# cdrw drive will write but not read



## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

The Machine:
Dell Dimensions T450 PIII 128 RAM
Windows 98SE

Problem Component:
Pacific Digital External USB 2 24x10x40
(just over a year old) 
Drive information:
Adapter: 2, ID: 0
Model: 02B
Firmware Version:5S5A
Buffer Size: 2048k
Driver Installed: Yes, v1.31
ASPI ver: 0.1
Adapter ID: TPPIOSTB
Auto Insert: Enabled

Burning Software:
Using Nero, Oaktech SimpliCD and CloneCD

Good evening all! (morning, afternoon, whatever) 

My burner seems to hate reading (much like my child). When I put a ANY cd (cdr, cdrw, audio, software, etc) in the drive, nothing shows up when I click on the drive to view the contents of the disc. If the the cd is autorun, it will not. Audio cds are not detected throught the standard cdplayer, Windows Media Player7 or RealOne Player. However when I right click on the drive in question and choose properties the details tab (Oaktech) it will give me the details of that cd, such as audio or data. tracks and/or sessions, length, data mode, etc. So it seems it must be reading it.

It does, however still burn beautifully. I burned a data cd with SimpliCD and it was fine when read on my cdrom drive.
I copied several cds using both Nero and CloneCD. Nero cds are also fine. The one I copied with CloneCd freezes the computer. I haven't tested an audio burn yet. I can't pin down anything that might have caused this, as it was quite sudden. I hadn't just installed anything or made any changes to the system. The only thing I was doing was burning.

To the best of my knowledge everything is up to date. Any ideas?


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## Volt-Schwibe (Jan 12, 2003)

sounds like a filthy lens.

many would recommend a can of air, but i have heard that a blast of air like that will damaged the supsension of the laser lens.

what i do is far more extreme.

i open it, and swab its eye with a q-tip.

seems to have worked more times than not for me.

a disc with a cleaning brush on it has also been known to sometimes work, and borrowing on of those is usually the easiest thing to do.

~BoB~


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

Yes I haven't cleaned it yet so I figured that is a possiblilty. I can't find my cleaning cd anywhere. I do have a lense brush from my camera so as long as I am careful I can use that, I dont want to knock it out of whack. At least its external, easier to get to. And if the thing is just screwed, there's an internal on sale at Office Max for $30 after rebates. I'll go do that then. :winkgrin:


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

If you shop for a few weeks, you'll normally find CD-RW internal drives for around $10-15 after rebate, I have purchased a bunch of them recently. I have equipped all six machines here with them, and I have a couple of spares in the closet.


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

Oh yeah? Wanna send me one?


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Sure, I'll wait for the cash to arrive before shipping.


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

What I don't get one for being the wonderful person I am??:winkgrin:


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## Volt-Schwibe (Jan 12, 2003)

thats what im saying: you might as well clean it if youre going to throw it away anyhow.

and yeah, they are getting cheap these days.


~BoB~


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

Still cant find my cleaning cd...it's driving me nuts. I doubt I would throw it away since it burns fine. It's just annoying that I can't read with it since it is faster than the cdrom thats in my machine. I'm hesitant about opening the case to clean it manually because I don't want to screw it up. I take things apart all the time, but usually when they are wrecked anyways. Must go continue searching for that cleaning cd.


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

Well I finally found my cleaner only to realize (before I even tried it) that, duh, it isn't going to work because it needs to read the cd to clean the lens. I don't know if all lense cleaners work the same but this one has little "brushes" attached to the underside of the cd and I need to be able to advance to the next track for it work. Harumph. I guess I will have to take it apart.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

I think I'd try it in another machine before disassembling it. Since it writes correctly, I suspect something besides the physical hardware...


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

I was thinking the same thing. I was starting to think that the problem was with the computer itself. I had noticed that autorun cds where not starting on my cd-rom drive either and that the icon for my writer was no longer a cd with a pencil. Also when I take a cd out of my rom it will still show the name of that cd even if I put another in. 

I reinstalled Windows and now my cds are being detected and the autorun worked on the writer when I tested it with the Windows cd. However it still seems like it is not reading the cds properly. For instance I currently have an audio cd in. When I put it in, Windows Media Player opens up but nothing happens, and if I click play it tells me it can't play that format(cda). The standard cdplayer program still tells me I need to insert an audio disc.

I just tried the audio cd on my regular rom drive and it isn't playing it either. I can read data cds with the burner now. Audio is still giving me difficulties. I'll need to try another burn. I tried to burn an audio cd last night and it didn't work.

Well it looks like more searching around the net for answers, unless someone knows this.


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## Volt-Schwibe (Jan 12, 2003)

*hmm*

now that it will sort of read, it might be an idea to try the cleaning disk.

~BoB~


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

I can't. At least with the cleaner I have. Neither cd drive will read audio cds. I'm not having much luck finding the cause of this either. Everything I have found hasn't worked 

I also can't figure out how to get the case open on the burner to clean it that way. I don't want to try to force it.

It appears that dirt isnt the problem anyway. I can read and write data cds but not audio.

I'll probably be lurking here while I surf around looking for solutions, that way I can check back often.

I do appreciate everyone's suggestions. Thanks!


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Now you have two drives with the same behavior, this doesn't seem to be a CD drive failure to me.

Did you remove one of the two drives and run the remaining one as the master on that IDE channel? Try it with both drives. You may have some sort of conflict. I'd also consider a new cable, trying the drive on the other IDE channel with the hard disk, etc.

You need to narrow down the problem to hardware or software.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, testing it on another machine would be the best test, it would eliminate the drive as an issue on the spot.


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

Thanks for the input. I'll try what you've suggested and if I can get it to another machine, I'll try that. 

The burner stopped recognizing and reading disc again. I hadn't done anything other than listen to some mp3s.


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

Alright, I really don't know how to change IDE settings, so if anyone knows a link to some tutorial that would be great. I've been searching the net and not finding this info. Although I am not sure if that would do any good as my burner is hooked up to a USB2 port that came with it. Am I wrong in thinking that? I've been trying to contact tech support for this burner but they haven't been available all week of course.


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## Volt-Schwibe (Jan 12, 2003)

i am not positive, but i dont think you need to play with the ide settings on a usb drive.

~BoB~


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

For USB2 devices, I just plug them in and they work. I have a bunch of USB 2.0 cases and I have some disks and a CD-RW drive in one. They've all just worked when plugged into a USB 2.0 port with no settings tinkering necessary.


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

Okay, I've been searching around and I am starting to stumble upon people with similiar difficulties, unfortunately they don't seem to be having any better luck finding a solution. I saw you somewhere else,*johnwill* , can't remember which forum. I suppose you check out more than just two though. 

Anyway, I am starting to believe that it was either Nero or CloneCD that caused this problem. I am leaning towards CloneCD since I have been using Nero for over a year now with no problem. 

Quick question, though. How can I delete wnaspi32.dll ver 4.71 and replace with ver4.60. Specified file is being used by windows, I cannot overwrite delete or rename. I find this slightly humorous since Windows didn't seem to need it before i put it there.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

I think Microsoft has a utility that will delete a program that is locked by Windows, it queues it up for the next boot and deletes it then.


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## Volt-Schwibe (Jan 12, 2003)

i seen a tool on the win98se disk that sounds like what you are talking about.

i think it was the idisk tools or something.

but yeah, it allowed me to delete my swap file :O so i know it can delete stuff in use. 

(P.S. dont ever delete your swap file while in use.)


although that was with win98.

~BoB~


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

I got all the aspi drivers to ver 4.60 already, but thanks anyways. Tech support finally called me today but they are stumped. (What a surprise) They kept trying to tell me that the burner was at fault but I KNOW that isnt the problem. I just did a reinstall of windows again and now it is reading data cds and I can explore audio cds, but still can't play them on either drive.

Just out of curiosity I tried to open an individual cda file of and audio disk through Windows Media Player, I get this:

Windows Media Player Error
! Cannot play back the file. The format is not supported.

Click on details and:
Windows Media Player does not support this file type
Error ID = 0x80040265, Remedy ID = 0x00000000

Of course we all know that cda files are supported by WMP.

Under Folder Options/ Edit type the only action shown is open...should play also be there?

Off to do more searching!!


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Did you ever try one or both of the drives in another system?


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

No I haven't. The only systems I have available are two old Packard Bell towers. As they are now I don't even think they can handle Windows 98 which is necessary for the USB 2 ports. (or so tech support told me). I am, however, confident that the drives themselves are fine. I do appreciate the suggestion though and if I should be able to I will try another machine.

Anyways, the only problem I have now is neither drive will play audio cds. I just successfully burned a cd with the Oak SimpliCD software. Nero still won't let me burn audio cds but will let me burn data.
That may be a conflict between drivers (according to Nero)

My main concern at the moment is just trying to figure out why audio cds are not playing. Unfortunately like you said before, other people seem to be having similiar difficulties with no solution found. So I just keep searching.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

USB ports? I thought these were internal drives?


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## ViciousMelon (Jul 3, 2002)

Lol, sorry for the confusion, but the cdrw is external. The cdrom is factory installed internal. (refer to original post ) I have kind of given up on this for the time being since nothing I have found is working for me. Everyone else that seems to have similiar problems has XP or Me (can't remember which.) So, everything works fine except they still won't play audio discs. I am willing to bet I can rip the cds to mp3 though. So if I really must listen to my cds I will try that. Either that or I will just get fed up and reformat!

I again thank you all for the suggestions and should you come across anything pertinent let me know.


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