Cannot burn CDs at all...using HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE 8483B

Question

I am very frustrated with my new Dell Dimension 8400. The burner appears faulty, as it will NOT burn CDs successfully. Upon inserting a blank CD-R, the drive grinds for a while and sometimes it will recognize the disc, sometimes it will not. I have tried a wide variety of brands of CD-R, including Memorex, Imation, Jensen, and Verbatim.   If the CD-R is recognized (and that usually takes a LONG time), and the burn process does begin, it always results in an error. I have tried a wide variety of software applications, including Record Now!, Nero Express, Windows Media Player, and Media Center 10. All with the same result: an error. Many times, the drive will continue to grind and spin, the drive light flashing on and off, and I cannot even eject the disk, even after I shutdown the software application with Ctrl-Alt-Del.   I have had ONE successful burn: the one time I used a Jensen CD-RW, the only CD-RW I had in the house, it did work successfully. Why is this happening? I would rather not use CD-RWs, as they are more costly and do not read in a lot of audio players. I do notice that the coating on my Jensen CD-RW is a darker color (almost a grey), while all the CD-Rs I have tried thus far have a 'typical' coating color (silver/gold with a slight hint of green).   I was told on the phone by a Dell techie that my CD-RW drive should accept ALL CD-Rs and CD-RWs. Well, mine obviously does not.   There is no firmware update for my drive as far as I can tell.   Can anyone help me out here? I am sick of making coaster after coaster, and I am growing increasingly regretful of the fact that I donated my old Gateway 1998 computer to my parents with an HP CD-RW drive that was NEVER faulty.   Thanks much!

Predator · Answer

Hi PFloyd,

I could not locate a Dell firmware for this drive either and considering the drive is still under warranty I would not recommend a non-Dell firmware at this time.
Click on the CD/RW link in my post and scroll to Section 11, article 9. This is a Dell article to test the write function of your drive, information from your post gives me the impression the drive should fail this test. If it does, then you need to get back on the phone with the Dell Tech, explain once again all the steps and this time include the Dell article, be firm but polite and the Tech should replace the drive for you.

Seasons Greetings!

God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the
difference.

CD/RW Link

pfloyd5 · Answer

Thanks Predator...

One thing I did notice in this article:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1022341&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19

To test the CD-RW drive in your Dell Dimension computer, perform the following steps:

Locate a blank CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) disc. If your system shipped with a CD-RW from Dell, this disc is blank and preformatted, unless used since recieving your system. Any purchased CD-RW disc will work fine.

This test is for CD-RWs then, only?

That seems to be the problem: my drive WILL write to CD-RW (apparently), but not to CD-R.

But, I'll give this test a try using a CD-R and see what happens and contact tech support if need be.

Thanks again!

pfloyd5 · Answer

Interesting...there is NO write-test option listed under the available tests to run for my CD-RW drive. It isn't there!

I am beginning to wonder if somehow my CD-RW was configured improperly and it thinks that it is just a regular CD/DVD-ROM drive. Is that possible?

Storage, Drives & Media

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