The "not reading cds" thang

Hi, I've spent the last few days looking for an answer to my problem and I see from these forums that this is quite a common issue. I've tried just about ALL the suggestions I've come across on here so far with no luck. Basically, my cdrw drive stopped reading burned discs - either cds burned on this machine or cds burned on another machine. The CDRW drive is about 4-5 months old. Initially, it worked fine writing cds and would read them back ok as well as any other cds burned in other machines. On inserting a blank or 'burned-to' cd it goes into a continuous access loop for some time then gives the usual error about 'not found' or 'insert disc' or something windowy like that.

Hardware:-
Asus CRW4824A CDRW
Asus A7V8X-X mainboard
2.167Ghz AMD Barton
512Mb PC3200
Win98
Nero 5

SETUP:-
Primary IDE Master: um, some 20gig HD
Primary IDE Slave: 80gb Maxtor
Secondary IDE Master: ASUS CRW4824A
Secondary IDE Slave: LG CD-ROM

FACTS:-
Drive reads proprietary cdroms fine
Drive plays audio fine
Drive auto-runs cds (I think - must d.check).
There is NO autoexec.bat or config.sys being loaded
Drive is detected by bios correctly
Drive is detected by windows correctly and shows in win.explorer/device manager correctly

I have tried:-
Updating MB Bios to latest ver.
Updating firmware on CDRW to latest ver.
Testing in dos mode (same thing happens)
Reinstalling 4in1 drivers / trying other 4in1 drivers.
Swapping IDE cable(s)
Installed & ran ForceAspi

It has to be drivers/config related. Should the 'tried' list above be done in a certain order? In 4-5 months ownership of this thing I've had about 1 month usability so far. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Welcome to Windrivers Shanks!

First question, will it burn? If so, what do you use to burn with?

Have you tried the unit in another machine?

Have you considered it might just plain old fashioned faulty?

Hi NooNoo thnx for the welcome! :)

No it will not burn, but it used to. I have Nero Express 5.5 which is what came with it and what I've always used - no other burning software is installed (I did install CloneCD & Clony at one point but now removed). I haven't tried it in another machine.... yet.

Initially it was perfect and I used it a lot. But then I didn't use it for some time during which I tweaked and messed with a lot of stuff on my pc. Some time after this I tried to burn some data and it would not work. It's been that exact same way ever since.

It should not be faulty as it's still fairly new and worked perfectly at first for some time. I let the problem slide at first because I intended to get a new mobo and hoped it would solve it. Which is why it's been like it has for so long. It does everything else fine, just burning and the reading of burned CD's. Is it possible that it can operate as a normal CDROM device whilst still being faulty with blank media etc.?

I intend on taking it to work with me tomorrow and trying it in another machine just to be safe. I wouldn't go near my m8s PCs they're like junkyards! :D

Yup, sounds like bad drive. You know, Lite-On has a really good deal on a DVD+-RW. It may be time to upgrade :D

Tried it in a Win2K machine at work with exactly the same results, although running aspichk (v471) on this machine reports that none of the aspi files are installed (aspi21.sys, winaspi.dll, wnaspi32.dll).

TBH I'm not convinced it's broken. How can it not read blank/burnt media but read 'normal' CDs - it doesn't make sense. Surely, if the reading mechanism is broke/faulty I would be getting all kinds of problems. Games detect their CD in this drive just fine when they start up, it runs audio CDs with no problems, reads normal CDs fine etc. etc. etc. Surely if there is something wrong it would manifest in some other way than just not reading blank/burnt media?

Pressed commercial CD's reflect more of the laser light than CD-Rs and much more than CD-RWs. Only being able to see a pressed CD is a common symptom of a weak or maladjusted laser. However it can also indicate a mildly dirty lens. Before getting the drive replaced under warranty, try using a lens cleaning disk in the drive. If that doesn't cure it, get it replaced.