Can't burn DVD?

Using a Dell XPS400, XP Professional, SP3.

I do not know if this is an OS problem, a Mother Board problem, or ???

I can read from the internal DVD (HL-DT-ST- DVD+RW GWA4164B) but can NOT write to it.
When I try to write a light on the Floppy drive flashes.
When I check "Properities" on the DVD the Floppy light flashes.

I also attached an external DVD (SONY DVD-RW DRU-840A USB). Same story can read but not write.
I am thinking that there is a switch in the registery that is pointing the write function to the Floppy - Maybe??

I have tried varouis DVD brands and used several different burning software.

My Nephew switched out my internal DVD to his computer. It worked fine.

He also switched his DVD-RW into my computer. It would read but not write.

There is also an internal DVD-ROM - if I check "Properities" the Floppy light flashes.

Any help with this will be appreciated.

OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 3, 32 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80GHz, x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 4
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 2046 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 , 256 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 109646 MB, Free - 58587 MB;
D: Total - 42876 MB, Free - 42810 MB;
I: Total - 114470 MB, Free - 68277 MB;
Motherboard: Dell Inc. , 0YC523, , ..CN70821617E0NW.
Antivirus: AntiVir Desktop, Updated: Yes,

 

There is a registry fix you can try to fix this problem. I've used it a couple of times and it has worked however, your situation isn't exactly the same as the ones I've had.

If you are not comfortable with editing the registry do NOT do this.

1) Open regedit (Start > Run... > regedit)
2) Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. The default value should say DVD/CD-ROM drives.
3) Right click on LowerFilters and select delete. If you have UpperFilters then right click and select delete also.
4) Restart and see if that fixes the problem.

I encourage you to save your registry before doing this just in case.