DVD burner doesn't recognise blank DVDs

R

riley454

New Member
I have a LiteOn DVD burner/player installed(DH20A4P). Previously I have successfully created DVDs but for some time now, the drive doesn't recognise blank DVDs like it used to.

In "my computer" the (D: ) is shown as DVD-RAM Drive but when I insert a blank DVD that is specifically listed by the manufacturer as compatible, "my computer" shows the image of a disc with DVD-R(etc) but listed as a 'CD Drive'.

This drive has previously recorded to blank various DVD(+R/-R/+RW/-RW etc) successfully and still reads both commercially produced DVDs equally as well as home made DVDs but does not recognise blank DVDs anymore.

I contacted the manufacturer when this problem started, unfortunately the drive was only a month out of warranty so their help was basically "get the latest firmware if that doesn't help, buy a new one!"

From searching allover the net and speaking to experienced people, I have 3 options, and want the most financially viable option...

Free- Pull the drive apart and clean the lens manually and hope fixes the problem
Around $20- buy a lens cleaner and hope for the best
Around $50- get a new drive and hope the same problems don't arise again outside warranty

What would YOU do???
 
have to agree now it is a throw away. On the other hand you can try one thing. get a can of static free air from an office supply store or similar. open the tray and lightly spray across the lens. ive had to do this many times and has worked. do not turn the can upside down, it has an oil base in it and you don't want it on the lens.
 
Have you tried using different software to burn the disks? Sometimes windows can be a bit quirky with blanks. DeepBurner is a nice free burning program you could try.

It is quite common for these things to die, though. I wouldn't be too surprised if it just gave out. New DVD burners can be had for $30 or less.
 
Any time I had a drive that failed to recognize any specific type of disc, the only solution was to replace the drive. It's a lot less costly now than it was when a 24x CD-only burner cost $100!
 
I remember when my old $40 8x4x32 burner was a good deal... Geeze, we don't use that naming standard much anymore do we? :P 8x CD-R, 4x CD-RW, 32x read. No DVD. And back a bit farther, I forget exactly how much it cost, but I remember upgrading our first computer's 4x CD-ROM because it was failing. We picked up an 8x, but they had an off brand 12x available. It too was probably about $50 at the time :P
 
I remember 4X CD R/W Burners
You use to burn at 2X max, otherwise your CD was toast
Oh the days of all us staring for up to an hour looking at the CD burn
At least it was better than floppy ;) And only half the users had Zip drives so we generally couldn't use them either
 
Thanks heaps everyone :) Sounds like it's an overwhelming "get a new one!"

tremmor, regarding compressed air in a can, would an air compressor at very low pressure do the same thing or is this a really bad idea? I use it to blow the dust out of my pc case(fan/mainboard etc) and it does that fine. And ummm:o where exactly do I aim for the lens? I can only see plastic cogs and wheels and stuff:D

Which download of DeepBurner should I try Other_One? There's Pro 1.9/Free 1.9/Free 1.9 portable/DeepDVD Movie 1.0/DeepRipper 1.1 . I'm generally only copying a few .avi (etc) files from time to time off my computer to DVD.

And as it looks like I'm getting a new one anyway, is it worth paying extra for a better brand name or are they all throwaways once the warranty finishes?
 
OvenMaster said:
Any time I had a drive that failed to recognize any specific type of disc, the only solution was to replace the drive. It's a lot less costly now than it was when a 24x CD-only burner cost $100!
Click to expand...

Sorry.........they were a lot more than that. I bought a cd burner 4x writer for $600.00 (Plextor). it was in the 70's. days of commorde pet, trs80, Amiga, imsai and Sol terminal.
 
The_Other_One said:
This one; http://www.deepburner.com/download/DeepBurner1.exe

When you say AVI to DVD, you're not making it so it plays in your DVD player, right? Just a basic data disk with AVIs on it?
Click to expand...

Yeah my DVD player(hooked to the TV) plays .avi and lots of others.

And apologies for the misunderstanding, but its only the DVD drive just out of warranty. I've had this old box for about 6 years and fitted the DVD burner(among other things) in the last couple of years and I think I piggybacked the DVD as IDE. Not 100% sure though.:confused:
 
tremmor said:
Sorry.........they were a lot more than that. I bought a cd burner 4x writer for $600.00 (Plextor). it was in the 70's. days of commorde pet, trs80, Amiga, imsai and Sol terminal.
Click to expand...
Yow! My very first burner was a 24x10x40 AOpen that cost me a C-note, but this was 2001. I didn't pay much attention to prices before then, but jeez, $600!
 
wish i still had it. It might of been in the early 80's, don't remember. my 1st burner. I had also built a Digital group 8080 PD11. Wish i had that too!
still like to look back.
 
riley454 said:
And apologies for the misunderstanding, but its only the DVD drive just out of warranty. I've had this old box for about 6 years and fitted the DVD burner(among other things) in the last couple of years and I think I piggybacked the DVD as IDE. Not 100% sure though.:confused:
Click to expand...

When you say piggybacked, I assume you mean connected to another drive (master/slave configuration) If that's the case, it is IDE. Otherwise you'd have individual cables for each drive and it'd be SATA.

http://beacon.chebucto.ca/Mousepad/img/2007/IDE_SATA.jpg
(IDE on the left, SATA on the right).

And a little more off-topic chatting, we still have an old Iomega drive around here somewhere that's 4x4x6 ;) It's not really that it's so old, just an external USB drive... Oh the gold 'ol USB1.1 days :P
 
Yes it's definitely IDE. And I'm having trouble finding a new burner for much less than $50AUD. Anyone got suggestions the best place to find DVD burners in Australia for prices like you guys talk about?
 
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