Sony DVD combo OEM won't burn DVDs

Hi,

Hope someone can help with a problem I have, similar but not identical to a couple of other threads I've read here.
I bought a Sony DW-U18a which also goes under possibly Sony DRU530 and is apparently a rebranded Liteon SOHW-812S DVD+-RW. OEM, wish I'd shelled out for the drivers now.
It reads and plays DVDs through WinDVD 6, it reads and writes CDs, it's listed as a DVD-RW drive in My Computer, but when I insert a blank DVD-R it changes in My Computer to simply "CD ROM". The media it lists is DVD-R but says it has no bytes free and refuses to write to it. I tried Nero 6 (newly downloaded today) which also picks it up as a DVD-RW drive but ejects the DVD-R and tells me to put in a CD-RW instead.
It sounds like a driver-type problem to me as it plays DVDs fine. Windows has chosen cdrom.sys as the driver. I tried driver update on the hard disk and the XP SP1a installation disk but no joy. I've installed all the drivers from the (ASUS) motherboard CD. I've run Windows Update and updated the drivers from there.
Looking on Sony and LiteOn websites it appears to require only the Win XP driver. Neither site has drivers I can see.

Any ideas? In-place OS repair in case it missed a driver?
Many thanks in advance for any help. I'd really love to get this baby working!
Dralip.

Welcome to Windrivers dralip

In Nero, you must select whether you are doing a dvd or cd from the drop down. It may also be the media brand you are using thats causing the problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dralip

Hi,

Hope someone can help with a problem I have, similar but not identical to a couple of other threads I've read here.
I bought a Sony DW-U18a which also goes under possibly Sony DRU530 and is apparently a rebranded Liteon SOHW-812S DVD+-RW. OEM, wish I'd shelled out for the drivers now.
It reads and plays DVDs through WinDVD 6, it reads and writes CDs, it's listed as a DVD-RW drive in My Computer, but when I insert a blank DVD-R it changes in My Computer to simply "CD ROM". The media it lists is DVD-R but says it has no bytes free and refuses to write to it. I tried Nero 6 (newly downloaded today) which also picks it up as a DVD-RW drive but ejects the DVD-R and tells me to put in a CD-RW instead.
It sounds like a driver-type problem to me as it plays DVDs fine. Windows has chosen cdrom.sys as the driver. I tried driver update on the hard disk and the XP SP1a installation disk but no joy. I've installed all the drivers from the (ASUS) motherboard CD. I've run Windows Update and updated the drivers from there.
Looking on Sony and LiteOn websites it appears to require only the Win XP driver. Neither site has drivers I can see.

Any ideas? In-place OS repair in case it missed a driver?
Many thanks in advance for any help. I'd really love to get this baby working!
Dralip.

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You might want to chedk if the bios for the drive is up to date, I noticed there are new bioss for the model described above. I also read that liteon drivers are not fond of the -R format, you should try a +R disk and see what you get.

Thanks for the replies! I'll give both a try and see how I get on, I'll post back as soon as I've checked it all and got hold of a DVD+R to try.

Run nero info tool and check system aspi is installed,if not d/l from link install & try
http://adaptec.com/worldwide/support...a2.exe&sess=no

Red-faced time...
It wasn't a driver problem, it was a Nero problem. Now it's working!
However, I picked up some great stuff from this forum. The Nero InfoTool is great!
One thing - Nero burned it at 2x but the media is 1x. I don't know if this is why it won't work on either of the other 2 DVD-ROM drives I have here, it just clanks and coasts a lot. Maybe I need to mess about finding the best media.
Well, I'm off to buy a S/N from Nero now I know it'll do the job.
Many many thanks for taking the time to help me out :-)

Glad its sorted dralip, and yes media brands can make a huge difference.

You say it was a nero problem.... exactly what was the problem with nero?

Link might help with media, tdk, taiyo yuden , ritec G04 should be o.k. with your drive

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters....ist=0#comments

Just a dodgy Nero install I think. I installed it over the top of a much older OEM version. Wiped it all off and started again. But I have my SN now from Nero so all systems go!
Thanks for the media tips - I checked out the link and I'll try some of the media which worked for others.