I have a polaroid Burn Max 24. It has been working fine
until just recently. It will read normal CD-ROMs that are
from the factory "AKA Stamped CDs" but it will not
recognize blank CD-R or CD-RW media. The drive just sits
there and does nothing. Is the drive bad, or is it a
software problem?

Most likely a software problem.

If you have CD burni software (e.g., Easy C Creator or Nero), get the latest
update and install that.

Also, be aware that some things can interfere with CD-writing functions. I
downloaded a free virtual CD reader (nice program from www.circleofone.com),
but it stopped my PC from recognizing any writeable media, but it could
still read all pre-written CDs. In my case the solution was to disable the
virtual CD reader in the XP device manager (simpel right-click option),
reboot, and then plug-in my USB 2.0 CD-writer. (Note that turning off the
progam via hte XP task manager was not enough; I had to also disable the
virtual device.)
"Patrick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:016f01c3c3fe$58b089e0$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a polaroid Burn Max 24. It has been working fine
> until just recently. It will read normal CD-ROMs that are
> from the factory "AKA Stamped CDs" but it will not
> recognize blank CD-R or CD-RW media. The drive just sits
> there and does nothing. Is the drive bad, or is it a
> software problem?