Can't burn ITunes Playlist to CD using TS-L632D CD/DVD drive on Dell Inspiron 640m

[ljshan]

Hello,

I would appreciate advice from anyone on this problem I am having!

I recently tried to burn a ITunes Playlist to CD using the built in Burn Disk function on the ITunes Playlist screen. It gave me an error, "Disk burner or software not found." I ran a diagnostics test in ITunes, and it can't seem to work with the CD/DVD drive on my Dell Inspiron 640m, with drive model TSSTcorp TS-L632D.

I called both Apple and Dell Support and downloaded the latest firmware for the TS-L632D drive from Dell support web site. It didn't help. Apple and Dell both don't seem to have an idea why this is not working.

Any ideas for what I need to do to get this to work?

Thanks!

[Ferrit]

Do you actually have any burner software installed in the first place like Nero or Roxio?
Cause i dont think there is anything in itunes that is a burner plugin

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers ljshan

and the imapi service may not be running... did either apple or dell have you check what services were running?

[slgrieb]

iTunes burning module doesn't always play nice with other burning software, and it has some problems of its own (mostly in older versions) involving the Gears ASPI layer that iTunes uses. You should uninstall any burning software (including iTunes) then use the Registry Editor to navigate to the following key, and remove the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values from it:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Exit the editor and reboot. Windows may re-detect your burner after the reboot. Finally, you need to reinstall your burning software. Load iTunes last, and be sure to download and install the most recent version.

[ljshan]

Hi all,

I really appreciate all of the replies, and thank you all!

Just want to give some more details of what I have by way of CD burner at the moment. I have Roxio, which came with the Dell laptop. It works fine. I burned a CD with Roxio just yesterday.

NooNoo, neither Apple nor Dell asked me if the imapi service is running. How is this service for? How do I check, and start it if it's not running?

The suggestion Slgrieb made to change the registry keys, and then unintall and install Roxio (my current CD burner software) as well ITunes, seems pretty involved. I wanted to give more info of my current configuration and verify with you all before going through this process.

By the way, I have checked the registry for the key Slgrieb mentioned, the values are: LowFilters: PxHelp20 DRVMCDB DLACDBHM
Upper Filters: GEARAspiWDM

Are you suggesting I wipe these values to blank with the Modify function, or Delete these keys altogether?

Again, I appreciate all your input!

Thanks

[slgrieb]

It doesn't matter if some of your CD burning software is working or not. Uninstall all of it; Roxio and iTunes both, then delete the Registry key values (deleting the Upperfilter and Lowerfilter keys also works), then reinstall. If you don't uninstall your burning software first, you're likely to find that it may not work after you edit the registry. Then, you still have to reinstall it. Reinstalling Roxio is likely to break iTunes, and you're back where you started.

I know it's a little tedious, but go complain to Apple and Gear Software, not me. You can deviate from the outlined sequence, and it sometimes works OK, but if it doesn't you've just wasted time, and still have it to do over again.

[NooNoo]

I'm with SLgrieb on this... once you have done that

click start, run and type in
services.msc
click ok

Look down the list of services for imapi... burning service, it should be set to manual so that it starts when you need to burn.

[ljshan]

Hi Slgrieb and NooNoo,

thank you for all your input so far. Here's what I gathered from you as far as what I need to do and the sequence of the steps.

1. Uninstall Roxio and ITunes (the sequence of these two tasks is not important)
2. Delete the values for the UpperFilters and LowerFilters keys in the registry
3. Reinstall ITunes
4. Start the IMAPI service
5. Check to see if ITunes can burn CD at this point.
6. If so, reinstall Roxio and hope this does not break ITunes CD burning.

Do these steps look right and are they in the right sequence?

Questions I have at this time are 1. what if step 5 fails after all the uninstall and reinstall? Is there anything I will need to do?
And 2. If reinstalling Roxio breaks ITunes, is there any known remedies to this problem?

Thank you both again!

[slgrieb]

Almost right. Install iTunes after Roxio, otherwise Roxio may break iTunes ability to burn.

[NooNoo]

You don't need to start the imapi service - it will start when needed, which is why it should be set to manual.

[lmcmur]

I was having the exact same thing happen to me while trying to burn cd's from my iTunes library, and the only way I could burn cd's was using roxio toast. This was fine except that you couldn't burn song files that had been purchased from iTunes music store. HOW FRUSTRATING!!!! Then one day out of the blue I tried to burn a cd and by golly it worked. I couldn't explain how or why but it worked.....that time. I tried a few days later and it was doing the same thing it had before. AAAARRRGGGG! Good thing this story has a happy ending and it was all quite simple really. The reason that my iTunes library wouldn't allow me to burn playlists was because of my roxio program. I had it set up to open at login. The iTunes library wouldn’t allow cd burning because it recognized the drive as being in use with the roxio program. Problem solved! I closed roxio and changed settings so it wouldn’t open automatically and also changed my cd settings in my preferences to open iTunes when a blank cd was inserted. So it was very simple after all. Anyway I hope this information was useful for you or anyone with the same problem that may read this thread in the future.

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers lmcmur

Thanks for the tip! Roxio is a bit of a pain for taking over (as is Nero these days too).