CD Burner does not recognize blank cds

i just got a new cd burner and it is recognized by my computer but when i go to burn a cd it keeps asking to insert a blank cd- it does not recognize the blank cds that i insert. i have tried burning through several programs including Itunes, windows media player and the burner itself but each time it keeps asking to insert a blank cd over and over.

my OS is windows xp and as for the burner itself, the site i bought it on said it is "magic" brand but the computer itself identifies it as "Atapi" so i am not entirely sure.

i tried reading some of these threads for help but most of it is confusing as i do not know much about computers; i did pick up on the suggestion for "updating firmware" however i searched online and could not figure out where to find the correct firmware.

any help would be greatly appreciated as i am very frustrated.

p.s. here is the link to where i bought it on Ebay with the description: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1

my computer, however, identifies it as "ATAPI CD-RW 48X16 USB DEVICE"

update: i think i found the brand and model:

http://www.iomagic.com/Products/driver_results.asp

it looks just like the one in the picture

i downloaded the drivers for xp off of this site but now i dont know what to do. i extracted the files to the desktop, but now what? i ran an update on the drivers, and it continued to tell me what it had told me before, that it could not be updated.

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Originally Posted by defyapathy

i bought it on Ebay

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Hmm...

Does it read OK, both commercial pressed CD's and CD-R/RW's?

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Originally Posted by defyapathy

update: i think i found the brand and model..
i downloaded the drivers for xp off of this site ..

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Hi defyapathy welcome to wd forums.

1. can you confirm what the model details are please ? (without linking to something, as the e-bay link seems to have expired & the 'asp' generated page you linked to at iomagic has also, as that's only good for the person viewing it at that time).

2. CD/dvd's don't have drivers ! (well they do, but they use standard ones found in windows & thus don't need updating or downloading) - what you might need a newer 'driver' for is the burning part of any operations, & this is proprietry to whatever product you are burning with, so you update the driver or what the producers of these now like to call them 'burning engines' (what a geek like me calls a 'class driver filter') - lots of programs present on a system that do this can cause problems, as all of these drivers can't necessarily live with each other. Look at the sticky in this forum & try posting us up the results from the 'filter driver load order tool' referenced there, that should help us 'geeky' folks help you :).

& btw all cd\dvd's are 'atapi devices' & in the abscence of a full description, getting picked up from the device, windows will often display this confusing message instead. (Short for AT Attachment Packet Interface, an extension to IDE (how disk drives connect) that enables the interface to support CD-ROM players and tape drives)

thanks for the help so far.

it appears upon checking online and verifying with the original owner that it is an I/O Magic 48x16x48 External CD-Rewritable Drive. I found the drivers for this online and downloaded them, but have not done anything further. it continues to refuse to recognize any blank cds i introduce. i dont think it is reading regular cds either but i am not sure, i will try.

in addition, i went ahead and ran that filter driver load order tool thingy you suggested. here are the results?

Upper Class Filter GEARAspiWDM
Upper Device Filter redbook
Device Object ATAPI CD-RW 48x16 USB Device
Lower Device Filter imapi

i'm not sure if there's anything else i need to do with the filter driver load order window, let me know if there is.

could it possibly be that there is not enough room in the "staging area"? i checked the properties under the recording tab and it says "select a drive where windows can store an 'image' of the cd to be written. the image file may use up to 1 GB of disk space." the default selection is C drive. i am using a notebook computer that doesnt have a lot of hard drive space- could that be the problem??

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Originally Posted by defyapathy

could it possibly be that there is not enough room in the "staging area"?..

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This can cause problems, but not here I'd have thought, however its only a temporary file location, so just go & delete what's in it ! :) (it should be in :- Drive_letter:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CD Burning )

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I found the drivers for this online and downloaded them

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& for the second time, you don't need any drivers !!! whatever you are burning with adds them & they are these 'class filter drivers' I'm on about, add one of these & it ought to work for all your writers, wheras a 'driver' is only for one specific bit of hardware, not like here a 'class'..

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Upper Class Filter GEARAspiWDM

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This is a 'class filter driver' used by this Gear software (which is a new one on me) & may be your problem, as right at the start you said 'just got a new cd burner', & these 'drivers' need adding after you install the kit & not before - so my suggested solutions from here are to remove this piece of s/w, then try the 'upper & lower filters fix' (referenced on this forums sticky) if that doesn't work (if no result with the other 'fixes', then we look at updating firmware) & test via the xp cd writing wizard. (once/if you get it working then add back thie writing s/w, if you prefer that to xp's own)

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Originally Posted by confus-ed

try the 'upper & lower filters fix' (referenced on this forums sticky)

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i had trouble finding it on the page, but this is what i came up with:

Method One
1. Remove the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values completely from the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
NOTE: If you are getting a code 39 message, it may be that additional third-party filter drivers were added to UpperFilters and LowerFilters values in addition to Adaptec filter drivers. In that case, you may try to remove the non-Adaptec filter drivers first, leaving the Easy Creator filters in place to see if the Code 39 goes away. If you still receive an error code 39, 32, or 31 message, remove the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters values completely in the preceding key.



...how do i do that? what is a registry key, how do i access it? or perhaps i didnt find the correct link in the sticky and i am looking in the wrong place??

@#$&* I deleted Gear Systems and restarted the computer, and NOW when i open My Computer the CD/R drive doesn't even show up. ??????

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Originally Posted by defyapathy

.. what is a registry key, how do i access it? or perhaps i didnt find the correct link in the sticky and i am looking in the wrong place??

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No you found the right bit alright, but I'd forgotten how ropey the instructions on that KB are, if you aren't a 'hardened techie' :)..

You need to use a thing called 'regedit' (you can make that start up by clicking start, then run, & then type 'regedit' (no quotes) in the box that appears) - This'll maybe help you with that - I need really to say that you should back up before trying this, & if you aren't sure, well then don't ! - this is quite involved, & quite daunting if you haven't done it before.

Soooo, thinking that all of that is 'pants' for a novice, I scratched my head a bit & then I thought make a 'reg hack' ..

Open notepad, cut & paste what follows into that

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}]
"UpperFilters"=-
"LowerFilters"=-

& then close notepad making sure you call the file anythingyoulike.REG (the bit on the end is the important bit) then you ought to be able to double click that file, it'll then ask if you want to add the info to the registry (even though we are taking it out), & just say yes ..

Either method should achieve the same result, if hopefully done right :).

ok, first off never mind the last post, i did delete gear systems and it did screw things up but i went ahead and redownloaded it from the gearsystems site so now my computer is actually recognizing the drive again.

as for deleting the upperfilters/lowerfilters,

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...how do i do that? what is a registry key, how do i access it? or perhaps i didnt find the correct link in the sticky and i am looking in the wrong place??

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i figured out how to do that (run, regedit, etc.) but when i get to the registry key it doesnt show any lowerfilters, just upperfilters.
i havent deleted them yet because i am scared to f around with the registry...

The good news is if the keys inquestion are not present on your machine, they don't need to be deleted. So, don't worry 'bout 'em.

okay, so i went ahead and deleted the upper and lower filters, restarted, and i am still getting the same message. i didnt, however, delete Gear Software because when i did that before it made it so that my computer did not even register that my cd burner was connected. i dont know if keeping the Gear Software on there could conflict with the method you are trying to get me to use to fix this...? if so maybe that is why deleting the upper and lower filters did not work.

hmmm. what next, guys???

...firmware update, perhaps?

or do you think it's just the burner itself? (i do intend to try hooking it up to a different computer soon and seeing what the results are)

it's funny, i have researched and researched this problem of a cd burner not recognizing blank cds and repeatedly asking to "insert a disc" and a lot of people seem to be having the problem, with all different kinds of burners (especially for DVDs) yet not ONCE in all the message boards i have searched have i seen the problem get solved...

hello ! things here are getting complicated lol well here is a small tip for you if you have not already done it it may sound dumb but have you tried another brand of cd's to write to. had this prob too before and it turned out that my burner itself would ask for the cd when it was already in the drive turned out that the burner was very picky over what cd's i used I tried four different brands until I found one that the burner would use. Sounds simple but some burners just do not pick up certain brands of cd's. :thumbs:

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Originally Posted by defyapathy

.. i dont know if keeping the Gear Software on there could conflict with the method you are trying to get me to use to fix this...? ..

...firmware update, perhaps?

or do you think it's just the burner itself? (i do intend to try hooking it up to a different computer soon and seeing what the results are)..

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It'd have helped I think, if I'd focused on the fact that this is an external drive, which I've only just spotted now, whilst reviewing this thread to see where we are 'at' .. (:rolleyes: @me !!)

With an external drive connected via USB, with no burning software there at all, or any additional drivers, you just ought to be able to plug the drive in & windows just find it, & just use it .. (no s/w required, no drivers, nothing !).

So yeah go try the unit somewhere else, if possible, we've never established that this unit works ? (as it came from e-bay & we've never gotten it working 100% ? & I note you never answered Platypuses [ I jumped in & confus-ed the hell out of you by waffling about class filter drivers], very pertinet question about whether it'd read pressed or commercial cd's ..) - so will the unit read commercial cd's ok ?.

If it can, & if we get the device recognised without this burning software having to be present, then yeah, I'd conclude it might well need a firmware update (& once all the questions are answered & we are sure, I'll endeavour to find you one), but the advice just above about 'picky media' is quite possible too.