www.bootdisk.com
download a win9x based boot disk....boot with the floppy and with CDrom drive support.  it should assign a dos based Drive letter.  Stick in a Data Cd or something see if it is readable.  Also if you have your windows XP CD, you can boot off that, to see if the drive boots or is bootable.  IF it works w/ win9x dosmode drivers and you can see data on the drive or you can boot with a winXP cd, then definitely would agree that something is wrong in your version of windows.  If that is the case, boot off the winXP cd, and try running the recovery console.  type in in the doslike promt, CHKDSK /R
and let that run, see if that does anything, otherwise if that doesnt....the try booting to the WinXP cd again, and it'll ask if you want to recover, or install...select install...hit f8 to agree to the license, it should then give you another option to REcover or repair I forget which or how it is wordered, but then do the recover...and it should act as if it is reinstalling winXP, see if that does it and let us know how it goes...

do you get any error messages when you try to bring up a file listing?  Like Incorrect function?

I have had a few computers come into my shop that had Itunes or Roxio and upon upgrading to newer versions of the programs cause the optical drives to not function properly.  You may need to try to update to the latest versions of either of those two programs...or both...

Hi zeph001,
Have you tried to simply remove the device from device manager to let windows reinstall it?
I have seen this several times & a reinstall seems to fix it with win 2k & xp.
There is a manual & firmware update for DOS available here

http://www.accesstek.com.tw/_english/3_service/02_fw.php

In my opinion go for the easyst solution as a first step: Try just to clean that drive. That malfunction happened to me many times and it was just the cleaning issue.
Next I would try to update BIOS firmware version. That often solves many data chunking related issues;
1. Download EVEREST Home edition to try and detect what MB the user has (www.lavalys.com).
2. Go to the MB manufacturer and find-out whether it has any update and update that firmware.

Next I would try to update that DVDs BIOS as well. Checkout (using the same EVEREST software) the DVD exact model, checkout for any firmware updates for that DVD.

Next try to operate that DVD on another PC and see if it works properly....

Crossing fingures for you

Cyber

philby11,

he says: I've uninstalled the driver, and re-installed it

Updating a bios or firmware may not....especially if it was working before...but you can try....but do realize a risk factor in flashing and or upgrading the bios.  In my opinion flashing or upgrading bios' should be the last resort.  Especially if it was working before.
My opionion is to not do that.  But I do agree maybe try cleaning it.  IF you can give us more details on the error you may get?  or not get....?  what does it say when you try to read a disk....?

Again doing the bootdisk will prove if it is working in the current computer, but yes you can take it out and put it in another machine to see if maybe it is a cabling issue or maybe an ide controller type issue.

I hate to tell you this, but all the Optowrites I tried are defective.  They won't work with XP, even with different drivers.  The problem I had is it would READ, but you could never get it to write.  Save yourself some hassle, maybe and replace it with a Sony, Pioneer or Panasonic DVD writer.  They are more or less foolproof in XP.

----------
>Comment from Wakeup
>www.bootdisk.com

Great site. Thanks for the pointer. Bookmarked.


>download a win9x based boot disk....boot with the floppy
>and with CDrom drive support. it should assign a dos based
>Drive letter. Stick in a Data Cd or something see if it is
>readable.

Booting with the w98 boot disk has the same problem. When the machine lauches, it recognizes the existence of the drive, names it by name "Generic etc..." but fails to list a directory. Also, scandisk tells me that it won't access a "CD or a networked drive".


>Also if you have your windows XP CD, you can boot off
>that, to see if the drive boots or is bootable. IF it
>works w/ win9x dosmode drivers and you can see data on the
>drive or you can boot with a winXP cd, then definitely
>would agree that something is wrong in your version of windows.


I don't have his XP disk, but my Win2k disk doesn't work. "Bootable CD does not exist."

----------
>Comment from Wakeup
>
>do you get any error messages when you try to bring up a
>file listing? Like Incorrect function?

No errors of any type are displayed. Merely a failure to access.


>I have had a few computers come into my shop that had
>Itunes or Roxio and upon upgrading to newer versions of
>the programs cause the optical drives to not function
>properly. You may need to try to update to the latest versions
of either of those two programs...or both...

At this point, the issue is more than iTunes or Nero simply not functioning, but rather that it's a systemwide phenomena that no data can be accessed. iTunes and Nero are merely handy mental benchmarks and tests. The simplest test, start menu->run-> G: causes "Please insert a disk into drive G:", or cmd: dir G: "The device is not ready" demonstrate this.


----------
Comment from philby11

>Hi zeph001, Have you tried to simply remove the device
>from device manager to let windows reinstall it?

I have.


>I have seen this several times & a reinstall seems to fix
>it with win 2k & xp. There is a manual & firmware update
>for DOS available here..

Thank you. I do indeed have the latest firmware update as found in
http://www.accesstek.com.tw/_english/3_service/02_fw.php

(it was the first one I tried)

----------
Comment from Cyber-Dude

>In my opinion go for the easyst solution as a first step:
>Try just to clean that drive. That malfunction happened to
>me many times and it was just the cleaning issue.

I will attempt as soon as I run out of other more physically convenient options. I want to be very careful in not f*cking with a machine that is not my own possession.


>Next I would try to update BIOS firmware version. That
>often solves many data chunking related issues; 1.
>Download EVEREST Home edition to try and detect what MB
>the user has (www.lavalys.com). 2. Go to the MB
>manufacturer and find-out whether it has any update and
>update that firmware.

The BIOS! OK, Looking into right now (but posting this to keep everyone abreast)


>Next I would try to update that DVDs BIOS as well.
>Checkout (using the same EVEREST software) the DVD exact
>model, checkout for any firmware updates for that DVD.

I have the latest version of the firmware update (2.50) unless someone can prove that incorrect.


>Next try to operate that DVD on another PC and see if it
>works properly....

I'll do that right before cleaning it. I'll keep you appraised as soon as I'm done. I will complete this in the next 2-3 hours (it's 4:15 my time right now) if no other solution works.


----------
Comment from Wakeup

>My opionion is to not do that. But I do agree maybe try
>cleaning it. IF you can give us more details on the error
>you may get? or not get....? what does it say when you try
>to read a disk....?

No error is given. No "Failure!" or "Exception!" or even a "Bugger off, you suck! :)" It acts as if everything is OK. It sees the drive, calls it by name (or at least by the driver name). It seems to talk to the hardware (it can eject a disk, for example) but simply refuses to acknowlege that media has been inserted. Any error in operation depends on the software used iTunes: "Please insert blank disk" but doesn't recognize one. Nero" Attempting to access... no disk found". W98 DOS "Please insert a disk into drive G:", "The device is not ready".


>Again doing the bootdisk will prove if it is working in
>the current computer, but yes you can take it out and put
>it in another machine to see if maybe it is a cabling
>issue or maybe an ide controller type issue.

Using the Win98 DOS boot disk fails to recognize the disk. I will try swapping with my own machine, briefly. I hate hardware problems.

OK, so I've swapped the drives and machines. My good burner works perfectly in his machine, and his reproduces exactly the same symptomes in my machine. At this point, I can only assess that the problem is that the burner in question is defective, and replacement is the only option.

Thank you to those who have assisted me in offering options I would not have considered.

As I understand how this board works, questions are answered for points, and I'm not quite sure how to handle it if a problem is unresolved. I hope that it is fair if I distribute the points evenly among all of you who have assisted me.

Thanks.

Split the points to the questions that best helped you come to a solution, that is the key ...
Good luck, no more Optorite, right?

Actually, forgive me for backtracking. I've noticed that some have offered more replies (attention) than others, there were 8 posts, that's 62.5 each, and I'll multiply the number of responses by the number. I hope this is the fairest way that I can deal with it.

Thanks.

As you wish, but these Qs go down in history, so it is best to pick the correct answers, for others to use as a guide.

Thanks, I've taken your advice on the points system.

thanks zeph001, see if the optowrite drive is under warranty still?

Good question. Thanks for asking. I'll ask my buddy, that might resolve some issues. As far as I'm concerned, if ever I need to purchase a new DVD+RW I will assiduously avoide Optiowrite as a product.