driver, nothing changed. I also cleaned my system out using tools like Advanced SystemCare, Glary Utilities, etc., then checked for viruses. No viruses, and the system maintenance didn't help.

I know I can most likely fix it by doing a re-installation of Windows, but I just did a clean install like 2 weeks ago because of previous software issues (certain programs just stopped working, partially from dependency issues) and really don't want to again. There HAS to be some way to fix this. Thanks to everyone in advance. If anyone wants any more info just ask and I'll do my best to get it.

So you tried using the sfc/scannow command?
SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

System images come in handy for these types of problems, maybe you should make one for next this this problem occurs. You can set up Windows file recovery to make system images very easily provided that you have another hard drive or an extra partition.
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup

The "scannow" command showed no errors, but thanks for recommending. And funny thing about system restoration (I know, not what you mentioned, but it reminded me), all my system restore points seemed to have disappeared since this started happening. Not just that, but the System Restore function was turned off. A clean system restore was one of my first ideas, and probably would have fixed it, but for some reason it's not an option. I have no idea how or when that happened, but know that I did indeed have restores points since I made some while installing Linux Mint as a second operating system.

I have to type this from my girlfriend's POS Vista Home Basic laptop, which is now running worlds better than mine. Since today my computer has been slowing down tremendously, crashing, and black screening into a frozen mess. It crashes if I do more than one thing at a time it seems, whereas several days ago I was able to run all kinds of programs at once. It's so bad, maybe I should run another chkdsk for disk errors (although I did about a week ago routinely and had zero errors). I was experiencing problems like this on my older laptop and chkdsk fixed it (slowdown/crashing problems, not burning problems).

I also did more virus checks, with Avira, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and Microsoft Security Essentials. No results. And no, Avira and MSE don't conflict, and even if they did, I only started running MSE alongside Avira after these issues appeared and I started running out of ideas. Bah, I hate Windows! I can't wait until Linux takes over.

The attached registry file will write operating system supplied values to your registry.
Hopefully it will restore native DVD burning.
Use the appropriate file to match your systems architecture.

Holy crap, it worked! Dude, you are the MAN! I've seen you on these forums before and you seemed to be the go-to guy for magic fixes, but to personally see you in action is just awesome. Your help is MUCH appreciated. Now I just gotta fix the random freezing and crashing, but I'll take that to a more appropriate forum. Thanks, guys!

(WELL, it worked at first, now it's messed up again. Details below...)

If you were a user of my codec packages, (link in my signature)
problems like this are auto-detected and corrected without the user even knowing it.

you're welcome.

I'll certainly install them.

Chev65, I'm actually using a fix you gave someone else that had similar freezing issues I have. Trying to find out how to fix my memory timings (I know, I'll be careful ). A million thanks to both you guys, you seem to really show your shiznit!

Okay, I hate to post this right after my previous shout of victory, but it's messing up again. I tried to burn a data disc using the standard Windows features and it stopped just like 5-10 seconds into it like before, only this time the dvd tray was able to open after it crashed instead of getting stuck. I re-tried and it froze again, this time the dvd tray stuck. I restarted, re-did the registry fix you gave me and started burning for the third time. It worked for maybe 60 seconds, going as normal, then stopped in its tracked as usual, dvd tray once again stuck.

My uneducated mind is thinking these problems are a bit more widespread and deep that we previously thought. I'm running chkdsk /r as soon as I post this. Wish me luck!

Okay, so I ended up completely wiping my hard drive with zeroes via Darik's Boot and Nuke, then did a fresh install of my operating system (upgrading to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit). I put a dvd in and the autoplay screen popped right up (yay), something it didn't do before. I started to burn a dvd and it went great for 5 minutes, but at 2 minutes remaining the operation stopped and my disk tray wouldn't open, just like before.

Does this sound like a hardware issue? I hope it is because if not I'm screwed unless someone has a magic answer. Though I don't see how Shark's registry fix could have helped dead/dying hardware. Also, I don't see how ImgBurn could still work with messed up hardware.

Okay, so I just found a way to flash the driver. I successfully upgraded it from ATAPI iHAS424 Y ZL1U to ATAPI iHAS424 Y ZL1W. I restarted the computer and the disc tray wouldn't open. I restarted it again and it opened just fine, autoplay worked, all good. I tried to burn a data disc and once again it screwed up after half a second, now have to restart it again to open the tray.

I then uninstalled the driver again and booted in safe mode, the driver installed as the ZL1W but I flashed it again for the heck of it. I then restarted in safe mode again, this time uninstalling a number of my newest programs, then for good measure did Shark's registry trick again. I restarted in safe mode for a third time (accidentally). I restarted in normal mode and it burned properly, hurray! I then reinstalled all those programs again and restarted my computer: drive gone bad again just as before (curious...). I uninstalled all the programs and restarted in normal mode, and lo and behold it burns again!

Okay, so it looks like one of the programs is the culprit, right? Let's find out which one: I then reinstalled several programs (MagicDisc, Auslogics Disc Defragmenter, EaseUS Partition Manager, and EaseUS Todo Backup) and burned another dvd successfully. I installed some more programs (KeepPass, MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition, and Recuva), and it worked. Then I did Revo Uninstaller, muCommander, and HWMonitor; it worked. I reinstalled Skype, it burned just fine. So...what happened? It seems that none of them were the problem. I restarted the computer again just in case some part of the bad program only kicks in after a reboot, but I was still able to burn. Good I guess, but I have no idea what was wrong or what I fixed.

I notice I was burning over and over to the same DVD-RW (for the successful burns that is), so I put in a blank dvd and burned it successfully. However, a split second after I finished burning it my computer blue screens with this message: "A problem has been detected and Windows has to shut down to prevent damage from being done." It then shuts down! When I reboot I find this log file:

----------
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 9b
BCP1: 000000000014031C
BCP2: FFFFF88008D48E38
BCP3: FFFFF88008D48690
BCP4: FFFFF8000300D9BC
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\051512-20514-01.dmp
C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-34663-0.sysdata.xml

Read our privacy statement online:
Windows 7 Privacy Statement - Microsoft Windows

If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:
C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt
----------

The .xml file didn't exist as it said it did, but the .dmp file had the following info:

----------
Bug Check String: UDFS_FILE_SYSTEM
Bug Check Code: 0x0000009b
Parameter 1: 00000000'0014031c
Parameter 2: fffff880'08d48e38
Parameter 3: fffff880'08d48690
Parameter 4: fffff880'0300d9bc
Caused By Driver: udfs.sys
Cauesd By Address: udfs.sys+c1c0
Crash Address: ntoskrnl.exe+7f1c0
----------

Anyway, after recovering from that I tried burning the exact same dvd that caused the blue screen with another new dvd. It didn't happen again, burn successful. So I guess it's fixed (for now)? We'll see.

Oh, and the dvd tray sticks sometimes now. Just started.