DVD-RW Drive behaves like a CD Drive.

Hi, recently I've run into a huge problem. About 3 weeks ago when trying to
burn a DVD the drive recognised it as a Blank CD. This has happened to all 3
desktops in my house which are joined by a wireless home network. Two of the
PC's are XP Media Centre Edition and one is just XP. I've tried
reinstalling, uninstalling drivers for the DVD-RW drives but with no avail.
What I did notice in the registary was that the drivers attributed to it have
names like cdrom.sys with no mention of DVD.

Heres the system info on the drive.

Drive D:
Description CD-ROM Drive
Media Loaded No
Media Type CD-ROM
Name PHILIPS DVDR1660P1
Manufacturer (Standard CD-ROM drives)
Status OK
Transfer Rate Not Available
SCSI Target ID 1
PNP Device
ID IDE\CDROMPHILIPS_DVDR1660P1______________________P1.4____\4C44303136303332333031373533202020202020
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys (5.1.2600.2180
(xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158), 48.38 KB (49,536 bytes), 14/06/2006 18:11)

Also tried reinstalling SP2 and system restore. There are many threads on
the net trying to address this issue but no real cases of the issue being
resolved. I appreciate any help you want to give me as I need to burn DVD's
for work

 

Hi Xander,

I have had a similar problem My Sytem Information" is the same as yours, but
a different model... my DVD-RAM drive is displayed as "CD-ROM Drive".
Similarly, from "My Computer", when I insert a blank DVD, the Text and Icom
change from "DVD-RAM Drive" to "CD Drive", and when I Click on it, I get a
"Windows Explorer" Error: "D:\ is not accessible. Incorrect Function....
OK". Grrrrrrrr!

However, my DVD Burning Software is capable of seeing and burning to the DVD
Disc.

From what I can figure out, Windows XP on its own cannot identify a blank
unformatted DVD. It is limited to CD functionality.

I'm not sure if I can help, but what is your DVD-Burning Software, what type
Type of DVDs are you using (-R, +R, -RW, +RW or -RAM), and what do you need
to Burn (data or video)?

 

Hi Xander,

If you find a solution, please let me know. I have discovered a plethora of
KB Articles relating to CD/DVD Drive errors, that, when thrown together,
seem to conspire to drive one mad.

For example, "You cannot write to a DVD-RAM disc that is in a DVD-RAM/CD-RW
combination drive" at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826510/en-us
which may be pertinent to all types of DVDs, and states, "The underlying
cause for this problem when you enable the "Enable CD recording on this
drive" option is that the Image Mastering API (IMAPI) CD Burning COM service
is used to burn the disc. However, the service does not support DVD media.
After you turn off this option, the first time that new media is opened, the
I/O manager gives all file systems a chance to examine the media and
determine whether the format is a supported file system."

So, you could try clearing the "Enable CD recording on this drive" checkbox
as described in the KB Article. If this fixes the DVD problem, you should
have major problems with your CDs. Sheesh!

Other KB Articles include:
"DVD-RW Drive Appears in My Computer as a DVD-R Drive" at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821578/en-us
and "Windows XP does not recognize a DVD-RW disc" at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/818733/en-us
"Recordable CD or DVD that contains data appears blank in Windows XP" at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/867717/en-us
..... hundreds more... another facet of Microsoft's "Devices Just Work"
effort, I suppose. Yeah! Right!

Unfortunately, the bewildering array of errors and bugs associated with
CD/DVDs make troubleshooting an impossible nightmare for ordinary people.
The "Help" files, "Troubleshooter"s and Error Messages embedded in the
Operating System are absolutely abysmal in terms of their usefulness. A lot
of people blame third-party software - the most popular scapegoat being
Nero. Well, I have had a Sonic Application, and I have had enough errors to
furnish a small pub with beer-coasters for a year. This includes
re-writeable media that my PC has miraculously rendered un-re-writeable. I'm
not surprised that threads on other Forums are left hanging.... who wants to
waste time becoming a computer genius in order enjoy Movies and Music or
BackUp some critical Data like the Marketing says we can? Microsoft
attributes many of the Burning Errors in Media Center to Sonic Solutions DVD
creation engine or SonicMCEBurnEngine, and wistfully assigns "This behavior
is by design." to the Status of many of these confounded Errors. Gee.
Thanks.

That said, I believe a lot of problems are caused by "Packet-Writing
Software".... the so called "Drag-and-Drop" or "Copy-and-Paste"
Disc-functionality, which seems to depend on Re-Writeable Media at the
expense of Record-Once Media.

Xander, if you have a blank DVD-RW handy, I would be interested to know
whether you have the same problem with DVD-RWs as with DVD+Rs, or whether
you receive a Message requesting you to format the DVD-RW suitably for your
DVD-Burning Software. This might indicate that Packet-Writing Software has
taken control of your Drive, and thwarted the use of Record-Once Media.

Why Oh Why don't devices just work?