A few days ago, I realized that my CD burner was going through all the motions of writing, but then nothing shows up on it. I use if for backup, and should be able to see all those files in Windows Explorer. My son uses it for music, and he can see the tracks on whatever player he uses, but no songs play. Clicking on the drive it's in shows nothing on it, but it doesn't ask me to insert a disk, which it does when there's a bad or unwritten CD in the drive. There *is* something written on the disk, near the center, but the computer doesn't seem to be able to see it.

Since the burner was still on extended warranty, I took it in and got a replacement. This one is one of Future Shop's own brands (I think) a Benq, but device manager lists it as Atapi CD-R/RW 32x12.

The new burner is doing the same thing. Thinking it might be the software, I uninstalled the Adaptec Platinum that I was using, and installed the software that came with the original burner, Primo Prassi, but it won't recognize the burner.
Any ideas?

It can be very difficult to uninstall Adaptec completely and it may still be fouling your system. How did you uninstall it?

Budfred

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Budfred
[B]It can be very difficult to uninstall Adaptec completely and it may still be fouling your system. How did you uninstall it?

I used Add and Remove Programs in Win ME. It didn't want to uninstall without the CD in. It kept wanting to install, even after I put the CD in. Then I tried starting the uninstall with the CD in. It appears to have worked. I didn't get one of those messages that said some things couldn't be uninstalled. (At least I didn't notice one. I forgot to look specifically.

So right now you don't have a burner program installed, right? Have you tried to reinstall Adaptec Platinum to see if it will work with the new drive?

To make sure Platinum is fully uninstalled - install it, then uninstall using Add/Remove Programs.

You could try Nero Burning by Ahead, which most people think is a more reliable and less troublesome (but also less intuitive) burning program. You can download the latest version free trial (12 MB) at the following URL:

http://www.ahead.de/en/index.html#download

I'm still having the same probs as you.

my yamaha is 2 yrs old, & after advice from yam failed, eventually they said that the drive was us. so I got another (creative) plus new software (as its not compatible with adaptec) still no joy.
have sent the new one back & re-installed the yam.

adaptec was definately un-installed between the installs.

I can use CDRW ok. it's just CDR's that wont write, however I have just recorded one (data) by formatting (for direct CD) then saving to hdd first. oh but it is not recognised by my CD rom only my CDRW (& my CD rom at work)

I continue to experiment, if I get any success I will let you know.

meanwhile: the coaters pile up.

Sometimes "Simon Says"... :D
You may, Uninstall burner software...
Simon says, Remove the burner
You may, Uninstall the burner from Device Manager
Simon says, Look for traces of burner software (here's where Norton's Cleansweep might help) then remove if found.
Re-attach burner, reboot.
Simon thinks, When Windows recognises new device, install one of the softwares you have.
Try it...

To try the other software, do all of the above again 'subzing' for the alternate software. I Didn't Say Simon Says!!! :eek: Don't get me :mad: !!!

How are your IDE cables configured? Do you experience buffer underruns and similar errors?

I had problems with Adapt'esc' and weak burners in the past that would read well in pc's and top quality players but would work sporadically at best in anything other than good ROM's or home theaters and personal devices.

Mostly a newer system, IDE cable wired differently, same OS's just more RAM, things ironed out and work OK. But I still seem to feel that the Adaptec software 'writes weaker' than NERO because any music CD's I've ever tried with NERO have worked in any machine I've tried. We have EZCD Creator on one pc, and Nero on another here at home (almost identical machines). Thy're both makin' CD's fine. Good luck, just tossin a few ideas your way.. :) But I never had the opportunity to try the NERO on the older setup... (P150 and 64 megs of pc66 RAM)