Computer doesnt see Blank DVD's

[brain1]

*MY DELL OPTIPLEX 933MHZ,512 MB RAM, Pent 3, Win XP was a good DVD Burning Machine for a year or so.
*Then I added another Hard drive.After that it stopped seeing Blank DVDs of any brand or Quality.
*when a blank DVD is loaded it doesnt see it in Windows Explorer.
*When you try to Burn a Dvd with DVD XCOPY EXPRESS, or DVD Shrink, it decrypts the movie to the hard drive, but tells you please insert a blank disk into drive d:, .......when you already put one in.
To Fix This I tryed the following....
*I installed new Firmware into the LG 4040B Burner
*ReInstalled Driver for Burner+ Both IDE Channels
* Reloaded the IDE Drivers to Primary and Secondary Channels
*moved the burner off the secondary Master, to primary slave Position
*Checked that Both IDE Channels are in Ultra DMA mode .They Are.
*Refomatted and reloaded XP Pro.
*Installed new IDE Ribbon Cables
.............. None of the Above Helped........
Im starting to get parts for a AMD 64 Gaming/Burning system but my money is currently in low supply. Im wanting to get this old pentium 3 computer back to burning DVD's for the now..Im running out of Ideas, Maybe I did somthing to the MB when I Installed that HD.Can anybody think of something that might help???????

[Krispy Kritter]

Is the drive able to read any DVD's, either store bought or previously burned?

[Nelson37]

He says he can start to rip, though he may have another DVD drive.

How was the drive connected originally, versus how it is now? Can you return the system to that physical state? Test with new, extra HD disconnected, data and power.

Double-check IDE cable is tight, also power and jumpers. Suspect these or power supply can't handle the load. Also possible DVD burner is starting to fail.

[lordsmurf]

New ribbons can be bad. Been there, done that.

[brain1]

*The Drive reads rental DVD movies, Music CD’s, Data DVD’S,+ CD’S. It also see’s the Movies I Have previously burned with it.
*I removed the drive and took it to a friends house, where we hooked it up to his Pent 4. And we burned two Movies with it. So my LG 4040B is OK.
*Then we took a brand new Sony DVD Burner, and hooked it up to my computer, and my computer doesn’t see blanks on this Sony Burner either.
* Maybe when I Installed the second HD (which I later removed) I touched the case, and I Zapped something with Static Electricity.I might have inadvertently damaged a chipset on the MB . I own a wristband, I will start using it.
*I wiggled the connecters , Double checked the connections.

[lordsmurf]

Sounds FUBAR. Good luck.

[Nelson37]

Have you tried going back to the original cables? Highly unusual such a problem would be motherboard related, and yet so specific as to only not see blank disks.

Have you tried inserting a blank disk, powering down, then booting up and burn?

[brain1]

Yes, I tried Inserting a blank disk,powering down, powering back up, and going to dvd shrink and burning to the blank DVD. The computer doesnt know its there, also when I right click on the start button , and scroll down to d: (DVD Burner), Windows doesnt see the blank DVD either.
However... Nero does see it , if I load a blank DVD to turn it into a NERO Test Disk. NERO Actually Made a Test DISK . I was reading another Guys post with a similar problem and somone suggested the nero test disk thing to him. I dont know what to make of it ..yet. Maybe Un-install Nero completely..Then use DVD Shrink by Itself. Maybe Nero's the Problem. However, Nero6 doesnt see it , when Im attempting to Burn a disk.

[steve2713]

DVD Decrypter, will it recognize and burn a blank disc?

[pfh]

Gotta be OS problem don't you think? VERY wierd indeed.
A quick dig @ MS turned up this tidbit, howver, it's referring to tape drives and tapes not recognized- http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=327559

[brain1]

ok, Decrypter -does- see the blank dvd!!!. . too bad you cant burn with decrypter. Im starting to feel like this could get figured out. I just need good Brain Surge , (caffeine Abuse, Lunar Cycle, etc)

[brain1]

I looked at the Microsoft Site, It says to download service pack 2, which I already have. Or to download and Install 2 Patches,which I will do Tonight after work. Thnks for that tip . It looks like it might work!!

[steve2713]

brain1, you CAN burn with Decrypter!! Not only that, it's the PREFERRED program to use for burning for many people. Only thing is, it only burns Image files - .ISO, .NRG, etc.

That's no problem, though. Just output as an ISO image with DVD Shrink instead of an output of DVD files. Or if you're using some other program that can't create an Image file, use DVD Shrink or ImgTool to create an ISO image. Easy.

I use Nero for most of my data discs, but Decrypter is the way to go for burning ISO images.

[brain1]

I will definatly try it tonight after work, but Shrink doesnt see the blank dvds, Decrypter does .This is so wierd . Windows, NERO6,DVDXCOPY EXPRESS , +Shrink doesnt see DVD Blanks. Decryter does. So did Nero6, but only when I was using the NERO Utility that tests your DVD Unit. Nero doesnt see Blanks when attempting to burn.

[steve2713]

Shrink shouldn't see a blank dvd, what would you want/need Shrink to see a blank DVD for?? Shrink is not a burning application, there's no reason for it to see a blank DVD. It rips DVDs and transodes DVDs.