About Roy Bonner Expertise Motherboard/cpu, disk drives, sound card, graphics card and modem setup, also software setup win95,98,98SE,Me,NT3.5, NT4, XP & win2000, Lotus, MS Office 95, 97, 2000 & 2003.
Experience
Hi, I have been doing this spot here for some years now, and I like to think that I have helped a few people here and there, but due to advancing years and failing health, I'm afraid that I have decided that I can no longer carry on since I can no longer guarantee to be able to answer questions in a reasonable timescale. I should like to thank all the other experts and the users of this site for what has been an enjoyable and enlightening experience. I shall be terminating next Sunday 12th November 2006.
Thank you so much for your very complete response to my question about my DVD burner problem. It may well be that an imcomplete XP installation might be the culprit. Note the following:
When I right-click "My Computer"/drive F/Properties, it reports that all data space is used. I have tried five different blank DVD -R disks and a DVD RAM, and I get the same result each time. And this without any DVD burning softwear having been energized.
When I do energize my DVD burning software, it indicates the same thing when I try to use it. The strange thing is that it will burn CDs.
I have a similar problem with my floppy drive, which the new Asus motherboard with Pentium 4 hyperthread will not recognize. I even purchased an external USB2 floppy, which it refuses to see, as well. So maybe the whole thing is related to the XP installation.
I hate to go through total reformatting. Can I just overlay a new XP installation?
Again, many thanks.
Jay Strickler
Austin, Texas
Followup To
Question -
Hi,
My NEC DVD_RW 2500a works well recording CDs, but it has a problem seeing blank DVD's properly. When I attempt to record photo data to a DVD, it reports that there is no space (trying to record 1.7 G on an empty 4.7 G disk).
When I right-click "My Computer"/drive F/Properties, it reports that all data space is used. I have tried five different blank DVD -R disks and a DVD RAM, and I get the same result each time. Yet it works well recording CDs.
The unit came without software. I am using Ulead PictureShow 2 and Nero on ans Asus motherboard with a Pentium 4 hyperthreaded processor. XP
Hope you can help, and thanks in advance.
Jay
Answer -
Hi Jay,
When you fire up Nero to burn a disk, (what version of Nero by the way?),you will first get a window from which you select the type of disk you want to burn, yes? I assume that when you switch from CDs to DVDs you do actually change the setting of this page from CDs to DVDs at the top of the left hand column?
Have you pulled up the information Nero has regarding the drive? Just to check Nero is actually recognising it as a DVD recorder.
Actually, I just did a little digging and came up with this review of the NEC 2500a:
All the reviews speak very highly of this drive and most comment on its proficient and easy installation. This had a big part to play when I was deciding which burner to buy. I'm not a complete fool when it comes to computers but this drive was a pain to install as XP didn't automatically recognise it as a DVD burner -- only a CDR/DVD drive. I updated the firmware, changed the IDE cables over, changed it from slave to master etc.. nothing would let me use windows to burn information to it. In the end I had to buy a version of Nero (my illegal download days are over) as this was the ONLY program that believed me when I tried to burn anything over 650mb on to it. Numerous other programs failed to see it as a DVDR too. As I was up till 4am getting the thing working so it's not getting top marks. A lot of people had a problem-free install so I hope this doesn't discourage you from buying it, as its performance is very good!
This, of course, could be a problem my end, a problem I could've experienced with any other DVDR. The difference is that this doesn't come with any software so if you are the 1 out of 78 that has problems then you have an extra expense Ahead.
Now reading that and all the other reviewers who had no problems at all, I'd have to say that odds are that the problem lies with a less than perfect windows install rather than the drive in his case, and in your case too, it sounds as though the drive is just not being recognised for what it is. However, if it is being correctly rcognised, then it is likely that the DVD laser, (There are two separate lasers built into the single laser unit, one for CDs one for DVDs since they each use different and incompatible wavelengths,- 650nM and 750nM), is faulty, and the drive should be returned under warranty. Do however, check out all other possibilities first.
Regards
Roy
Answer Hi Jay,
Not too surprising that CDRs will work OK, these drives are really two totally different drives in one housing. There are two different lasers in one package because they operate on different frequency bands, (Note CDRs have a greenish tinge and DVDRs are purplish), because also, DVDRs pack so much more data onto the same area of space than does a CDR, the control circuitry is also quite different too, so it is quite common with DVD drives in general for either the CD or DVD function to quit but leave the other working. It would appear also, from the report I quoted you, that windows seems to recognise them as two separate child devices within the same device, (As with the IDE channels), from this it is possible to infer that it is possible that a 'flakey' windows install could prevent the drive from being recognised fully and one part of it's normal functions being not available.
In all honesty, the odds on it being software or hardware are probably about even, but if you can eliminate the software, then it just has to be the hardware, right?
There are three ways to go about this, each being more pestiferous than the last! Easiest and quickest, but with lowest chances of success, is to use the windows system file checker. You will need the original XP disk in your drive, then go Start/Run and type cmd <ENTER> to get a command window. At the prompt, type, sfc /scannow <ENTER>. This will force a full comparison of all critical system files in windows with what was installed, and if any are different, it will replace them. This can take from 15 to 45 minutes, depending on the speed of your system. The second route if that doesn't work, is to do a repair install of windows. Again, from 20 to 50minutes depending on your system speed. The third being a complete clean install, which, since you have to re-install all your software as well, takes significant time and effort.
The first method will only be effective if the problem is a corrupted file. The second should also recheck the actual hardware installations etc., and the last will of course do a complete reinstall which also includes the registry. Unfortunately it is often as not the registry which causes so many of these problems.
