whats this mean?

[vicki lynne]

What does it mean when the event viewer tells me that my cd-rom burner has a bad block. Is there anything I can do for this besides getting a new burner? win xp event viewer by the way.

[Sylvander]

Sounds to me like this is reporting that there was an error when burning a CD [a recordable or rewritable?].
That tracks are measured or set out in "blocks", and that on one of those burned blocks it was not properly done [that would probably make it a CD-R since a CD-RW could be re-done].
There might be nothing wrong with the burner; perhaps it is faulty media [disk].

Which software was reporting this?
Is the "Event Viewer" a component of the [Windows] burning application?
Was this a Windows burning application or a third party application?

QUOTE
From Easy CD Creator help files...
"A logical block is the smallest addressable space on a CD. Each logical block is identified by a unique Logical Block Number (LBN), assigned in order starting from 0 at the beginning of the CD. Under the ISO 9660 standard, all data on a CD is addressed in terms of LBNs. At present, CD recording is supported at one Logical Block per logical sector.

Read error - block not found
The CD recorder could not find requested block. It could be dirty, but, more likely, there was a problem recording the CD that left bad structures on the CD.
· Clean the CD for dust, fingerprints, or scratches on the surface.
· Use another CD."

None of the other errors relating to "block" were close to your error.

Burning slow is more likely to be error free than burning fast.
In llife, things are much more likely to be done correctly if done slow than if done fast.
Point out that fundamental truth to your husband. :)

"These truths found honest Tam O' Shanter, as he frae Ayr ane nicht did canter..."

[mjc]

Also some forms of copy protection rely on intentional "bad" areas as part of the protection scheme.

[vicki lynne]

I was in the middle of burning a cd when my cd-rom disappeared from my system I went into control panel under system tools the event viewer to get the error message so it shows as a system error. I was using nero burning software at the time.

[Sylvander]

"I was in the middle of burning a cd...my cd-rom disappeared from my system"
Ooh, that sound NASTY! :(
Do you mean the CD-drive hardware disappeared from Device Manager, or the display of the [CD-R? ( I keep asking without reply)] disk info disappeared from...what?
The Nero burning software?
Windows Explorer?

[mjc]

CD drives don't have 'blocks' until you put a blank CD in it...so a bad block on a blank CD would probably be a scratch on it.

Now after your error, have you shut down Nero and rebooted?

Is your drive back in Explorer? Nero?

[vicki lynne]

I walked away from my computer for a few minutes and when I came back it wasn't doing anything. I tried to pull up the nero window and nothing came up so I was going to look and see if the cd was done. When I went into my computer it only shows the slave cd drive. I went into device manager and it only shows 1 cd rom drive as being installed, the slave. It's like the burner was never there. The slave drive still works and reads. I tried rebooting and even did a system restore but I can't get my computer to even see the burner. I tried scanning for hardware changed but the computer doesn't pick it up. It's like its just not there. Funny though it still has power. The lights light up and the drawer opens and closes.

[mjc]

Boot into Safe Mode (tap the f8 right after post, before the Windows splash screen) and then access device manager...look for an 'ghost' drives in the CD drives section...remove any you find. Also, if the 'missing' drive shows up there, remove it, too. Then reboot.

[vicki lynne]

o.k. I went into safe mode and accessed device manager. The only drives I saw listed under cd was the one thats listed in windows. Explain please "ghost drives". But there weren't any extra drives missing or otherwise.

[mjc]

"Ghost" devices are when, for one reason or another Windows deosn't clean up after a device is removed. It may be after a system crash and the device was reinstalled without the removal of the first instance. It could be a driver update that didn't properly remove the old set or any one or combination of several dozen more reasons.

Some times, these 'ghost' devices cause problems in that Windows, while not actually using the 'ghost' may try to assign resources around it and then there could be a sharing conflict with another device (for example). Other times, especially in cases of incomplete driver removal, Windows can actually try to use the old drivers...or a combination of the old and the new (I can't tell you how many times I had that problem with an old video card). In a case like that it would be best to remove the 'ghost' and the 'active' item and let Windows reinstall just one...hopefully finding the latest drivers.

[vicki lynne]

Thanx for the explanation. I learned something. That will help a lot when I'm doing a rebuild.