I am sorry to sound redundant if there are already thread like this but it seems I've done it all and I don't know what to do next. So here's the problem: I found out my dvd writer will not burn dvds but it does recognize/ read DVDs. It doesn't have the format function anymore. I checked out device manager and the device description was set to CDROM only. i don't know exactly when it stopped working but what i know was the last time i burnt a dvd which was on June. DVD WRITER: Slimtype DVDRW SSM-8515s ATA device -- highspeed ---- Here's what I've done so far: 1. system restore - just in case this was caused by an update 2. i've uninstalled/reinstalled the drivers. 3. i downloaded the liteon fw/driver to replace MS drivers ---- tried installing but doesn't allow me to bec. of PnP and saying that the best drivers are already installed. ---- I don't want to reformat yet in case there are still other options I can explore. ---- Here are some of my system's basic info that you might need: Win Vista Home Premium - 32 bit Acer Aspire 5610 Intel R T2250 @ 1.73Ghz 1014MB of ---- Thanks in advance. Will log back soon.
Your next step is replace the drive. Sounds like it has failed. Commonly one part of a burner fails before another.. These slimline drives don't have a very long life.
aww.. that's too sad. i've read some online stuff regarding this matter. 1. it says something about DMA but i haven't found it yet. 2. i don't have the option enable-to-write disk when you right click on the burner driver. 3. i've set the bios to default settings. would cleaning the drive w/ a dvd cleaner would help? is it really replacement i need? or will it be better if i just bought an external writer, since this one that i have is still able to read.
Will trying a dvd cleaner work? probably not.. The laser that does the burning is a different one from the laser that does the reading.. at least every one I have ever seen is. Do you have any burning software installed?.. nero, imgburn or anything? Windows can get infected with drm stuff that can completely kill any attempts to burn on disks... They will show the drive as a burner and it's capabilities... you really need to look at the system in more depth. First do a full system malware scan.. check it is clean, then get some decent burning software installed.. exclude the possibility of windows being it's normal buggy self. DMA only affects the speed of burning, not the actual capability.. most bios will only identify a dvd drive as a cdrom.. the overlay software has the rest of the drive details... Dunno about device manager, and can't check.. no windows machines here. If the drive really has packed in an external burner would be a good choice.. a usb enclosure and decent burner cost less than the slimline lappy replacement drives, and you can use it with other machines..
so should i uninstall the software first? i have nero, and the utility that came in with the laptop which is cyberlink power producer. with malware.. too bad i don't have any decent software except windows defender.
just an update: 1. so i used avira >> found that i had malware :-( 2. before i uninstalled nero and the cyberlink producer, i found out that i have another burning tool, the NTI software that is an acer utility and it does work. i was able to burn an audio cd. 3. after uninstalling nero & cyberlink, tried to check if the format function is back, and is still isn't. im getting confused now since i was to able to burn an audio cd using the acer utility but the direct burn method thru windows still doesn't work.
