CD Drive not detecting Blank CD's

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July 6th, 2005, 12:52 PM
Titan_Bigtoe

CD Drive not detecting Blank CD's

I started having this problem about 2 weeks ago. When i send afile (anything) to my CD Dive, then click on Write these files to CD. The Wizard will come up and ask you to name the disc, then i click and it asks me to Please insert a Writable CD... etc. So i try out several CD's, none work. Thinking it might be windows, i try using Nero - same thing, and the same with about 3 different burning programs. Ive also been through Device Manager to check for probs and uninstall/reinstall the drive and update any drivers, but none of that worked. It was suggested that it might be the CD make, so ive tried several different makes/speeds etc. So it would be great if i could get any help. ta.

p.s. its a HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4521B made by LG.

system specs. Please dont laugh, its my first own computer and still am upgrading it...

Intel Celeron 1.4 GHZ, 512MG SDRAM, GeForce FX 5200 128 MB, C:\-18 gig HDD F:\-40 gig HDD. Anythinh else needed, just ask. Thanks.
July 6th, 2005, 06:34 PM
slgrieb

If this problem started without any software changes, I'd say the drive is bad. Still, you might want to try the steps in these two articles: http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;316529
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;314060
July 7th, 2005, 03:10 AM
confus-ed

Do pre-done cd's & dvd's still work ok ?

& can you tell us just what drives you've got ? You seem to have two hard drives c & f ? so if this dvd is on d, what's on e ?
July 7th, 2005, 03:39 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

I dont have pre-done CD's from this computer to check on, havent done a CD for my self, were all for other ppl. But pre-done CDs from other computers do work if that helps.

Sorry, i miss read what i wrote - the other HDD is E:\ not F:\ so

C:\ MAXTOR 2b020h1 (20gigs)
D:\ HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC - 4521B
E:\ WDC WD400BB-00KA0 (40 gigs)

I tired those links that slgrieb suggested but to no avail. ta.
July 7th, 2005, 03:50 AM
confus-ed

I just put a dumb answer, while still thinking about another problem :D ! so ignore what I just deleted from the thread ! ;)

Have you read the advice on my 'sticky' about 'class filter drivers' ? - briefly wherever you've got lots of burning software, the various drivers introduced by them get muddled up & cause issues at least similar to here.

The 'cure all' for these types of issues is to remove all burning software, locate the master key for 'class filter drivers' in the registry, delete that, & then remove all cd\dvd devices in safe mode & then let windows refind them & then add back any burning software testing as you go (the key is detailed on my sticky :))
July 7th, 2005, 05:20 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

I'll give that a go and get back to you with how it turns out. Thanks.
July 7th, 2005, 06:21 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

no dice. run down...

-uninstalled all burning s/w.
-deleted 1 upper filter and 2 lower filter keys.
-restarted to save mode and uninstalled cd drive.
-restarted to normal mode and allowed drive to reinstall its self.
-inserted new blank cd
-added a file
-followed the wizard to the 2nd page where i got the lovely familiar page of please insert a blank cd...

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr *crys*
July 7th, 2005, 06:29 AM
jofultner

Doublecheck that your CD burning software is set to proper drive letter.
July 7th, 2005, 06:31 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

well all im using at this very moment is Windows own burning Wizard.
July 7th, 2005, 07:44 AM
confus-ed

Is this what its saying by way of error message btw ?

Quote:

There is no disc in the drive. Please insert a writable CD into drive.

I should have asked earlier...
July 7th, 2005, 02:01 PM
Titan_Bigtoe

yeah, thats the one... ask if you want a screenie
July 7th, 2005, 05:32 PM
slgrieb

CD burners have separate laser system to read the disk and perform write and erase functions, so drive may perform read functions OK but puke up on writing. I have even had failing CD drives do weird things like identify data files as music and vice versa even on pressed CDs. Bad Drive.
July 7th, 2005, 06:19 PM
procir154

I had a similar problem with a CD burner, it turned out I needed to apply the latest firmware for the device. Once I did that it was able to detect blank CD's. I was also trying to use NERO and it would basically say when I went to burn please insert blank media. After firmware update, it burns with no problems. Not sure if this will apply to your case but its worth a shot.
July 8th, 2005, 02:16 AM
confus-ed

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titan_Bigtoe

yeah, thats the one...

Well if its erroring with that, yet still reading 'done' cds 'ok', you've still a good chance of this being software somehow, as that error quite often occurs if the original system files used by the cd writing system, has gotten overwritten by something..

Quote:

The following error message may occur when you try to write to a CD-R or CD-RW if the driver is corrupted:

There is no disc in the drive. Please insert a writable CD into drive.

If the device driver has been corrupted...

(we already tried what it advises, which is removing the drive in device manager) but it doesn't mention running SFC (system file checker) which might maybe undo any changes made to the files that'll it otherwise try & use for any 'new' cd type devices (some writing s/w will change versions of files which can cause issue)

If you could test this unit 'elsewhere' for writing function, I guess you could easily confirm whether its worth continuing to chase down potential s/w issues ;)
July 8th, 2005, 02:19 AM
confus-ed

Quote:

Originally Posted by procir154

I had a similar problem with a CD burner, it turned out I needed to apply the latest firmware for the device. Once I did that it was able to detect blank CD's. I was also trying to use NERO and it would basically say when I went to burn please insert blank media. After firmware update, it burns with no problems. Not sure if this will apply to your case but its worth a shot.

Welcome to wd forums procir154, all fair points :), but I'd say more likely if 'never worked' ? wheras this one has & suddenly stopped working ? .. something else would have had to change here for the firmware to be suddenly 'wrong' ?
July 8th, 2005, 08:19 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

afternoon - wont be able to check it on another computer (my sisters comp is having the same prob, but i dont care about hers). i cant think of any changes to my system (other than a Windows Update to course a change to the firmware... but if it would be an idea to update it?? (how?)
July 8th, 2005, 08:48 AM
procir154

Hey thanks confus-ed!! :)

Yeah I would have thought the same thing but I worked on a PC for a friend this past weekend that had some burning issues. When I asked them how long it has not been working, they stated about a month and nothing had changed only the brand of media they were using to burn on. I uninstalled reinstalled burning apps and no luck. So as a last resort I went to the compaq site and found an updated firmware that addressed a bunch of issues as well issues with newer media for burning. After applying the firmware I was burning cd's with no problems. Believe me I was ready to trash the drive and get a new one.
July 8th, 2005, 08:52 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

im new to the firmware business... is there a tool that can detect what firmware i would need to d/l etc.??
July 8th, 2005, 09:59 AM
procir154

Titan,

Checkout http://us.lgservice.com

Once you are there click on "device driver" and then go to Combo Drives. You should then see your drive listed as the first one. Select the latest firmware "GCC-4521B-107.exe" and install.

Here is the actual Version History:
101 - Fixes bug. Some Blank CD-R disc are not regonized after removing a pressed CD.
103 - Enhanced recording quality of CD-R Media.
104 - Enhanced recording quality of CD-R Media and readability 32X CD-RW media.
105 - Enhanced CD-RW Compatibility.
106 - Enhanced CD-RW & Video CD Compatibility.
107 - Enhanced CD-RW & Video CD Compatibility.

As you can see this firmware addresses media compatibility. The upgrade instructions can be found by clicking on the link "GCC-4521B firmware". Hope this helps you out, its worth a shot. :)
July 8th, 2005, 01:50 PM
confus-ed

Quote:

Originally Posted by procir154

Here is the actual Version History:
101 - Fixes bug. Some Blank CD-R disc are not regonized after removing a pressed CD....its worth a shot. :)

Spot on call then methinks ! :thumbs: Time to update the firmware.
July 9th, 2005, 12:02 PM
Titan_Bigtoe

ok, going to give it a go... but not right now, mums going to kill me if i dont help tidy in preperation for my Granny coming tomorrow, all this, a broken SD card (please check http://forums.windrivers.com/showthr...625#post595625) a hangover and trying to fix the CD drive. Thanks for that procir154, i'll let you know how if goes when i get to it tonight.

EDIT: i'll post this now just before i go to allow time for a reply... this bit i dont understand...

2. Connect the drive to the secondary IDE channel as a master drive with
no other devices connected to that channel. Also disconnect any other optical
drives connected to the computer. Start Windows and verify it can
recognize the drive.

could someone explain please, also when i restart should i restart it into Safe Mode... or does it have to be 'normal' mode?
July 9th, 2005, 03:40 PM
procir154

That is just saying to make sure that the drive that you want to upgrade the firmware on should be in the secondary IDE channel. Most likely in your PC you have two IDE channels (primary and secondary). They want your drive to be connected to the secondary IDE and be the only device on that channel. You Hard drive is probably on the primary IDE channel. As far as the master part, the drive should have jumpers that will be for master, slave and CS (cable select). Make sure the jumper is set for MS(master) and be at the end of the IDE ribbon cable and be the only device on that IDE ribbon cable. As far as other optical devices, make sure during this process you only have one CD/DVD drive connected (the one you are upgrading). Boot into windows if you had to make changes to reflect what they want (secondary IDE and master) and see if windows can find the drive, if so go ahead with the install of the latest firmware. Normal windows will be fine, safe mode is not necessary. Let me know, hope it works out for you :)
July 10th, 2005, 04:37 AM
confus-ed

Quote:

Originally Posted by procir154

That is just saying to make sure that the drive that you want to upgrade the firmware on should be in the secondary IDE channel...

He-he-he .. saved me a job :thumbs: - you can come again :D !!!
July 10th, 2005, 06:14 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

right, well it didnt work. This either 'cos my drive is well and truely buggered up. Or because i mucked up on the IDE instructions. Checked my IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers in Device Manager and i have a Primary and Secondry and also Intel(r) 82801BA Bus Master IDE Controller. Checking the properties of these doesnt show me what is connected to them. So i opened up the side panel to look at the ribbons, failing to relise that with out labels, i dont know which IDE is which. I'll describe what i have - I have 3 slots to which ribbons are connected. 1 is from the floppy (which i only just remembered is a optical drive - bugger!) 1 is the CD drive and the other is from my 2 hard drives. So with out the sockets being labled, how do i know which ones connected to which?
July 10th, 2005, 06:49 AM
confus-ed

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titan_Bigtoe

.. So with out the sockets being labled, how do i know which ones connected to which?

They generally are labelled ! ;)

http://www.planethardware.com/featur...nnectors_s.jpg (you need to have eyes like a hawk, lol :D - see the original here {which you can then get a 'blow up' of})

Sometimes confusingly btw they label the ports as IDE0&1 (however they are numbered primary is obviously first ! :)).

Then you might need to make adjustments to the current settings of your jumpers too.

When you said 'it didnt work' - did it spit out some error or other ?
July 10th, 2005, 07:02 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

no error message - it said that it updated - then, would you like to reboot? - yes.... go to burn a cd using Windows (all burning s/w uninstalled at the mo) then i get the same message as usual - Insert blank cd.

Ok, so i know which ones my IDE ports are, should i go ahead and assume that the CD drive is already connected to the Secondry IDE port?

Jumpers....????

Cant wait till i get paid in a couple of days, think i'll just buy a new drive - good excuse to get a DVD-RW! But still would be useful to see if i can fix this, so i can learn what needs/can be done.
July 11th, 2005, 01:12 AM
confus-ed

Quote:

Jumpers ....????

This'll give you some clues ;) - all IDE devices (so hard drives & CDs & such) have a set of jumpers (Generally between where the 'fat IDE cable' plugs in & the power cable) which are part of the signalling process used to operate your disk.

http://www17.tomshardware.com/howto/..._anschluss.jpg
('centre' group is the jumpers I'm on about) & maybe where I nicked that picture from will be helpful too ? :) TomsHardware
July 11th, 2005, 01:24 AM
confus-ed

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titan_Bigtoe

no error message - it said that it updated ...

So having just answered about jumpers .. I just realised I probably didn't need to :D ! Confus-ed again ! :D - we just need to check your firmware update has 'taken' - you can check this via device manager, its one of the properties of your cd drive (but windows won't always look in the two places this could be recorded) & a more reliable way is to use something like the nero info tool to find out (depends on what burning s/w we have 'handy').

But my real reason for replying is about this bit ..

Quote:

..either 'cos my drive is well and truely buggered up. Or because i mucked up on the IDE instructions...think i'll just buy a new drive - good excuse to get a DVD-RW! But still would be useful to see if i can fix this, so i can learn what needs/can be done..

So why am I requoting that ? Just to observe that the writing process in windows has lots of layers of software & there's all sorts can go wrong, just buying a new unit, might fix it (if the unit is 'really busted' ) but if we have still have some s/w error, as all the symptoms say to me, you may find yourself 'no better off' ;)
July 11th, 2005, 05:48 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

i found an option in the CD Drive Properties - Details Tab - Drop down box - Firmware Revision... but it doesnt show anything. I'll find my copy of Nero and install that. I have just noticed something else funny as well... firstly, when i put in a CD like a game, where you expect it to Autorun - well it doesnt, same with any type of CD S/W. I checked the properties to make sure the Autoplay options were ok, but no dice. Also, you know the icon you get when theres nothing in the Drive at all (a pic of a CD at an angel on top of a picture of a drive)... well when i insert a CD-R which has data on it, the image doesnt change, and i always remember it changing (the data does show though.)... Dont know if its important, but best i mention it just in case.
July 13th, 2005, 10:46 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

well i ordered a DVD-R/RW, should get it on monday... i'll let you know how it works, to see if its a s/w prob with my system, or if it was just the CD-Drive itself. Thanks for all the help anyhow.
July 18th, 2005, 07:52 AM
Titan_Bigtoe

right, well i just got and installed my new DVD-RAM (LG hl-dt-st DVDRAM GSA-4163B) tried using Windows own wizard, and it still asks you to insert a Writable CD... then tried a DVD with Nero and it worked fine. So, as long as i keep using Nero it should be fine... i'll let you know if theres any probs with this Drive.

Thanks very much for all the help, i may not have fixed the old drive - but i learned a lot, and know some stuff i could try for myself instead of asking. Thanks guys.
July 19th, 2005, 05:14 AM
confus-ed

Quote:

Originally Posted by Titan_Bigtoe

..Thanks very much for all the help, i may not have fixed the old drive - but i learned a lot, and know some stuff i could try for myself instead of asking. Thanks guys.

..Instead of asking ? .. isn't that a way to learn ? .. I'm sure that's what this site is about, besides getting stuff fixed :thumbs:
October 5th, 2006, 08:10 PM
slicker

SORRY..I know...Im a lil late in this forum but I just joined here....The thing is that..I had this problem too...I have the same drive...But...I was able to figure out on my own...well..just for heads up...If the drive is not burning/ detecting empty cds then all u gotta do is go to my computer and right click on your drive and goto properties...then under recording tab...enable the checkbox saying "enable cd-burning on this drive" and select ur master HDD...TADA...u r done...This will work 100% ..Guaranteed..Chao
October 6th, 2006, 03:11 AM
NooNoo

Thanks for the tip slicker and welcome to Windrivers
December 26th, 2006, 11:26 AM
dillinger

CD drive not detecting blank CDs: another failure mode and solution

I had this same issue and couldn't fix it with any of the above interventions; finally tried changing the HDD designated for temp files, in the CDROM drive properties window (as mentioned above, one can turn off/on CD writing by right-clicking on the drive letter in explorer).

I'm not sure why this caused the observed failure; could be that my C: drive is too full.

Hope this helps someone.

-DD
December 27th, 2006, 04:27 PM
NooNoo

Welcome to Windrivers dillinger

You are probably right, if there is less than 15% space left on a drive, then it begins to start slowing down and acting up.

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