See if I ever buy an OEM drive again

[privatebreyer]

I got Sony DW-U14A DVD+-RW that didn't come with drivers. Nothing I try at Sonys support site works.

Were do I get drivers for it?

 

[Sid59]

optical drives don't need drivers.

you want software? that's the thing with OEM drives .. if they don't come with software, you gotta find free, demos, or buy software for the drive.

 

[adams828]

windows should automatically detect it (should )

so do you mean the drive isn't working, or you just don't have any burning software?

 

[privatebreyer]

Well it came with a disc full of utilities to burn dvds, but none of them seem able to detect it as a dvd burn, but show it as a very capable cd burner.

I assumed the cd-burning drivers were stock windows xp drivers, but the dvd burning drivers were need to make the rest of it work.

 

[Jiggz]

Your DVD-RW is the same as the 510A DVD-RW. You should be able to choose this from your recording softwares.

 

[InlineFive]

You don't need drivers for optical drives. My Lite-On LDW401s DVD+RW didn't come with drivers and it works just fine.

What OS are you using?

 

[privatebreyer]

XP sees it as a DVD-RW. But I've tried both NTI DVD-Maker 6 Gold and Nero 5.5, and neither will work. In fact the former that came with the drive says no supported drive detected.

The firmware upgrade for the DRU-510A also said drive not detected.

 

[Serp86]

make sure your burning software is up to date.

nero 5.5 is pretty old

 

[Kristi2k]

Yes, make sure the software is up to date. It's not a Windows issue.

 

[bacillus]

latest upgrade version of nero 5.5 can be had from here

 

[CraigRT]

are you talking about firmware?
shouldn't need ANY software with optical drives... plug in, install playing/burning/whatever software and go.

 

[beatle]

Most likely the software doesn't recognize it because the drive didn't exist when that version of the software was made. Updating the software should fix your problem.

 

[Auric]

Taint that drivers are not required, but that Windows includes standard ones. For other OS's such as MS-DOS, different drivers would be required. In days o' yore manufacturers readily provided DOS compatible ones. MS itself has provided Oak's universal drivers for use with DOS boot discs and such.

It is weird that the provided burning software is not compatible. There is prolly an update available for it but as suggested I am sure the latest Nero will do the trick and it is a good proggy.

For info and firmwares check out rpc1.org, cdrlabs, cdfreaks.

 

[Hyperfocal]

Did your copy of Nero come bundled with a different drive?

Nero OEM software can be set up so it will only work with the drive it is bundled with and won't recognize a different drive.

NTI's OEM software is definitely locked to the bundled drive.

Try the downloaded demo of nero. Uninstall your current version of Nero first.

 

[arsbanned]

Then again, it could be a bad drive. I've gotten bad Sony drives before, fresh off the store shelf. This is something to consider anyway.

 

[Overkast]

A bad drive is always a possibility of course, but that doesn't sound like the case here.

I really think the problem lies in obsolete burning software. Need to upgrade software to something current.

 

[AMCRambler]

Doesn't Nero detect the type of drive you have? I'm pretty sure it does and I think there's a way to select a different drive in the configuration if it didn't auto detect yours right. Check and see if it has your model listed if not try the model Jiggz represented.

 

[Viper96720]

If your copy of nero came with another drive it won't work with the new drive. I've got a TDK burner that came with nero. Built a new computer and tried using the same nero
software with it won't work.

 

[privatebreyer]

I checked the bundled software for updates, there were none.

I'll try the Nero Upgrade.

 

[Auric]

If you run into the Nero OEM problem there are ways around it but I wonder if you got the NTI 6.5.0.19 update) and perhaps more importantly the drive support database 235 if not included with the former? It specifically lists the Sony DW-U14A as supported and it sure would have been queer to include software that did not at least have forthcoming support.