PC Peripherals Writer burns DVD-RWs well, but not the normal DVD-Rs

[kidrow]

Hi,

This problem has been pestering me for a while, & resulted in a few coasters. My 3 year old Samsung DVD writer seems to be able to write only RWs without errors. With normal DVD-Rs, either the burn process will fail or the burn process will be completed successfully, but the verification will fail. The latter is more often the case.

Also, such disks can be usually read on my laptop, but not on the PC with the burner in question. I suspected initially that the problem had something to do with Kaspersky, because disabling it & then rebooting resulted in a few successful burns. But this again was a hit & miss.

Further the disc volume label & content do not update immediately & I have to push the tray in & out for about 3-4 times, before it does.

I'm using XP SP3. The writer is still in Ultra DMA Mode 2. I burn both the DVD-RWs & the DVD-Rs at 4x. I've used Sony & Moser Baer with similar results.

I don't know whether it's a hardware or a software issue. Any tests I can run? Maybe run Microsoft's Virtual PC? Please help. Thanks.

 

[hellgate]

Looks like the lens has konked off.
better get a new dvd-rw drive.
they come pretty cheap these days.

 

[kidrow]

But any idea why a bad writer will write RWs flawlessly but not DVD-Rs? I'm just thrown off by that fact, & hence haven't bought a new one yet. Though they come comparatively cheaper now, I don't want 2 useless writers on my hand.

 

[Superbad]

The laser intensity varies for burning different media. Therefore it may write a dvd rw and may not provide the same result. Before giving up hopes on your drive try upgrading the firmware of your drive. Sometimes they work.