dvd burner does not read dvd+r media, sometimes

ok, i think i found the culprit, but i will ask anyway...(this might belong in software thread tho)

I just purchased some new sony dvd+r media, and i have used one disc a little while ago. I have since installed Alcohol 120% and it's virtual disc drive as well.. the other day i popped in one of the sony dvd+r's (blank) and my computer couldn't read it. a few reboots and a couple of tweaks with alcohol 120's settings. and now it worked again (can read/burn the dvd+r's now)... unfortunately, im not exactly sure what i did to make it work. does anyone know about alcohol and it's settings that would make this happen? there is a startup program from alcohol called Starwindservice.exe (? im at work and i cant recall exactly what it is) and i closed that program and i think that's what got it to work....but im not sure... btw, while it wouldn't read the +r i popped in a -r and it worked just fine.

 

Starwindservice allows you to share the drive on a networked system.

Don't know why it would be causing you problems though.

I've used Alcohol 120% since it's inception and have never encountered your issue.

 

hmm, i guess that had nothing to do with it, thanks.

well, a little update, i just rebooted again and now the found new hardware bubble popped up and said that it has found my new hardware, the dvd rom, and installed the software for it, only problem is that i never removed it from my system...could that mean that it's going on the fritz?

 

Open the case & reseat all the cables, both ends. IDE & power. Who knows?

 

Check Device Manager and make sure everything is listed correctly.

There should be no double entries, or any ! or ? errors.

 

ok, so i found out that it was bad media..i went through all 48 (was 50) but i used 2, and there was only 1 more good one. the rest just couldn't be read
sony media = bad.

i forgot i told myself to not buy sony, when i bought cdr's before that were supposed to be 52x, but i could only burn at 16x (my burner can do 48)

thanks for everyone's help.

im gonna try these out on another burner just to be sure. but i don't see why 3 would work and not all of them.

 

Sony don't actually make their own media.

Very few companies do, and there are only about half a dozen manufacturers who supply other companies, who then put their brand on it.

There are programs that can scan the disc and tell you the manufacturer's details, like CDRIndentifier etc.

 

says it's sony on alcohol, for manufacturer id.

 

Alcohol isn't really designed for that.

Try something like CDRIdentifier for CD's, or for DVD's, try DVD Identifier and double-check to see if it's Sony or whoever.

 

ok, so now those 2 discs that i said worked earlier, now they don't again...im gonna try someone elses drive and check em there, before i go any further...
i was gonna use dvd identifier to check those, but now i don't have any that it can read, cept for the tdk's that i have...so it can readthose, but not the sony ones.

 

Go out and buy another brand and try them. Cleaning the laser may also help.