Solved CDDVD Suddenly Won't Read Blank Media

[remm]

Acer Aspire 4530 W7-64 Ultimate
internal TSST Corp TS-L633A A00 CD/DVD writer.

This driver/burner had been working fine, reading blank media and burning audio CDs. Last time I burned CDs was 4mos ago. Burned about 5 at that time.

I went to burn one the other day and the drive can no longer read the blank media, even though it is the same cake box I have been using all along, so I know it isn't a compatibility issue. It spins and searches, then clicks a few times, then spins more, etc until finally it causes any open program and even Explorer (Desktop) to stop responding. When I hit eject, it opens right up.

Some quick points:

1. The drive is detected fine, shows up in Computer, so this isn't a filters problem.

2. The drive reads/plays discs with data/music/movies just fine. Only BLANK media is a problem.

3. Acer makes no firmware upgrades available.

4. W7 has the device driver internally, and no device drivers are available (tried updating it).

5. Device Mgr reports the drive is working fine.

6. Ran MSs CDFixit program. It found errors/fixed them, but still detected problem (no kidding).

7. Have Nero 10 portable installed -- the same program I have been using all along.

8. THE MEDIA I AM USING IS THE SAME CAKE BOX I WAS USING BEFORE JUST FINE.

Even so, I bought some Sony media, and same problem.

Aside from junking the drive, does anyone have any ideas? I feel something corrupted it and if I could fix it, it would work again.... Thanks.

 

[mickey megabyte]

it's a wild guess, but it may be an autoplay problem.

when inserting a blank cd, did you normally see a menu come up asking what you want to do?

try temporarily disabling autoplay, then load in a blank cd and see if you can write something to it using nero or whatever.

 

[remm]

Hey mickey, thanks for responding. I think you are on to something!!!

I forgot about this until I read your post, but a couple weeks ago I was looking for a good startup mgr and installed a few proggies to try out, (uninstalling all but autoruns). However, one program (forget which) did a "Windows security check" and reported that either AutoRun or AutoPlay was turned on (probably the former but can't remember) and was a security risk and did I want it turned off.

Now up to this point - including when my CD drive was working fine - whenever I attached an external drive or popped in a memory stick, the little window would open asking if I wanted to open the folders on the drive or chose a program, etc.

But for some reason when it asked me, I thought, "eh" and clicked the button to let the program disable it. And the window popup stopped (of course).

And I think that could be the problem!!

Because something seems screwy... I read the link you provided, thinking maybe I needed to ENABLE both AutoRun and AutoPlay again... expecting neither were enabled since I wasn't getting the popup window anymore. But when I went into Control Panel and opened the AutoPlay window I was surprised to see it was already enabled... and then I looked up the instructions for enabling AutoRun and it is ALSO enabled... yet I do NOT get a popup when I insert a memory stick or attach an external drive (or place a CD with data in the drive). All of these show up in file manager and I can access them, but no popup.

You hit the nail on the head... the problem is lurking here somewhere!

I tried disabling AutoPlay like you suggested, and it made no difference. Then I enabled again and it also made no difference. Meanwhile, still no popup!

Another clue is that after trying these things Nero now hangs so badly that even Task Mgr can't shut it down. (Before, TM could end it after several tries.) I had to reboot to get rid of it. So seems like something is corrupted. Like maybe conflicting registry entries regarding AutoPlay and AutoRun??

Might sfc/ scannow fix this kind of error? Meanwhile I will try to find the proper reg entries for both to try to get the popup window again (which is how the machine was before all the problems started) to see what happens...

Thanks so much for giving me a direction, and if you have more suggestions I am all ears!!

 

[mickey megabyte]

that's about as far as my suggestions go, i'm afraid - i'm no autoplay expert! it was just an idea...

sfc-ing wouldn't hurt - you may be lucky and fix your problem.

meanwhile, there is great talent on this forum and somebody may come across this thread and be able to offer more advice.

good luck!

 

[seavixen32]

I hope you don't think this is a cop-out, but I'd be inclined to carry out a system restore to a point before you installed the application you think may be at the root of your problem.

Failing that, if you know the name of this application, check whether it's listed in the uninstall programs list under Programs in your control panel,. and then uninstall it.

You could also go into msconfig and prevent if from starting up.

In the meantime I'll do a bit of research to see if I can come up with any answers.

 

[remm]

that's about as far as my suggestions go, i'm afraid - i'm no autoplay expert! it was just an idea...[...] good luck!

And a very good one! I think this will lead me to the problem... thanks again so much for getting me started!

 

[mickey megabyte]

happy to point you in the right direction - any time.

 

[remm]

I hope you don't think this is a cop-out, but I'd be inclined to carry out a system restore to a point before you installed the application you think may be at the root of your problem.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will see if I can pinpoint the night I was doing all that installation... but this is a good fallback if nothing else works... I sort of hate to do System Restore unless I have to though, when the restore point is more than a few days old... just b/c of changes I have made to the system in the meantime. But I will keep this in my back pocket.

Failing that, if you know the name of this application, check whether it's listed in the uninstall programs list under Programs in your control panel,. and then uninstall it.

You could also go into msconfig and prevent if from starting up.

In the meantime I'll do a bit of research to see if I can come up with any answers.

Thank you for that. As far as the program goes, it was uninstalled moments after I tested it. I assumed the change it made was the standard system change that I could undo on my own if I wanted to switch it back (and within days, I did, but hadn't gotten around to it). But the program seemed more geared to XP and earlier systems when AutoRun was potentially more dangerous than it is in W7 where, from what I understand, everything runs through AutoPlay before being executed. IAC I have no idea which program it was now... I tested maybe 6 in a row.

B/c I uninstalled it, I don't believe anything is being executed but will double-check. I know there is nothing unusual in startup as Autoruns startup mgr just shows the normal programs. But will check msconfig too.

Thanks again!!

 

[remm]

OK, an update FTR:

1. sfc found nothing to fix

2. msconfig showed nothing unusual starting up or running as a service

3. I pinpointed the day I installed/uninstalled the proggie and system restore isn't an option... I did a lot of system maintenance since then (scanned with various AVs and got rid of potential infections, replaced a couple programs, and also did Windows updates). It would be faster & easier to buy a new drive. But it was a good thought!

Now I will see about manually finding out why the popup window doesn't open....

 

[remm]

Now I've done it... I Googled a possible reg fix, and usually never backup when I make reg changes b/c I never run into problems. This time, since I was going to be deleting a key that might have been the problem, I decided FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER to backup the reg first. So I backed up the reg, deleted the key, and it made no difference to the problem. So thought I'd restore the reg back to what it was... and did. Then it asked me to reboot... and now my machine is toast. BSOD right after initial windows logo and progress bar appears, and before login screen appears. Tried booting into safe mode. Same BSOD. Tried booting into last known good config. Same BSOD. Tried booting from a W7 64 Repair CD I have... CD player is now deciding it cannot read data Cds. Tried hitting the Pause/Break button on the BSOD so I could at least read it... would not stop. So I booted from my mem stick where I have a portable Linux OS. So much for not wanting to do a System Restore from a week ago! That sounds pretty darn good now!! If I hadn't backed up the reg I would not be in this mess!! (Cause I would not have restored it!) I was using rr.exe a portable version of resplendent registry, which I have used for years... but never used the backup/restore feature before... maybe it doesn't know how to do 64-bit systems... Well.... off to Google the filename of the reg in W7 then will see if I can pull it off a backup I have and copy it over using Linux... or something. Will be back when I get back up and running! (And I did put in paragraph breaks but being in Linux, it doesn't seem to be sticking here for some reason!)

 

[seavixen32]

I think at this stage a clean install is probably your best bet.

Do you have a Windows DVD?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

If you don't have any means of recovery, check this tutorial.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

 

[remm]

More Resolved Than Solved

After quickly exhausting other possibilities, I tried booting from my W7 Repair disc... only the CD drive would not boot from the disc, even though it was reading everything but blanks before! Then found my old Dell laptop and removed the CD drive, but it had a different port. So pilfered one from my Toshiba, and it fit fine.

Windows repair, however, could not solve the problem. So the only other choice was restoring a week old backup, which was made right before I installed the program that seemed to screw up AutoPlay. (Didn't want to have to do this but it was the only viable option left.)

So got that going... and in the middle of restoring the drive the laptop turned off as if power had been cut. D'oh!! (Turns out I forgot to plug it back into AC after installing the CD drive!) That'll do it!

After that I could not boot from the Macrium CD anymore... it would get to a point and the screen would go blank... finally an internal DOS system (not Macrium) screen appeared saying the master boot record was missing and something else... well yeah, b/c the restore process got truncated! So had to install Windows from scratch, so that I could boot from the Macrium CD again, to restore my week old backup.

The point being, the offending drive that started this thread is no longer in the machine, and the present incarnation of my OS has not been fnarkled by the program that fnarkled the previous incarnation.

However, in the interest of tying up loose ends, I did stick the misbehaving drive in the Toshiba, and both under Linux and in the Toshiba it still cannot read blank discs, (though it does play music CDs fine). So my conclusion is that if it behaves the same way on another machine and also under another OS, it's gone to the dark side. I will be chucking it.

I will mark the thread solved, though "resolved" is more like it. Thanks again for your help, guys.

 

[remm]

I think at this stage a clean install is probably your best bet.

Do you have a Windows DVD?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

If you don't have any means of recovery, check this tutorial.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

Thanks Seavixen32... was one step ahead...

Have a most excellent weekend. Libations on me.

 

[rcloud7]

I was having similar problems first native windows 7 dvd burning stopped working.. then my burner started asking me to format discs manually.. then the format option on the context menu vanished. I stumbled upon the solution on accident. Apparently you don't want to go pulling USB flash drives in and out at will without following proper eject procedures or this can really mess with your DVD burners functionality. My fix was to plug in my usb flash drive and properly eject it before removing it. Seems very weird but now my DVD burner works just fine.