Acer CD-RW 20x10x40x can't write but can still read

[Odis]

This same question was asked in Thread750-619634, but I never read a solution. I have reinstalled Windows XP PRO. I have downloaded and updated the Firmware for the model drive I have (WRA-OA40) RW241040. I reboot and try using Windows Media Player 10 to write files to drive, but I keep getting message to insert a writable disc. I tried using Windows XP tool to write to the CDRW, but also get message to insert a writable disc. And YES, I have tried several cd-r and cd-rws that I know are fine.

 

[ski]

Make sure the drive's cables are securely connected, and make sure the IDE cable's colored stripe along the one edge is located next to the power lead at the back of the drive, and next to pin 1 at the MB connection.

If those are ok, then try a different known working IDE cable, and a different power lead.

If no luck, then see if the same problem happens with the drive installed in a different system.
If so, then the drive may be bad.

 

[Odis]

I tried all of your suggestions. None worked. There is something deeper going on. I had the same CDRW drive at home on another HP Pavilion 510w and it had been working fine. The one I wrote about was one I was building at my work. Anyway, the one at home on the same day, got an error when I booted up. It said something like "Windows has found a recording device that could be unstabe and has disabled it". Now the same(WRA-OA40) RW241040 will only read but not write! I have automatic update on both machines and they both are don't have SP2 yet. It almaost seems an update from Windows for, maybe for Media Player, has disabled the drive. I even updated the Firmware from the Vendors websie and it didn't help. I have bought a new CDRW for the "work" machine and it isn't a problem anymore, but my one at home still does not work!

 

[ski]

Are you saying that this drive previously worked, and now it does not when installed on any machine?
If so and you've replaced other accessories related to it without luck, then it's probably bad.

 

[Odis]

I have two CDRW drives that are identical models. One is installed on an HP PC at my work. The other is installed on the same kind of HP PC at home. Both drive stopped writing two days apart. The two possiblities I think are suspect are Norton Antivirus downloads or Windows Automatic update downloads. Some "fix" has disabled both drives! I am going to test the drives in another PC today and see what happens.

 

[FreeThinker]

I am jumping in here because I am VERY interested in finding out what is causing this problem, as I have the identical problem with quite different configuration details. (By the way, despite what is says above, I am essentially a "Technical User," not a "Vendor" - sometime I have to investigate how to change that; I have no idea how it got attached to me).

About 2 weeks ago I needed to burn some photos to a CD; I had last burned a disc on that drive a few months earlier. That drive is a NEC NR7800A CD-RW drive. After getting this error, I tried (almost) everything I have seen suggested in various fora, by Microsoft, etc. [I have NOT physically removed the drive, nor have I reinstalled Windows XP; I am running SP2, and am current with hotfixes via AutoUpdate.] Note that the drive continues working fine for reading.

I eventually decided it must be a problem (of some weird sort) with the drive itself (perhaps its "logic" for recognizing a writable disc went bad; I don't know). So, I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and purchased a brand new DVD-Writer drive (quite high-end, good price though), since I did not previously have DVD-burning capability.

The new drive (an LG Electronics GSA-5163D) arrived yesterday, and I finished installling it and its associated software this morning (with only mild problems due to software conflicts with earlier CD-burning software). The new drive is USB2.0 connected; the old one is an internal IDE drive.

This new drive (and the old one) now both have THE SAME PROBLEM - they read just fine, but cannot burn a CD-R (the only kind of writable discs I have on hand at the moment).

This history, combined with the stories of others, seems to rule out, in my mind, pretty much all hardware-based explanations, and pretty much all configuration-specific ones, as well. I also suspect some recent "automatic" update, no doubt intended to protect me against some threat with a .0001% chance of ever doing me any harm, in exchange for which I have lost an entire class of functionality on my system, and more than a dollar or two. [We'll just imagine my time is free; many people do that, anyway.]

One caveat about the above "explanation:" I believe I have seen messages reporting this same kind of problem on various fora dating back as far as April 2003 (I can't swear to the precise date - certainly prior to SP2, however); now, they may not have all had the same cause, and such reports (based on Google searches, etc.) certainly seem to have become much more frequent recently.

Has anybody tried to take this problem to a (serious) Microsoft support source? To be honest, I don't even know how to contact such people (not being a corporation with an expensive support contract). Have they even become aware that this is happening?

 

[mainegeek]

Odis,
Try installing some burner software.

 

[daphaze]

Hey guys

Yeah I have this problem with the acer 20x10x40

got it for free from the tech office, worked fine on sony discs, then trying to burn on these mega-cheapos has totally fried the drive.

Now wont even read like basic stuff

Anyone know of the driver or firmware

I'm confused on how xp defaults installs the atapi 20x10x40x driver, should we update with an acer respective one?

Thanks

 

[midas44]

I had the same problem writing to CD, it was caused by something disabling the IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service.

The setting is found in Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services

Change the startup preference to manual, then start the service.

Hope this helps.

 

[daphaze]

Yeah I'm familiar with services, the service starts OK.

It seems to be more of a drive issue, it won't even realize that a blanc disk has been inserted

or any disc for that matter

I'm gonna play with jumper configurations again, might be incompatible with the other cd drive

I have an old Acer 4x usb writer and it handled the cheapo cds fine

maybe it's just dead, the tech office gift was a cruel joke

 

[mainegeek]

daphaze,
The drive is probably either dirty or dead.

 

[FreeThinker]

Well, I have had time to explore further, and I have arrived at the following TENTATIVE conclusions:

1) at least in my case, this was NOT a problem of a bad drive (i.e., one that could not write a CD or DVD); nor was it a problem of a bad CD (although it might possibly involve only CD-R discs; haven't been able to test it on any others);

2) it is possible to burn a CD via this drive - with no apparent problems - using CD- or (for a DVD drive) DVD-burning software (I used Nero);

3) the problem, since it affected multiple drives on the same system, and only when writing using the CD-burning wizard in Windows XP, seems to be a software problem in Windows XP (and perhaps other versions); since I am running SP2, I assume that it might have been "imported" in either SP2 or some more recent hotfix, since things worked OK on (one of) these drives a few months ago (when I last used it, and only had the one drive); it seems to me that this problem still needs fixing, although the other method permits a workaround (assuming you have appropriate alternative software); the problem also might affect or otherwise interact with use of such products as DirectCD or InCD, which allow use of the drive in a way very similar to the CD-Writing wizard (i.e., much like a hard disk); I haven't had a chance to try those since this problem arose (although DirectCD certainly worked for me a few months ago), so I can't reach any definitive conclusion about them;

4) this does not mean that this explains all the various cases of this (or similar) errors reported here (or elsewhere); for many of these, registry fixes or XP Services configuration fixes (as has been mentioned here and in various Microsoft Knowledgebase articles) seem appropriate and helpful; in other cases, drivers and or drives might, in fact, be damaged, misconfigured, or otherwise non-functional;

5) finally, I just note that, after encountering this problem initially, I tried to follow various fixes posted in various places; although none of them solved my problem (except for the complete workaround mentioned above), they did seem to cause other flavors of this problem (drive not recognized as readable, service not configured, etc.) to arise, which then had to be fixed. I don't know if that was just my own blundering incompetence in attempting the various suggested fixes, or if, in fact, some of them inevitably have risky side-effects (conceivably only in the presence of whatever undiagnosed error started this whole chain of annoyances).

 

[daphaze]

Hmm, well,

I have a question: has anyone ever heard of a blanc disc, incompatible media interfering with a drive so that it blunts out?

We had this cool DiVx player which was a gift, back in the dayz when I had no idea what I was doing, I tried to copy a dvd by just directly duping the vob files to a data-dvd. After I dropped that disc in there, and it errored, it never played again.

This one, Acer 204010 seems to have failed ever since we loaded these Gigatain 29 CHF (like 20$) for 100 in there. The sony ones were burning fine at some point

FLash the firmware, anyone have any updates for this model? Acer only has the newer version


thanks

d_phaze