Windows 2000 and CD-RWs

***warning - as many of you may know, I have a tendency to ramble***

What's up AO... long time since I've been here... wtf happened? Kinda fugly around here, no? :P

Anyway, a while back I built a "jukebox" for my dad out of an old 300MHz box... I slapped Win2K on it w/ Winamp, and got all of the updates, etc etc...

Anyway, from time to time he'll give me a list of rare songs and I do what I can to find them as mp3s, burn them to CD and bring them by to put on his computer...

But the damn box won't read them. Usually I'll either get an incorrect function error, or it will simply ask me to insert a disc into the drive...

I've tried several different ways of burning these songs to disc - I've used the built in XP software (Roxio, right?), Windows Media Player and CDBurnerXP Pro - I've burnt the tracks both "as data" and I've tried "creating an audio CD..." I finally got so frustrated, I went down to the local computer shop and bought two more old CD drives - same result every time...

Now, get this - the only one my 2000 Box recognized was the WMP burn - which converts all of the tracks to cda format... which means they take up more space, and it renames my files to Track 1, Track 2, etc. And another strange thing - all of the drives recognize CD-Rs just fine (note that I haven't burned any CD-Rs w/ this box)...

So what's the deal? I've been researching for 2 days... I've looked up all of the error messages (i.e. D:\ not accessible - Incorrect Function)... I can't find anything anywhere...

This should be a simple operation... I hate headache problems like these, as I'm sure many of you hate when people post headache problems like these (especially on a security site)... but I'm at my wits end on this one...

any ideas? questions, comments, things you'd like to think about?

thanks...
-wiskic10_4

This only happens to me on older machines. The cause (for me anyway) is a cd-rom that is terribly outdated and does not support the current media out there (cd-r r/w etc...). Sometimes it will read, but most of the time it will not.

The simple solution, upgrade to a cd-rom unit less then 2 years old... lol.

Hope this helps!

I should mention that that the original cd-rom with which I had problems was a CD-R/RW burner... I should think it would recognize CD-RWs... and as I pointed out, all three drives I've had this problem with were able to read some old CD-Rs I dug out, and they all read the CD-RW that I burnt as an audio cd with Windows Media Player (which converts the format to CDA and changes my track-names)

but thanks...

yea, it was a long shot, but sounded like a familliar problem. Sorry it wasn't much help, didn't realize you were using newer drives, just saw the 300mhz machine in terms of hardware used. If I find anything related to your problem I will post it here.

The answer might be quite simple........... does it have onboard sound chips? or have you an audio card?

This one stopped playing sounds a while back, then I reloaded the drivers for the AC97 sound chipset and it started working again (Win2000SP4) it was probably the update to SP4 that provoked it?

Look to your drivers old chap ;)

Thanks, nihil... but, yeah - I've got the correct drivers... that's usually the first thing I check, as that's usually where 90% of hardware issues can be solved so long as your hardware is working properly...

I suppose I can check Yamaha for an update... it's an old Yamaha soundcard... but, I'm still not sure that will make much difference... I mean, this computer is flawless aside from the fact that it doesn't like the CD-RWs... but I know it can read them, since it has no problems reading the one I burnt under Windows Media Player as audio (which changes my track format to CDA and my track names to Track1, Track2 and so on)

I'm considering trying a different brand of CD-RWs - but I'm not optimistic about that either...

I dunno... we're starting a new business, so the old-man will have to buy a new laptop eventually anyway... but I thought that it would be nice to get some use out of this old box... anyway, I'll try Yamaha for some updated drivers... keep the ideas coming, though...

thanks again...

Interesting,

I believe that my problem was that the sound management software had gotten corrupted. When I ran the executable, it loaded that and the drivers. I went into it and changed the settings and it has worked fine ever since.

I had checked Windows before that and everything looked just fine, so it seems like the manufacturer's software overides Windows?

I did have a problem somewhat similar to yours a while back. The guy had an old CD/RW burner that was supposed to burn at 4x in RW. He got some 4x~12x media and the thing just didn't want to know.

I gave him an old 1x ~4x RW CD and it worked just fine. With CD and DVD the first thing I suspect is the media. Please try a different sort and burn it at a slow speed.

Do these CDs play OK on other machines (not the one that burnt them)? and have you tried burning that media on another PC?

Try different media. If you are buying cheap media you will have these kinds of problems. Cheap media is fujifilm, okidata, etc.. They are all made at two or three different plants, and the media is usually different from batch to batch.

For instance. I have a Lighton DVD burner. And it won't read the current back of cheap Fuji DVD's that I have. But my pioneer dual layer burner reads and burns to them perfectly fine.

cdfreaks.com is a good site to determine what is good media, and what media is known not to work with certain devices.

Thanks nihil, mohaughn...

I haven't had the time or resources to try a higher-grade brand of CD-RWs... I recently moved to Yoakum, TX (pop. 5731)... There's not a Wal-Mart right around the corner you see, and my car was "broke" until today...

I've been using Memorex "ultra-speed" CD-RWs... not exactly Verbatims, but they've never failed me...

Anyway, I've reached one of two conclusions - either the CD-RWs are crap, or the drives (even the CD-R/RW) I've been "testing" with are too old to recognize these newer discs... (even when burnt @ 2X)...

I'll let you all know when I try some better media or a newer drive... thanks for the input...

-wiski

HaH!.....................I think that is your problem.............that is ultra high speed media and the old drives don't recognise it. It is for modern drives and is rated at 16x ~ 24x

http://www.memorex.com/html/products...ID=8&opento=2#

It sounds as if your problem is just like the one that guy I told you about was having?

You might get away with 4x ~ 12x, and 1x ~4x should certainly work.

I have just dug out a 25 cake of "Tuff Disc" 4x RW CDs............. I like to have a few around for this sort of problem. They are quite cheap, but are actually much more durable than better known names.

The only other possibility that I forgot to mention was that a very old drive might not recognise 700Mb media, and want the older 650Mb?

The fact that the WMP disc played is probably because it does take up more space, so is not so compressed and is easier to read?

:)

EDIT: I found this: http://www.lambda-tek.com/components...c=y#productTop

If you look at the detailed spec it tells you that your Memorex discs are not compatible with drives 12x or less.

Incidentally, they are made by Infodisk rather than Memorex and have some very bad buyers reviews.

lol... case closed, I suppose... thanks guys... I guess I could've figured this one out on my own... and Rep points to cross for telling me what I needed to know, not what I wanted to hear...

thanks again, damn AO cronies... I will post w/ a verification, though...

-wiski

VERIFIED.

Haven't been able to find any CD-RWs at Wal-Mart, etc aside from the Memorex ultra-speeds... but earlier I went into the local Radioshack - this place has some really old inventory in-stock... I found a 3-pack of Fujifilm 4x CD-RWs for $5... burnt some MP3s to one of them, slapped it into the ol' jukebox and... EUREKA!

I just love it when things work like they're supposed to...

Thanks again to cross, nihil and mohaughn... and forgive me for not researching my manufacturer's products... should have figured this one out on my own, I guess... but I'm stubborn... in my head, a CD-RW is a CD-RW... and I still don't understand why the ultra-speeds didn't work when burned @ 4x... but anyway... problem solved...

Thanks guys...

-wiski

wiski: Indeed, a cdr should be a cdr. As you have found out, that is not always the case. Too bad most consumers would have never figured this out.

I've been taking on one or two "side jobs" a week for some extra cash. Many of the errors that people have are either user error or compatibility issues. They just assume that everything will work. Guess they get that from the Apple commercials? Many times I feel bad for them and only charge 50%, but I'm already operating at 30% of what geek squad charges. I can't get much lower and expect to pay for a wedding.

phishphreek80

yeah, I understand that... the thing is, I used to do this kind of work for a living... I'm only 24, but I'm not exaggerating when I say "I've forgotten more than most people know" - I dropped outta school 124/136 hours for a comp sci degree... used to be the administrator of the comp sci lab, tutor students, repair computers on the side *and* work irrigation 52 hrs/wk... and I was *still* living on picante-sauce sandwiches and Ice-House beer... I decided to get on a drilling rig @ $20/hr + ridiculous bonus pay... that was about a year ago...

but it seems I've forgotten everything I ever knew... ffs, I could've at least checked up on my media before posting this **** on AO... but, alas... I've become brain-dead oilfield-trash... anyway...

gotta keep the computer on, right? (and lights are nice, too...)

-wiski

Always glad to have helped.
I have been away from the forums for a while, and am just now starting to post again.
Things have changed a lot here in my absence, but I'm hoping it is still a community of people willing to help eachother learn and solve problems.

Happy to see everything is working now.

Hi -wiski, thanks for letting us know the outcome.

CD/DVD is a really messy area for incompatibilities. Also some of the media is downright rubbish, and even varies from batch to batch with brand name stuff. A lot of it isn't made by the name on the box, it is outsourced and labelled. So, you get variations depending on what factory it was made at.

In theory, I would have thought that the ultra media should have at least played on the old drive (it certainly won't RW), but theory and what actually happens are very different :D

I have several customers with quite old drives so I have come across this problem before. They only do basic computing tasks and use the drives for backups, so they don't see any need to replace something that is still working.

:)