My DVD burner reads but has stopped burning...

[bfollowell]

I've been having issues with my main desktop computer which runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. My DVD burner stopped working a couple of months ago. When I say it stopped working, I guess I should say that it stopped successfully burning discs. It still reads just fine. It just won't burn. Any discs I try to create seem to make it to about 25-30% before failing and I wind up with a coaster. I don't tend to need to burn all that much anymore and my wife and I have been extremely busy around the house so I've put off troubleshooting for a while.

Skip ahead a couple of months. A couple of days ago, I decided to swap the drive with a known good spare that I have. Guess what? The same results. The drive reads just fine but only burns to about 25-30% before failing. The suspected bad drive works fine in another computer. Obviously I have some software/driver issue. Unfortunately, I have no idea what may have changed to cause this. Also, after two months of installing and uninstalling this and that, I really don't think I have any good Restore Point options.

Before I decide to reformat and start fresh to fix the problem, does anyone have any ideas of any settings or anything that I could look at that may help?

Thanks in advance to anyone that may have any ideas.

- Byron Followell

 

[Boozad]

What program are you using to burn?

 

[bfollowell]

What program are you using to burn?

All of them!

Well, I guess that's a slight exaggeration.

I typically use the newest version of Roxio, Roxio 2013 currently, fully updated. Since this trouble started I've tried various other apps I have and trials I've downloaded. I've tried Roxio, Alcohol, Nero, I'm certain there are others that I'm forgetting but those are the main three that I know for certain that I've tried. Oh, and the built-in Windows Image Burner or whatever it's called.

- Byron

 

[madcratebuilder]

Could be drivers or could be the hardware. It's not uncommon for cd/dvd's to quit burning but continue to read OK. Is the dvd showing in device manager as OK?

 

[bfollowell]

Could be drivers or could be the hardware. It's not uncommon for cd/dvd's to quit burning but continue to read OK. Is the dvd showing in device manager as OK?

madcratebuilder,

Yes, it shows up in device manager just fine. Yes, I realize that it could be a driver issue and stated as much in my original post, just as I'd stated that I'd already checked out the hardware.

When I swapped this drive with a known good drive, the good drive fails in the exact same way that the original drive did. When I put the drive in question in another machine, it burns just fine. That's what lead me to believe it's strictly a software issue and why I inquired about such.

Thanks for your reply.

- Byron

 

[Boozad]

If it is software it's a strange one as it's not exclusive to a certain program. I'm still trying to get my head around this one but I'm coming up with nothing at the moment.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Strange one indeed. I would remove all burner software, do a clean install of the dvd device driver and then use the W7 imbedded burner and see what you get. Cable issue?

 

[fireberd]

If you have Roxio Drag to Disc installed, get rid of it as it has been known to conflict and cause burning problems.

What burning are you having problems with? CD or DVD or both?