Newbie with huge problem!

Newbie Forum
#1

Hello folks, am fairly newbie on informatics forums, and I have stumbled upon a problem I have no idea what to do with, or at which forum post it. So, I have an ASUS X54C with WIN 7, and the CD/DVD burner has suddenly stopped working the way it should. It can read DVD’s and CD’s, but whenever I try to burn an audio CD, it either does as it had burned it, whereas in reality the CD-R remains empty, or it simply breaks down while pretending to write, and the only I can do then is to pull out the battery from the laptop, for otherwise I could not restart it in any way. The tsstcorp cddvdw sn-208bb driver is OK. Checked it, but there’s no problem.

Any idea please?

#2

Here is a list of possible fixes for your drive written by Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

The most common problem is addressed in the third one, which is removing upper and lower filters.

#3

Thank you, I’ll see if I manage to get it solved.

#4

[QUOTE=Nystroem;2722583]Hello folks, am fairly newbie on informatics forums, and I have stumbled upon a problem I have no idea what to do with, or at which forum post it. So, I have an ASUS X54C with WIN 7, and the CD/DVD burner has suddenly stopped working the way it should. It can read DVD’s and CD’s, but whenever I try to burn an audio CD, it either does as it had burned it, whereas in reality the CD-R remains empty, or it simply breaks down while pretending to write, and the only I can do then is to pull out the battery from the laptop, for otherwise I could not restart it in any way. The [B]tsstcorp cddvdw sn-208bb[/B] driver is OK. Checked it, but there’s no problem.

Any idea please?[/QUOTE]

What kind software did you use to burn the audio CD? That would be a start to know what is happening with the software.

#5

What kind software did you use to burn the audio CD? That would be a start to know what is happening with the software.

Well at first I used my original Nero 7 premium which I had been using for already 1 year and a half, but seeing what was newly happening, I tried with CDBurnerXP. It did not work either. Same problem with both softwares. Exactly the same.

#6

Does this happen at every write speed? Can you post a full Nero burn log?

#7

[QUOTE=Albert;2722631]Does this happen at every write speed? Can you post a full Nero burn log?[/QUOTE]

Well I’ll try to make a video of the burning procedure with Any Video Recorder in order to show what happens when burning it. Perhaps this would be the most practical thing. I’ll upload it at tube and send the link here.

#8

Did you try cleaning the lens?

#9

[QUOTE=roadworker;2722674]Did you try cleaning the lens?[/QUOTE]

Good point. I was thinking about it, but initially I did not consider this to be the primary source for this problem, for it reads CD’s and DVD’s with no problem. But since I am not an expert, and if you consider that this might help, then I’ll go and buy a cleaning CD. I have never used one yet…

#10

[QUOTE=Nystroem;2722675]for it reads CD’s and DVD’s with no problem.[/QUOTE]

Mine could read fine too,but burning gave me power calibrating errors…until I cleaned the lens…

#11

In addition to what has already been listed, this Microsoft fixit is a little bit different than the one that Kerry56 has already posted. I use it in other forums with success.

http://support.microsoft.com/mats/cd_dvd_drive_problems/

#12

QUOTE=Nystroem;2722675 and if you consider that this might help, then I’ll go and buy a cleaning CD. I have never used one yet…[/QUOTE]
Cleaning CDs might cause damage to the lens. Philips and Pioneer advised to not use these discs with their optical drives.
Instead, you may try to get rid of some dust using a soft brush as used for camera lens if your drive in case your drive has a tray.

Additionally, a log from an attempted burn with Imgburn might be useful in order to narrow down software related problems.

Michael

#13

[QUOTE=mciahel;2722739]Instead, you may try to get rid of some dust using a soft brush as used for camera lens if your drive in case your drive has a tray.[/QUOTE]

Yes it has. Do wet screen-cleaning tissues serve for this purpose?

I’ll be testing all this wealth of possible solutions in the coming days. Glad to have found this place. It was regarded as being the best forum with the best expert staff at the site I stumbled upon while surfing for solutions to my problem.

#14

To determine if it’s a software problem you could try and boot your computer with a Ubuntu Linux Live DVD. It will not affect the data on your system in any way. After booting, try and write some disc with the tools built in Ubuntu.

This will however require two drives (one for booting, other for writing). If this is not feasible, you can also make a bootable usb device with linux on it.

#15

Hi there!

Many thanks for all the good advices. It seems that the burner has started working properly again. I checked it with fixit, and then I cleaned the lens with a wet screen-cleaning tissue, and things started going smoothly again. I tested it just once, but I hope that the issue is permanently fixed.

But I think that part of the problem is that this machine is nearly 2 years old, and I have burned already lots and lots of CD’s. I take extremely great care of the laptop, however: I run disc cleanups daily, and I defragment the c: and d: units regularly with the standard windows defragmenter and also with the excellent Puran Defrag, and of course I take extreme care not to get any virus. But at some point perhaps all this will not be enough, for time passes…

How long do you think a machine like mine can run acceptably?

#16

[QUOTE=Nystroem;2723241]Hi there!

Many thanks for all the good advices. It seems that the burner has started working properly again. I checked it with fixit, and then I cleaned the lens with a wet screen-cleaning tissue, and things started going smoothly again. I tested it just once, but I hope that the issue is permanently fixed.

But I think that part of the problem is that this machine is nearly 2 years old, and I have burned already lots and lots of CD’s. I take extremely great care of the laptop, however: I run disc cleanups daily, and I defragment the c: and d: units regularly with the standard windows defragmenter and also with the excellent Puran Defrag, and of course I take extreme care not to get any virus. But at some point perhaps all this will not be enough, for time passes…

How long do you think a machine like mine can run acceptably?[/QUOTE]

Alot is a mystery but if you did what you did clean the laser lens and dust out the system every year and redo the thermal paste and not block the laptop vents it should last long time. I have laptops from 2007 and I disassembled/cleaned and redid the paste and upgraded the hardware and CPU, RAM and they are running very good and without problems. As anything that is electrical will fail eventually because of it’s very nature. It could last years 5 years or more or die the very next day you power on the system. But regular O/S updates and hardware maintenance-yours will keep humming along til it retires.