Loss of CD/DVD burn and read

[jwhiz]

Did a wee bit of major surgery a while back on this machine, and suspect some unhappiness - new motherboard in an Acer system that came with Vista, but I changed back to XP.

The motherboard replacement happened about a month ago, and I've just now noticed that I have a substantial issue with either writing or reading CDs and DVDs.

Something MS provides called Fixit [http://support.microsoft.com/mats/cd_dvd_drive_problems/en-us] reports that my drive is not a burner. What's interesting is that I get the exact same errors and reports on an external USB burner.

I've also been getting repeated crashing on ImgBurn which has been a rock solid app for me forever. Guessing it's unable to call on the appropriate resource with either hardware, then just shuts down. If there's a way to get a log from that, can anyone tell me? The XP/Roxio app reports errors while copying files, then after trying to burn them (see my coaster collection!)

In addition, a long-forgotten "Z drive" now shows as a CD-ROM drive in windows explorer, but not in Disk Management. I know some burning software uses / creates "Z:" when working and sometimes these get left behind, not sure if seeing it now is related to whatever else is going on.

Now the only way I can back up the system is to pick up an external hard drive. That's always been on my wishlist, but they aren't so cheap. I'm also thinking that this is one of those cases where many techs would lapse into the "reformat and start again" thing. I obviously want to back up as many files as I can think of first if I go that route.

I am thinking of getting one though, so also wondering - would cloning the current drive, or reinstalling XP over top of itself, simply continue the problem? I'm thinking I might be better off, if i go that route for backup, to copy files the same way I would to disks - slowly and piecemeal - then completely reformat the drive. What a drag that would be, even with XP service pack 3 and a few other things on disk. Well poop, they're on a disk...better find the flashdrive backup to the backup...

 

[muckshifter]

Well, if you gonna re-format and start again, I'd strongly suggest installing Windows 7 ... because it has it's own burning software that, well, just works. ISOs too

XP was great, in it's day, but really, it has been succeeded by something MS probably tripped over in a back ally. Win 7 will also "understand" you hardware better than XP may, especially if using SATA drives.


no, I don't work for MS, they can't afford me.

 

[TriplexDread]

Its a bit extreme but you could always try updating the firmware on ya optical drive.

I personally have never had a problem with SATA optical drives using XP, in fact I recently bought a new Liteon one a few weeks ago. Works absolutely no problems at all with all burn speeds and disk types available too me

 

[jwhiz]

Well let's see

Muck, I couldn't afford the external hard drive I just bought, much less a new MS operating system. The software on the backup drive didn't install and the unit is crashing my system. Hoping Seagate support will come through for me so I can at least use without built in backup software.

TripleX - I get the exact same errors (can't burn, MS Fixit says unit not a burner) on a USB burner - completely different connection. I do have SATA drives (HD and DVD), they worked fine before changing the motherboard.

The cost of the motherboard, external DVD burner, external HD and my own disk of a current Windows system would probably equal a new computer by now. Without all my data on it. Or about an eighth of a Mac, which I loved working on for the 5 minutes or so mine was up to date.

So my only options for saving files right now is about 20 pen drives or constant emailing myself. Um, no.

My only hope is that I can reformat the new USB external drive and use it as simple storage - manual backup - without it continuing to crash XP.

Linux doesn't let me run the Windows games shared among my family or I would have made the switch to Linux-only or a dual boot long ago. Dual boots are fine but a pain in the ass not to switch quickly from gaming on Windows to every other computer function in Linux.

I'm guessing my frustration with this and life in general showing. But thanks for quick replies.

 

[TriplexDread]

Actually depending on the interface inside the external closure it will either be an IDE or SATA to USB

All the usb is doing is allowing a more simple external connection.Power and signal in one small interface.

Try the drive in another computer?

Or as I suggested earlier update the firmware?

These guys i've used for years; http://files.rpc1.org/http://forum.rpc1.org/portal.php

 

[jwhiz]

TripleS, thanks for info, i learn, yey.

External burner working fine on a netbook (Windows 7 starter, ack, but adequate OS. Used both Windows 7 burner and the version of Nero that came with it there).

so, you're suggesting firmware updates for that, or onboard burner on XP desktop? or something else? I had someone else do the mobo exchange, kinda wished I only had myself to blame on that one, what things might have been missed?

I also swapped the PSU since I got it back, would a gnarly cable situation on the internal burner also affect software and external burner?

and awesome speed on the replies, thanks I say again!

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

Update your BIOS.

Old system board failure and all was working fine before. Change system board and not have issue recognizing a perfectly good drive? MB issue for whatever reason.

I start there. Maybe there is a BIOS setting that is keeping it from being recognized properly

 

[Abarbarian]

http://minus.com/

https://www.dropbox.com/

There are free on-line backup storage sites. i use the two above but there are a few more available.

As suggested make sure ALL you mobo drivers are up to date. the manufacturers site usually lists all you need.

 

[TriplexDread]

I meant the firmware on the drive as the website link would suggest.
A BIOS firmware check is a good place too as mentioned

 

[jwhiz]

I'm into trying the BIOS update, after (hopefully!) getting either optical drive or the external HD working under Puppy Linux, then backing up my data from there - not sure if that will work yet. Otherwise back to Windows, then slowly building a backup folder on a netbook with flashdrive moves, to burn onto disks from there.

In the meantime, I'm a little flustered by what I see on the mobo site and the American Megatrends site.

The ASRock mobo site doesn't appear to list my BIOS or board name or anything I recognize here:

http://www.asrock.com/support/download.asp?cat=BIOS
I have an ASRock N68C-GS UCC board. It does have a built in BIOS-flashing utility. I'd like to know more about how I can back up the current BIOS before I change anything.

When I went to the American Megatrends site, I was dumped into something for a third party, BiosAgentPlus. Um, ok...I did download and run this agent, which identified drivers for every device that's ever been plugged into the system. It told me that besides the BIOS, there were updates for a number of other things. What it doesn't do, is identify and provide the BIOS (or any other) updates. Instead, you have to sign up for something that appears to cost about $30 for a year's subscription to their updating service. WTF?? And apparently this is the only way to get a BIOS update for these guys?

Can anyone tell me if I'm missing what I need on the ASRock site? And since when have we needed to pay for driver updates? I'm blown away.

Using the XP system info, I see the BIOS listed as American Megatrends Inc P1.50.3/3/2011.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

First, the third party program seems to be something like driver doctor. Its job is to get you to do exactly that, pay them. Like the fake antivirus programs, these are garbage. Uninstall it, fast.

Now, on to the board. I did a google search on American megatrends bios update and came up with this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Ame...ct=mode&cd=1&ved=0CDEQ_AUoAA&biw=1442&bih=839

I ran into the same problem you did, the BIOS update agent. Yeah, remove that. No good can come from it.

Thinking a bit, I clicked on the Images for the search. I was going to work up this big long thing about ID the board, chip and blah blah blah. That's when I clicked on a picture that I figured I could link to and came upon this:

http://www.home-computer-support.org/american-megatrends-bios.html

I only flipped through some of the links there, but it seems like it could help. Upon further skimming, it seems to direct you to the download utility to get the prog to ID the board and get the proper update.

Hope it helps.

 

[Abarbarian]

Top find in a Bing search from Arch with FF gets me

http://www.asrock.com/mb/download.asp?Model=N68C-GS UCC&o=All

Seems they have bios updates as recently as 9/22/2011

 

[jwhiz]

Hi all,

I did get rid of that agent thing (what is American Megatrends thinking?)

After a bit of random noodling, I did finally find the correct page for my board on the ASRock site (I have an N68C-GS UCC board, with support for AMD 2+, and an NVidia GeForce 7025/nforce 630a chipset). (I emailed myself the link, was on desktop, can find again if anyone interested).

After downloading, unzipping and saving both DOS and ROM versions of what appeared to be the latest updates (yes, last year, 2011, but one at top of the list appeared to be a version later than one showing in the BIOS itself) I saved them to FAT formatted devices, which the system recognized in the BIOS. However, neither was recognized as a BIOS update so m'neh.

I then tried the "repair" version of reinstalling XP. M'neh.

In the meantime, I was able to boot from Puppy on a stick (I like saying that) and was able to use the system burner from there. I also reformatted the Seagate external drive to get rid of software that was crashing XP, and backed up all my folders and files from Puppy. I also did a test burn and got a successful burned CD, able to read, and was also able to read a burned DVD-DL that I burned on a netbook with the external burner.

So - seemed like a Windows issue? - I wiped out the system hard drive completely and am now laboriously reinstalling apps and files, after first doing as many XP updates and patches as I could from a CD and getting anti-naughty stuff installed and up to date (and scanning) before plugging into modem.

Guess what - burner works now - successful test burn of files from backup drive.

Hooray! Went you can't fix stuff by tossing and buying new, you gotta dig and dig...and when it works I'm so happy. Happy la la la la la la la lol.