My CDRW cannot read CDRs.

[EliZ]

Everything was working great until I had to reinstall windows xp. I tried to burn a cd using my Ricoh CDRW MP7125A and it constantly asks for an empty cd although there is one in the drive. I also tried to read previously burned cds and it says that they are empty, with 0 empty space and 0 used space.

 

[John]

[*]Did you have the XP cd in the cdrw drive during installation?
[*]Does the CDRW read discs in DOS?
[*]Reseat cables
[*]Flash to new firmware

 

[emjem]

Sounds like your burner drivers got mucked up. Try removing the Ricoh in ControlPanel/System/DeviceManager. Then reboot and let XP find and reinstall it -- or better yet, manually install it if you have the XP drivers.

 

[EliZ]

<< Did you have the XP cd in the cdrw drive during installation? >>



Nope. It was in the CDROM.



<< Does the CDRW read discs in DOS? >>



Nope. Just like in windows, it reads only "normal" cds, not cdrs.



<< Reseat cables >>



What? How?



<< Flash to new firmware >>



See reply to previous point.



<< Sounds like your burner drivers got mucked up. Try removing the Ricoh in ControlPanel/System/DeviceManager. Then reboot and let XP find and reinstall it -- or better yet, manually install it if you have the XP drivers.
>>



I already tried that. No luck.

 

[EliZ]

Now it gets even worse. It doesnt read normal cds too.

 

[EliZ]

Anyone? Somewhere? Please.

 

[EliZ]

bump.

 

[EliZ]

One last bump before I use my brilliant way of fixing stuff. Not touching them for a week.

 

[mcbiff]

If it doesn't read any cds at all I'd say it's dead.

 

[EliZ]

<< If it doesn't read any cds at all I'd say it's dead. >>



Could be.
But the fact that it stopped reading cds immediately after reinstalling windows xp shows that it is, most likely, a software problem.
It's just that I have no idea what the problem might be, so I came here to ask.

 

[WarCon]

Well if it stopped reading cdr's first, then stopped reading regular ones and I am assuming it doesn't in dos either now. Then you definately have a hardware problem. Sounds like the laser started to fail earlier and finally has. One thing you could try is to take it apart (unless still under warranty) and see if the read head or laser is covered in dust. Try gently cleaning it and then put it back together. If it still won't read, it was probably just coincidence that it failed right when it did.

 

[EliZ]

For the record :
The CDROM was Secondary Master and the CDRW was a Slave. I just switched them and everything started working.