CD Burners and XP ?

[Davej]

Why is it that on my system I can put a blank CD-R or CD-RW in the
burner and "My Computer" and "Explorer" seem to accept it, but on a
friend's PC the CD burner returns "Drive not ready" for a blank CD and
the burning has to be accomplished using 3rd party software? Are
different CD drives more or less compatible with XP?

 

[Conor]

Why is it that on my system I can put a blank CD-R or CD-RW in the
burner and "My Computer" and "Explorer" seem to accept it, but on a
friend's PC the CD burner returns "Drive not ready" for a blank CD and
the burning has to be accomplished using 3rd party software? Are
different CD drives more or less compatible with XP?

They're all compatible. It just depends on how the software he uses has
modified the aspi.dll

 

[Davej]

Davej says...

They're all compatible. It just depends on how the software he uses
has modified the aspi.dll

So, maybe my friend's system is totally screwed up?

 

[Don Phillipson]

Davej says...

So, maybe my friend's system is totally screwed up?

If your friend's PC reads and writes CDs the way he
wants, and he does not think it is totally screwed up,
why do you ask?

 

[GTS]

Why is it that on my system I can put a blank CD-R or CD-RW in the
burner and "My Computer" and "Explorer" seem to accept it, but on a
friend's PC the CD burner returns "Drive not ready" for a blank CD and
the burning has to be accomplished using 3rd party software? Are
different CD drives more or less compatible with XP?

Maybe your friend has disabled XP's built-in CD burning? I know I did, as I
prefer Nero.
Check services - IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service. Default is automatic.
I set it to disabled because I did not want XP's burning wizard coming up
every time I put a blank disc in...

 

[Conor]

So, maybe my friend's system is totally screwed up?

Not really..just that the software he installed took over the writing
operations.

 

[Matt]

Why is it that on my system I can put a blank CD-R or CD-RW in the
burner and "My Computer" and "Explorer" seem to accept it, but on a
friend's PC the CD burner returns "Drive not ready" for a blank CD and
the burning has to be accomplished using 3rd party software? Are
different CD drives more or less compatible with XP?

Not sure, but I just overcame some trouble when burning DVDs. There is
something called DLA that you should know about. Even if it isn't
causing the problem you mention, it will probably cause a problem
sometime if you have it installed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_Letter_Access

 

[Davej]

If your friend's PC reads and writes CDs the way he
wants, and he does not think it is totally screwed up,
why do you ask?

She has no clue. The "expert" who set up her machine told her to use
the 3rd party "Sonic" software to burn CDs. I don't see the advantage
of being forced to use 3rd party software for trivial data CDs.

 

[GMAN]

So, maybe my friend's system is totally screwed up?

He needs to right click on the drive letter under MY COMPUTER and enable CD
recording.

 

[Matt]

She has no clue. The "expert" who set up her machine told her to use
the 3rd party "Sonic" software to burn CDs. I don't see the advantage
of being forced to use 3rd party software for trivial data CDs.

That sounds like DLA. DLA comes from Sonic, and it forces you to format
a disc before you can use it. See my recent threads in
alt.os.linux.ubuntu and cross-posted to some Windows groups.

 

[Jim]

Why is it that on my system I can put a blank CD-R or CD-RW in the
burner and "My Computer" and "Explorer" seem to accept it, but on a
friend's PC the CD burner returns "Drive not ready" for a blank CD and
the burning has to be accomplished using 3rd party software? Are
different CD drives more or less compatible with XP?

Try a different brand of media on your friends burner. Not all units are
happy will all types. The reflectivity might not be correct between the
media and the burner.

As an aside, I thought I had purchased bad media when my Lite-On burner
refused the media. After I flashed my unit with the latest firmware all
worked perfectly.

In short the problem may have nothing to do with XP at all.