Files on CD-R cant been seen/read

[Ironfistchamp]

OK sorry for plauging this forum with nothing but questions but this is a biggy.

My computer (XP SP2 AMD 3200+ 512MB DDR3200) has a problem reading from a burned CD-R. I can't see any of the files that are on it. It also seems that when I burn a disk from it that is corrupted (im not sure on this one).

This happens with any disk I make or ones i make on another system. Official disks are fine.

Any idea?

Thanks very much

Ironfistchamp

[Paul Komski]

A drive that created the CD should also be able to read it. CDs created on other burners might need to have been closed before become readable on a different CD drive.

isobuster should be able to confirm whether the contents are there or not
http://www.smart-projects.net/main.htm

cdcheck should be able to check the integrity of any files on the CDs
http://www.elpros.si/CDCheck/

Most burners have an option to verify that the burn was successful. If verification was successfull then the problem is probably with unclosed media.

PacketWriting software would complicate the above so which burning software was being used.

[Ironfistchamp]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't think anyone was going to. I used the first program and it seems as though there is nothing on the disks burned on this machine or any other machines. It just says its a blank disk (in My computer and ISOBuster).

To burn things on the various disks I have used Nero (don't know the version), ISORecorder and Windows Native Burning thing. All have the same poblem. I am really hoping that it is something to do with windows and not the drive. I got it from Ebuyer a while ago. They won't help me but do you think LG might? I mean if tis dodgy I would want another one. Preferably one that works

Thanks again

Ironfistchamp

[ErnieK]

If the drive is still under warranty contact E-Buyer and see about replacement. if it is out of warranty contact LG at the following link. I use an LG drive and in thepast I have found them to be fairly decent in getting back to you. BUT! before doing either of these check out the drive properly (does it play disks?) and your software (If you open up Nero and click on the HELP tag look for the ABOUT NERO and this will tell you your vesrion number. Try going to Nero's site and seeing if there is an update for your version. Updates are free UPGRADES are paid for) Nero will also allow you to check the state of your disks.

Try copying a disk to a CD-RW disk (check it after writing)and this will let you know if the disk is writing OK or not.
http://www.lge.com/general/contact.do

[Ironfistchamp]

Ok well I hav uninstalled all burning software. It only seems to be blank disks and recently burned ones. I will contact LG to see if ti is the drive. I will also check on other machines to see if the disks work and I shall take out a drive and put it into this machine.

Thanks for your help

Ironfistchamp

--EDIT--

I just put a blank CD-RW in and My computer froze. I couldn't get any details on it. Does that sound like a problem with XP rather than the Drive?

[Juan_Achilles]

hi!. try uninstalling the device in the device manager and reboot.

as sson as you boot to your desktop....browse a cd...

{Y}= issue resolved...
{Y}= but it all dissappeared again....then you need a firmware...

{N}= not even close to the above two....go get a new one =)

[Ironfistchamp]

I shall try that then and let you kno how i get on

[Sylvander]

"I just put a blank CD-RW in and My computer froze. I couldn't get any details on it. Does that sound like a problem with XP rather than the Drive?"
YES
When I put a blank CD [of any type] into the drawer and close it, a window comes up asking what I'd like to do with the CD.
What I think is happening here:
1. Packet-Writing program [Direct CD] is running in the background at all times.
2. I think this is what's detecting that a blank CD has been loaded.
3. This then runs a small program to display the dialogue box.

My guess is that your PC has [similarly] some program [probably a part of WinXP] running in the background, which detects that a CD has been loaded, and when it tries to run the program to display the dialogue box there is a [software] problem, and your PC freezes.
Do you have any [CD-burning] software installed that's running some component in the background that is trying to do the same job as WinXP when a CD is loaded, which might be interfering with it?

Just checked and my %CPU usage for "Direct CD" jumps from zero to about 10% when I load a blank CD.

[Fruss Tray Ted]

A drive that created the CD should also be able to read it

Recently I was capturing some audio with MusicMatch JukeBox because I was not satisfied with the software that came with my PVR capture card because I was having difficulties with the volume of the finished product.

Anyway, this was done in XP and I burned the files onto cd-r's with a dvd writer. I then took the disk out and reinserted it into the cd-rom in the same pc. It was not recognised so I put it back in the recorder. Not recognised there either So I put it in my 98 pc and it saw and played the mp3's just fine, huh? Here I had a case where the pc that made the disks could not see them but another pc could. Now I could burn the cd as cda files which did work in either drive. Mp3's are listed as a format and has the checkmark in WMP10 in XP however.

I burned another 'semi-successful' disk with NERO but this time set NERO to confirm the burn before ejecting the disk. It reported success but still would not recognize the disk with either drive but the 98SE pc would...

I just went to that same dual-boot pc and booted into 98 instead of XP and the mp3's are seen with the cd-rom!

Sorry I haven't worked out why I'm having problems in XP yet but I wanted to mention that 'things' are not always as they seem.

[Sylvander]

Just ran "File Monitor" to record file accesses when I load the CD.
RESULTS
"Direct CD" & the Win98SE shell [Explorer.exe] tried to read the contents of the CD [and found it to be empty I guess] as follows:
"Time_Process_Request_Path_Result_Other
20:41:11_Directcd_Ioctl_H:_INVALIDFUNC_Subfunction : 0Dh
20:41:11_Directcd_Directory_H:_SUCCESS_CHECK
20:41:11_Directcd_FindOpen_H:\*.*_NOTFOUND
20:41:11 Directcd GetDiskInfo H: SUCCESS Free Space
20:41:12 Explorer Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:12 Explorer Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:12 Explorer FindOpen H:\*.* NOTFOUND
20:41:12 Explorer Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:12 Explorer Attributes H:\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO NOTFOUND GetAttributes
20:41:12 Explorer Attributes H:\AUTORUN.INF NOTFOUND GetAttributes
20:41:13 Directcd Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:13 Directcd FindOpen H:\*.* NOTFOUND
20:41:13 Directcd GetDiskInfo H: SUCCESS Free Space
20:41:13 Explorer Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:13 Explorer Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:13 Explorer FindOpen H:\*.* NOTFOUND
20:41:13 Explorer Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:13 Explorer Attributes H:\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO NOTFOUND GetAttributes
20:41:13 Explorer Attributes H:\AUTORUN.INF NOTFOUND GetAttributes
20:41:15 Directcd Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:15 Directcd FindOpen H:\*.* NOTFOUND
20:41:15 Directcd GetDiskInfo H: SUCCESS Free Space
20:41:15 Explorer Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:15 Explorer Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:15 Explorer FindOpen H:\*.* NOTFOUND
20:41:15 Explorer Ioctl H: SUCCESS Subfunction: 0Dh
20:41:15 Explorer Attributes H:\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO NOTFOUND GetAttributes
20:41:15 Explorer Attributes H:\AUTORUN.INF NOTFOUND GetAttributes
"

I found in "Wintop.exe" that various other processes were registering Processor usage when a CD was loaded.
Process_____|_%CPU From_|_To_|
msgsrv32.exe_______0______50 [Windows component]
Explorer.exe________0.4______3.4 [Windows component]
DirectCD.exe________0______11 [Installed program]
AVGcc.exe_________0________0.25 [Installed ant-virus prog]

[Ironfistchamp]

I currently have NO burnign software at all... same problems still Iam afraid. I don't want to have to upgrade the fimware because the instrusctions keep going on about how if it is done wrong it wil damage the drive. Sods law it will happen to me.

I don't mind using the recovery function on the XP disk if that helps. Unlike most people using the disk doesn't bother me. Even if it is the easy way out

--EDIT--

Just inserted a blank DVD+RW and it says Free Space 0bytes Total Space 0bytes

how does that work?

[Fruss Tray Ted]

Update to my previous post. I rebooted into XP and put the mp3 disk I made into the cd-rom and it was read just fine... I'll let this one go as just a Windows hiccup...
____________________
Back to thread author's problem. Possible reasons a burned cd-r is not seen on your pc are:

1: The cd's were made with a weak burner (It has happened to me).

2: The drive in this pc reads weakly (Also has happened to me). I have a laptop with a cd-rw burner that does not read scratched (original) disks well at all. If I burn a copy with another pc and place the cd-r in my laptop, it then reads them just fine.

[Ironfistchamp]

is there some way I can fnd out for definite that it is a weak drive... and if it is a weak drive why does it read "official" disks perfectly everytime?

[Paul Komski]

and if it is a weak drive why does it read "official" disks perfectly everytime?

By official disks I guess you mean retail cdroms that were made in a press; the pits and lands being created by pressure from a template - no burning is involved - and the CDs would always be de facto closed. These have always had the greatest readability and cross-compatibility.

CDRs and CDRWs both use different processes to mimic the pressed pits and lands of CDROMs and are more finicky and difficult to read. The burning software that creates them can also leave the sessions or disks still open for further burning.

This isn't the place to go into all the details about how CDs are made but you have a situation when either your burner or burning software is being ineffective and/or burned CDs (even known functional ones made on another system) are unreadable.

Very little is "written in stone" when it comes to computers but if you could even borrow another known good burner you should be able to exclude software on your system as being the root cause. If your burner similarly failed on another PC that would tend to confirm a bad CD Drive. It sounds as if it is a dodgey drive and if under guarantee I would be getting a replacement.

The only simple and cheap thing that could be worth a shot would be a lens cleaner.

[Ironfistchamp]

So much stuff to try. I shall put it in another machine. I also have a DVD Burner I havn't tested I shall put that in here adn see what happens.

Thanks again

Ironfistchamp


--EDIT--

I put the other DVD Burner in and it worked no problem. Saw that it was a blank CD and eveything. That must mean its the LG drive thats dea right?

Should I contact LG and see what they say?

[Sylvander]

Have you tried working in "msconfig->Diagnostic Mode->Normal Startup" to see what happens in a different software environment?

This is like safe mode, but with CD-drive access.

[Paul Komski]

I put the other DVD Burner in and it worked no problem. Saw that it was a blank CD and eveything. That must mean its the LG drive thats dea right?

Looks very probable. If the LG also fails to read closed CDR/CDRWs in another PC I would think that would be confirmation.

[Ironfistchamp]

Well I have emailed them and lets just hope. Now that I have a burner that works (I think its NEC) can finally get SUSE on the other machine. Wish me luck.

Ironfistchamp

[Paul Komski]

Good Luck!

[Paleo Pete]

Long thread, I'm not sure I remember all the details so Ithought I'd drop a couple of questions in...

Have you tried burning at the slowest speed the burner will accept? (I would recommend finalizing RW disks too at least until we sort this out.) I always burn at the slowest speed the burner will handle and have never made a coaster yet...the only disk I've ever tried that would not read on another machine was one I made on a Linux machine and tried to read on a win 98 machine and didn't reallize it hadn't been finalized yet. Nope, win98 didn't read it...

Have you run a CD cleaner disk through it yet? A dirty laser lens can really be a pain and is a very common problem. Cleaning disks can be purchased in department stores and retaiil outlets for about $10.

[Ironfistchamp]

I havnt cleaned it no. Ive only had it since the end of may. I can't burn any disk because it thinks that all blank discs are full. It says

Free Space 0 bytes
Total Space 0 bytes

I have contacted LG lets just hope I get a reply.

Ironfistchamp