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Both DVD and CDRW drive only read Audio Discs 2

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unomedeano

Technical User
Dec 8, 2004
5
MY
I have a Toshiba M1402 DVD drive and a TDK CDRW161040 CDRW Drive on a XP Pro Platform.

Randomly one day last week, both drives would only read audio cds. Any data cd put into the CDRW drive comes up as blank, and any data cd in the DVD drive gets the error that the cd is not formatted.

I tried multiple data cds, which have worked on other computers. Any suggestions?
 
Micker,
I'm not sure that's the problem since it's affecting both drives in the system. Possible, but unlikely. Also don't forget that music CD's work fine with the same lens. Not sure why you were quick to suggest that?


unomedeano,
Did you recently install SP2 for XP? Try removing the drives from device manager and uninstalling any burning software that you have. Then readd the drives and try reading again before installing your software.

Also, what software did you use to create the data CD's? Nero InCD or Burning Rom? Roxio Easy CD or DirectCD?

The way you made the data CD makes a difference. Also try a store-bought data CD like a drivers disc or game.

The ultimate test is to boot your system with a Win98SE boot disk (you can get one from You can test the CD-RW and DVD drives from a DOS prompt. If they work from there, then you know you have a Windows problem.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
I tried regular store-bought data and it works on both drives.

The 6 or so data CDs I tested were burned on different computers, some using Nero, some using Windows XP default function. They all were working on my comp, and on other comps

I installed SP2 for XP after the drives stopped reading these data cds, and that did not solve anything. Today I uninstalled both drives from Device Manager, and uninstalled Nero. Still no luck.

The only thing I have not tried is booting with a WIN98SE boot disk, which I will try

Suggestions??
 
<Not sure why you were quick to suggest that?>

Quick - easy - eliminates that possibility.
 
I could not make a bootable Win98SE CD, so I tried an original win98SE cd to boot. No luck, went right into WinXP.....
 
unomedeano said:
I tried regular store-bought data and it works on both drives.

Because of this, we can assume that it's not a hardware problem. Plus there's no need to boot with a Win98SE floppy (you had said "CD").

Instead, try bcastner's suggestion just in case that's it.

The problem is that the CD's you trying to use might have been made in the "packet-writing" format using Nero InCD or Roxio's DirectCD. This kind of CD can only be read by burners. If that's the kind of CD you are using, then your problem is Nero's InCD.



More info:

faq602-5556



For recovering data:



~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
micker377,
The only reason why I brought that up earlier was because we already knew this was affecting two different drives that could both read music CD's. What's the chances of a dirty lens in both causing ONLY data CD problems? In my book, slim to none. Plus, we just found out that store-bought works fine, another indicator that this is a Windows issue.
 
Tried bcastner's autofix, and initially, it said the fix tool did not find any problems. However, all data cds were able to be read afterwards.

Thanks for all your help guys.
 
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