CD/DVD-R drive suddently burns only DVDs and not CDs

[Opinicus]

My CD/DVD-r drive has suddenly stopped burning CDs but will
still burn DVDs. There have been no software changes
recently. I find the drive also has trouble
recognizing/playing CDs sometimes though it's perfectly
happy to play DVDs.

What's going on?

 

[Malke]

My CD/DVD-r drive has suddenly stopped burning CDs but will
still burn DVDs. There have been no software changes
recently. I find the drive also has trouble
recognizing/playing CDs sometimes though it's perfectly
happy to play DVDs.

What's going on?

The combo drives use two different lasers for cd and dvd. It sounds like
the cd part has died. You can confirm that this is hardware and not
software by putting the drive in another computer or by booting with
Knoppix and trying a cd burn with K3b. If the same issue occurs, then
the drive is defective and should be replaced.

Malke