...becoming VERY angry

I have the same problem (no read CDs). However, I managed to fix it by first popping out the CD, & then putting it back in again, & it worked. Try that & see if it'll work fer you.


Oh baby yeah.

Could be different burner programs conflicting. Maybe triggered by autostart upon inserting a blank. You could try to switch autostart off...
You did a fresh install of XP. Did you then also install burning software?
Or maybe just a bug in Nero, did you check on updates?

Sounds like your burner needs cleaning but DO NOT USE A CLEANING DISC which can misalign the optics.

Use compressed air to clean the optics. To do this you'll have to get inside the drive. It's pretty easy.

Generally...

- remove the four screws on the bottom

- use a paper clip to open the drawer. Insert the paper clip into the tiny hole by the drawer and push.

- remove the drawer's face plate. It slides straight up but there will ears or catches holding in place. Removing it will allow you to remove the drive's face plate.

- Remove the drive's face plate. It also has ears. Just look around and be careful not to break anything. (That would ruin your day).

- You can now remove the top cover. Some units have two additional screws inside the bottom cover. Be careful the screws may also hold the logic board in place.

- With the top cover removed you will finally have access to the optics. Use a can of compressed air to clean the lens. DO NOT TOUCH the optics unless the compressed air will not clean it. If the lens is really dirty you might have no choice. In that case I guess I would use something like photographic lens paper but be very gentle. You could misalign the optics just as easily as a cleaning disc can.

Don't worry. Usually all you have to do is blow away the dust.

- While the unit is open I take the time to apply lithium grease to gears (sparingly) and I apply silcone lubicant to the optics transport runners. Use cotton swabs for everything and be neat. You don't want grease and oil spewing all over the place.

That's it. Put the drive back together. Hopefully your problems will be fixed. If not then your optics a probably misaligned.

You could have a technician fix this I think but it would be cheaper just to buy a new burner.

Anyway, considering the problems you are now having it's worth a try.

<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b>

Sorry! For some reason I only read the first two paragraphs of your problem. LOL!

Have your tried different media?

You mentioned XP's built-in burning software. I've have heard of conflict problems but usually there is one of two cryptic error messages. One is a laser calibration error. The other is a "fixation" error. Always CD burning stops mid-stream.

Your problem doesn't sound remotely similar except that you are producing coasters. Perhaps you should review the burn log and see if you are getting one of those errors, just in case.

Somewhere in this forum I left instructions for deactivating XP's built-in burning software. (Sorry I don't use XP so I've forgotten how it's done).

I'll search for the link and update this message...


<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b>

No, I was getting a really generic tracking error [someting along the lines of "tracking error"], however I'm no longer getting that error because I switched burners. I'm pretty sure that disabling innate burning isn't that hard. I just disabled CD-burning options under properties for that drive, then I disabled the service in the service manager in administrative tools. Windows now no longer wants to burn CDs.

Here's the funny thing: I reinstalled again, but this time <really big letters>didn't update Windows at all</really big letters>. Now the damn thing seems to work. It'll even read the CDs that I thought were coasters before. I'm not about to try and figure out which update is screwing me, but I'm not about to try and find out.

For some reason, and I don't know why, Windows XP Pro SP1, is the Damn problem, I had problems too with a TDK burner, but I'm dual booting WinXP and Win98SE, and using Win98SE, theres no problem what so ever, with the burner, WinXP is turning out to be a nightmare. I know you don't want to hear it, but you probably threw away a perfectly good burner.

<b><font color=purple>Listing your system specs, will greatly aid us, in being able to help you solve your problem.</font color=purple></b>

*gasp* I would've thought you guys would've known in here, I myself am no super tech nerd or anything but I keep tabs on things and I myself have come across the same problem - And solved it, but I forgot how - None the less I know what the problem is. It's your motherboard

I have an Asus A7N8X-Deluxe and yours is an Abit NF7-S - Both are nForce2 ^_^ It has something to do with the IDE drivers I think, but I'm not too sure about the specifics.

You could try asking around on www.nforcershq.com to find out or simply search.

I'm fairly sure it's that, although the symptoms aren't quite the same - Here are mine:

Mine would start burning and then freeze in the burning process about 10 % in, I had to kill Nero to shut it down and from then on my CPU would have bursts of 100 % activity basically leaving my computer useless since it would only be accessible for 2-3 seconds before going into another 2-3 second fit of 100 % CPU activity. A reboot would solve it.

However, it happened when upgrading to SP1 like you but since then I've solved the problem but unfortunately forgot how to solve it

Hence why I believe your problem to be the same as mine ...