Dvd rw drive won't burn dvds

I have a Tsst corp cd/dvdrw Ts-h552b burner running windows xp and it will not write dvds anymore. It will read a dvd-r as a cd in the drive and when i try to burn it show the drive as being a CD drive in My computer. I have tried many differnet things including a firmware update, unistall drivers and nothing works. This problem ocurred after doing a system recovery of windows xp. Under the device manager it keeps showing that my drivers are the windows drivers. If i put in a cd or a commercially recorded dvd, the drive will read it and play. But, i need to be able to burn dvds, not just cds. i know it is a software problem but i can't find the solution. any ideas on what to do?

Try cleaning the filters: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316529/

Failing that, uninstall from Device Manager, shut down immediately, disconnect the dvd wiring, reboot, shutdown, reconnect and reboot.

I tried both things you said to do and i still have the same problem. In My Computer, it shows the drive as being a CD drive when i put a blank DVD-r or Rw disc in the drive. It show that the disc is a Dvd-r, but the drive shows CD. any other suggestions?

Well, you can remove it, pop it in another comp and see what it works like.

I have never heard of a failed DVD laser making the comp think it is only a cd so it sounds like something is awry in your basic drivers.

That being the case, run sfc /scannow.

gl, XP has no native capability to burn a DVD, so I would say you might have a problem with your DVD burning software. Have you tried reinstalling it? What software do you use?

what is sfc /scannow? I have Nero express 6 software, but even that shows the drive as a CD drive in My computer. I seem to think that i was able to burn dvds b4 using windows xp because I don't remember using the Nero software. I'm pretty sure i just used windows. At this point I don't really care what program I use as long as the drive will recognize dvds. I've seen a lot of other people complain of the same problems in other forums but no one seems to have a solution that solves the problem.

slgrieb's point is valid - only if you had DVD Ram would XP write directly to the DVD.

Thus, my advice was at least partly amiss in that the drivers for the 'burn' would be from your Nero software, not windows.

However, recognition of the devices is still, I believe, a Windows function so there is a problem there.

sfc /scannow is run from Start, Run :

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d....mspx?mfr=true

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310747

If that doesn't get it recognized properly, try an uninstall and reinstall of Nero.

http://www.nero.com/nero6/eng/General_Clean_Tool.html

I actually have dual drives, one is dvd r/rw and the other is dvd rom. the problem exists with both drives. when i uninstall the drives and restart windows, the Found New Hardware icon comes on in the taskbar and shows "CD-ROM drive". It doesn't even show the drive as a DVD right from the start-up. I tried to run "sfc /scannow" from the run menu, but i get error message saying windows cannot find it. What exactly am I supposed to type in the run command? also, i tried uninstalling Nero as you suggested and the problem is still there. In My Computer, under devices with removable storage, it shows my dvd-rw drive as an icon labeled DVD-RW Drive (E:), but on the left side under Details under DVD-RW Drive (E:) it says CD Drive. This is the problem. I need help.

gl, Windows' confusion about what your drives are shouldn't impair their functionality. This is a pretty common glitch in XP. I've never bothered to troubleshoot it because it doesn't interfere with how the drives perform.

Here's a personal example. Just like you, one of my computers has a DVD-RW and a DVD-ROM (read only) drive. After reboots or even disk changes, Windows can re-identify these drives on the fly. If I open My Computer and look at the drives I can make their type change like magic. If a put a commercial CD-ROM into the DVD burner, XP may now show it as a DVD-RAM drive. Putting a CD-R disk into the drive may change it to a CD drive. But, no matter how confused about the true nature of my drives XP may become, it doesn't effect their performance one tiny bit. Burning, ripping, copying, whatever; it all works under 5 or 6 different programs.

If you want to burn a DVD, you need to do it through Nero. If you select the correct menu options in Nero to burn a DVD, and it doesn't work, I'd say you need to reinstall Nero. Try it and get back to us.

thanks. I tried to burn using Nero and it did work burning a DVD-R. The drive still shows as a CD in My Computer, but at least I can burn using Nero. After I burned a DVD of home video files I tried to play the DVD-R on a standard dvd player and it wouldn't read the disc. I researched online and it appears that I'm supposed to "finalize" the DVD b4 it can be read on a dvd player. My computer drive reads it fine. I looked at Nero and couldn't find any function to finalize the DVD. What am i doing wrong?

I don't think you did anything wrong gl. It isn't a matter of finalizing the disk, but getting the file into the very specific format required by most DVD players. You need a DVD authoring program like Nero Vision, Ulead Movie Factory, etc. You are likely going to need to spend the cash to upgrade to Nero Ultra so you can encode the file into a format that works with a stand-alone DVD player.

Here are some good resources to check out. Doom 9

:flames:

Hey guys...I just arrived to this great site...hoping like all hell that you can help! I have the same problem the thread started had...but after trying everything above...no worky. I have a NEC ND-6500A Slim Drive DVD -+RW Drive, (OEM Version, with Firmware V2.81) that no longer wants to burn DVD's, only CD's. It can play DVD's/CD's though. I have tried multiple software and nothing works. I have Nero 7 Ultra installed, and when I try to burn to a DVD, it says that its an illegal disk (I imagine it thinks it's supposed to be a CD, not a DVD). Please help if you can, I would greatly appreciate it!!

Can anyone help??