How to troubleshoot if my DVD-RW drive is working or not.

[Shargrath]

Hello,

I think my DVD-RW drive might be broken. The drive has no issues reading discs, but whenever I try to burn anything, it tells me that it failed to burn. I tried several kinds of media (brands) from several different packages, and it is not working on any of them. If it wasn't reading discs, I'd have thrown it out and replaced it by now, but it's only giving issues burning. I tried multiple programs to burn as well so I don't think it's a software issue.

Device manager doesn't show any errors or issues with the drive.

Any way to make sure it's something wrong with the drive?

I am running Windows 7 pro.

Thank You.

 

[UsandThem]

It sounds like you have done all the reasonable troubleshooting steps (outside of trying it in a different PC). You can try burning a disc at a low speed to see if it makes any difference.

But since DVD burners are so inexpensive, it might just be worth buying one and calling it a day.

 

[Shargrath]

Im just concerned it winds up being some soft of software/windows driver issue and a new DVD-RW drive would do the same, so I want to rule that out...

 

[UsandThem]

Im just concerned it winds up being some soft of software/windows driver issue and a new DVD-RW drive would do the same, so I want to rule that out...

Then just try burning an audio disc from with Windows Media Player. If it still has errors, just buy a new drive (or continue troubleshooting if you like).

How old is this burner? If it's older than say 5 years, just save the time and buy a new one for under $20. They eventually wear out.

 

[VirtualLarry]

They eventually wear out.

This is, unfortunately, true.

I've had some dearly-liked CD/DVD-R/RW drives, that eventually, just quit working reliably, so I had to replace them with something newer. It happens.

 

[Billb2]

Clean the laser lens with a rubbing alcohol and a q-tip.

 

[Iron Woode]

could try flashing to a newer firmware.

still, I'd just replace it.

 

[Oyeve]

$20 bucks for new. Better than the $600 I paid in 2002. For 2x burning. Good times.