know anything about burning CDs ?

[Shaun Stuart]

I appreciate this is off-topic but I have posted this message in several groups and know one has been able to help yet. Pocket PC Thoughts readers are normally PC enthusiasts so I wonder if you can help.

I have a 6 month old PC with a pioneer DVD-RW DVR104 drive. I have been able to burn a number of CDs/DVDs in the last few months but recently I have encountered a problem.

My PC hangs/Freezes/stops responding whenever I try to burn a CD. This happens when

a) using windows media (9) to burn a music CD
b) using Nero buring rom (5) when burning a music CD or copying a data CD.

In all cases the burning process appears to begin and then my system freezes/hangs and I have to switch it off to get it to respond again.

I have waisted about 20 CDs trying to get this to work. I have updated the firmware, checked for viruses but still cant get it to work.

Can anyone help

[The Yaz]

If you cannot make any burn happen, but do not see any software warning to explain the failure (i.e. buffer overwrite) then it could be a dirty lense.

Try shooting some compressed air into the drive or run a cleaning cd that has a little set of toothbrush bristles to clean it. A deposit buildup may not be enough to stop the cd drive from reading a cd but it can make it impossible to burn one.

Steve 8)

[Pat Logsdon]

I agree with The Yaz - I'd recommend that you check the buffer. If you don't have enough memory free to accommodate the buffer, you'll end up with a coaster every time.

I have a Pioneer DVR 105 and use NeroBurning Express for my burning, and I haven't had any problems. I've also been using it on a computer with 100GB free space - I think I'd run into problems if I tried to use the same drive in my other computer - with 300MB free space. :mrgreen:

[Jason Dunn]

Ah, the joys of trouble shooting!

First off, you need to isolate whether it's the CD drive or your computer. Remove the DVD-R *and the cable* and try it in another PC. If it doesn't work, you know it's the drive or cable. Try a new cable. If that doesn't work, you know it's the drive. Assuming you don't have a botched firmware upgrade, and the lens isn't dirty, you have a messed up burner.

I too had a similar problem with my A-04 in my Shuttle SS-51G - the damn thing just would NOT complete a burn. I ended up putting it in an external Firewire enclosure, and now everything works fine. :roll: