My CD burner won't burn =(

hey there! i have an hp pc that included the cd burner (roxio). I've never had a problem with it until I downloaded the service pack 2 for windows xp (home edition). Now I can't burn my digital photos or anything to a cd and i NEED to be able to do this desperately. I went to the roxio website and couldn't find any help there. so now I am relying on some good advice from you fine folks. It will take me thru the wizard and asks if i want to convert the files to hi-mat. I'm not really sure what that is so I say no to that. btw, that's a new little step in the process. but i have tried it by converting and it still doesn't work. it just gives me this message that says an error has occured and the files can't be written. one thing i might mention, too, is that i installed the search and destroy spybot program which got rid of some stuff on my computer. i don't know if that has anything to do with it or if it was something with the service pack 2. this has been going on for a while and i am at a point now that i need to burn about 45 MB of digital photos to a cd. i've been e-mailing smaller files to my neighbor who will burn them for me but 45 MB is quite a bit to ask, even from my best friend. (i know this "fix" probably sounds silly, but, note my name.....lol) I was kinda hoping that u guys might be able to point me in the right direction to fixing my problem here before purchasing a new cd burner. please help me! please? ~blondemommy~

 

Hi, and welcome to MajorGeeks
There shouldn't be any need for you to buy a new CD burner, if it was working prior to the SP2 install. It may be that your burning software needs an update or patch to be compatible with SP2. Go to Roxio's website and check for updates for your version of the software, or any patches they may have for SP2. It may also be that Direct CD, a Roxio program, is causing your problem. As an alternative, until this issue is fixed, you may want to try out XP's native burning program.

 

Thanks for the nice welcome, Novice and the advice. I'm so sorry, but I think I'm a little lost.....what do u mean by XP's native program?

 

I phrased my response wrong. I should have said that XP is shipped with burning capability ( limited in my opinion ). It won't allow you to copy CD's that are copyrighted. To check this out, put a blank CDR in your burner and close it. After the disk is recognized, a window will pop up asking what action you want to take, and burn with XP is one of those options. Sorry if I caused you any confusion!

 

Just did a quick check on Microsoft's website to insure that I was correct. You actually use Media Player to burn CD's with XP. The article that I referenced was 279157. If you want more information on this, go to Microsofts's website and type in "cd burning" in the search window. Hope that this helps!

 

Honey, I'm a true blonde so confusion comes naturally for me. I tried a test burn the way you suggested. It will write the files and when it shows 100%, I get the message that there was a problem writing the files. Here is the additional info it gave me when I clicked the advanced tab (which I certainly do not understand!)
Response: -10 - Disc Read Error - Command:2A Sense:03 ASC:73 ASCQ:03
I've got a bad feeling that my burner is pretty much shot now..... BUT! if you (or anyone else out there) knows of anything, I'm open to suggestions. For now, though, I'm gonna give it a rest and go night night. Thanks for your help and advice, Novice.....and your patience! I'll check back in tomorrow. Have a wonderful night. ~Blondemommy~

 

Well, I had to give that a try real quick before going to bed. I can't seem to select my photos to burn. I can choose videos and audio files but not my digital pics. I think the HP RecordNow program would work but that's where I got that message with the technical info that I posted a few minutes ago. Oh well, thanks anyway, Novice......I'll keep on keeping on...........tomorrow!

 

I agree with Novice this is probably a software issue and a new CD-RW drive should not be necessary. I also agree you should go to Roxio's website looking for patch updates. What version is it by the way? Also it sounds like you have HP RecordNow. If so, what version is that? I know there is a patch for HP RecordNow version 4.56. Anyway, patch updates specifically for Service Pack 2 computers are common, and going to the manufacturers website for drivers should fix this.

If you cannot find the right patches, and you want a band aid fix, install a new program like Nero. It should be SP2 problem free. It is free to use demo software. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2228

(little off topic but when I need to send big file attachments like you, www.yousendit.com works like a charm)

 

If any of your friends have bought a cd burner recently, there is a good chance that they may have a copy of Nero Express that came with it.
Ask them to let you borrow it, and install it and see if that fixes your problem.

 

Wow, thanks for the all the options, ya'll. I'm gonna download one of the burner programs suggested and see if I get any action. As far as the version of Roxio that I have, I don't know. It was installed with my computer when I bought it. I've gone thru my manuals and have done a search but can't find any information on Roxio anywhere here. I'll let ya'll know when I get the burner downloaded if it fixes it. If not, does this mean I need a new burner do you think? ~Blondemommy~

 

Ok, I looked in my control panel under programs. The only Roxio program I found was Roxio EasyWrite Reader and also Roxio UDF Reader. I have burned thousands of photos to cd in the past. It's just the past month or so that I've not been able to. Since installing that SP2. Does this give anyone any ideas as to what happened?

 

Maybe I'm just an idiot, Halo. When I click on Roxio, the only option I get is to change/remove. I installed Nero and tried burning. Here's the error message I got with Nero:

HP CD-Writer cd16f
Power calibration error
Burn process failed at 16x [2400 KB/s]

 

YAY!!!! Blondemommy is a happy girl!!!! I slowed it down to 8x and guess what? IT BURNED, BABY!!! Thanks, guys! Ya'll are GREAT! Have a beautiful day!!
~Blondemommy~