DVD-Writer Problems

My Pioneer DVR-105 DVD-RW drive will not write at all to DVD-R. What could cause this? Thanks for any help you can give.

 

Sorry about the lack of specs. The DVD writer came in an Alienware Area-51, 2.8GHz, 512MB RAM, 120GB hard drive, Windows XP Home. I am using Roxio Easy CD Creator 6 and the Pinnacle Instant CD/DVD suite but neither of them seem to work. It will write to CD-R but not DVD-R. Thanks for your help.

 

Does it play any DVDs? What are you trying to burn onto the DVD?

 

The drive does play DVD movies. I'm just trying to make data DVD's. Just copy files to DVD. Thanks.

 

Try this. It's CDBurnerXP Pro (don't let the name fool you, it works with DVDs also, and it's free). http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4242.html If it works, at least it will eliminate hardware as the problem.

 

Here is a link to Pioneer's list of recorders and supported media. Check to see if your discs are supported. http://wwwbsc.pioneer.co.jp/product-e/ibs/device_e/mediachart.html Some will only work with a firmware update, and some won't work at all. Stupid 3 min. rule

 

I tried that CDBurnerXP Pro program and it did the same thing my other DVD writing programs did, error out once it tries to actually start writing to the DVD. The list of supported media does include the media I'm using, 4X DVD-R. Thanks for your help.

 

OK, so let's take a look at what programs are running in the background while you are trying to burn a DVD. You do have all applications closed right?

How much RAM are you using? How much of it is available to you?

You can check this by using the Task Manager and choosing 'Performance'.

 

I closed all programs except for Norton AntiVirus 2004 and ZoneAlarm 5. I have 220MB of RAM available and it still errored out when it tried starting the writing process. Any more suggestions? Thanks for the help.

 

make sure you have latest drivers and updates for it.

 

Disable ZoneAlarm.

If that doesn't help, unplug your Network cable temporarily and turn Norton Auto-protect off.

 

What exactly is the error message text?

 

I tried shutting everything down, even ZoneAlarm and Norton AntiVirus but I'm still getting the error. In CDBurnerXP Pro the error message is "Error: -102. Error on writing disc!". I'm going to try writing at a slower speed and see if that helps. If you have anymore ideas please let me know. Thanks.

 

Just to let you know, I think I solved my problem. First of all, I went out and bought a dual format DVD writer and its working great. When I pulled my Pioneer DVD writer out I noticed that the jumper was set to slave. I don't know why Alienware would set it to slave but that was probably the problem since my new writer is set to master and is working perfectly. Thanks for all your time and help.