Can't read DVD's on my [old] laptop

I have a Dell Latitude D820 running Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 and I was trying to Install Ubuntu onto it. I purchased new DVD-RW Disks to load the .iso file onto the disk using Active@ISO Burner. However, when I put the disk in, it said it was reading the disk (showed the tiny disk icon next to my cursor) however it never popped anything up.

I went to open the CD Drive (D and got an error message saying "Windows cannot read from this disk. The disk might be corrupted, or it could be using a format not compatible with Windows". I saw a previous thread on here with the same problem and one of the commentors asked if the person had downloaded any disk burning or iso burning software, so I figured I would mention that

 

This is after you burned the iso to the disk or before?
try a dvd+r and you are writing an image, not copying the iso to the disk, right?
There are tools to make a usb linux boot key.. like UNetbootin or Rufus.

 

[Message Deleted]

 

It wouldn't let me burn the iso at all. It immediately gave me an error saying "Unit is not ready"

I then opened Start>My Computer> CD Drive (D: ) and was given the error I mentioned in my original post saying windows couldn't read from the disk at all. I am unable to format the disk, or open it. Windows doesn't even recognize that there is a disk in the drive. I tried with a disk for a movie and it played the movie fine, so I know the driver isn't broken. It just doesn't recognize the DVD-R disk I placed in at all.

 

As foogoo said, try a DVD+RW. My Dell Precision M70 has a DVD±RW drive but ALWAYS errors out if I try to use DVD-RW media in it. I've also had problems with Memorex media and now only use Verbatim media.

 

I Correct what I said earlier. The DVD's are DVD-R, not RW. I tried a different brand of DVD-R to no avail. Should I try DVD-RW for the same reason stated above? Maybe my drive doesn't read DVD-R but might read RW? I tried to go to the Dell official website and tried to update my drivers. I made sure I selected the correct model and tried to download the latest (A09) driver compatable with my laptop but I kept getting errors. So I used the diagnostic on the Dell website and it checked my DVD'S driver and came back with no errors. I also tried adding multiple old driver updates but still getting errors not letting me download any updates. But no diagnostic can find a problem with the dvd driver

 

You still are using "dash rs"(-r or -rw) try a "plus r" +r or +rw.
RW = rewritable.
Try a DVD+R

Are you sure it is a " TSST TS-L632H Slim 8x DVD+/-RW" drive?
When is it erroring? during the flash, before, or during the download?
Also take the disk out when you flash it.
Dell has a ton of drives listed with the hardware.
Have the latest BIOS? A10?