PC will not recognize newly burned DVD

[krakahed]

Hi all:

I've been burning DVDs for a few months now with no problems until recently. Here it goes...

I've been ripping and burning DVDs using my NEC burner and either DVD decrypter or DVDFab decrypter, and then using DVD Shrink with Nero to do a straight burn, or re-authoring the DVD to burn just the movie files themselves, with no menus, etc.

Things have been going smoothly for a while, but now neither my PC to nor the cheaper standalone DVD players in the house read these discs. The only devices in the house that will read these discs are my JVC standalone and my Philips portable. This is all well and fine until someone either wants to borrow a disc or asks me to make them one.

Any suggestions?? Thanks to all in advance for their help!

[SingSing]

Try another brand/make of DVDR.

[RydiaAngel]

I concur; it's probably the quality of your dvdrs. But if changing the dvdrs isn't possible and the cheap players used to be able to play them but don't play them now, you could try cleaning them to see if that helps.

[krakahed]

Thanks SingSing and RydiaAngel for your replies:

I have tried a few different brands of DVDs, with the same results. I've even tried burning the same files on two different brands, and both discs had the same results. This happens with cleaned DVDs, and I get the "no read" fresh from the drive.

NOTE: When I insert one of the "bad" discs into the computer drive, it just spins with both the HDD and drive lights solid. I cannot access the drive at all, either with a left or right click.

[oldandinthe way]

You haven't identified the brands or mediaIDs on your disks.

Trying multiple brands may not be making a difference because the different brands might be the same media. Example: HP and TDK are CMC disks, as are many house brands. Similarly various brands appear on Ritek disks. etc, etc.

You might also clean your DVD writer.

[budz]

Never use a lens cleaner on your dvd burner. Use DVDINFO PRO or DVD IDENTIFIER to find out the MEDIA ID on those discs that you're using. Then post them here.

[MysticE]

Things have been going smoothly for a while, but now neither my PC to nor the cheaper standalone DVD players in the house read these discs.

If you haven't changed your technique or the blanks it's probably time for a new burner.

[krakahed]

Thanks MysticE, Oldmanintheway and budz for your replies:

I've used DVD Identifier and the three manufacturers are: CMC, OPTODISC, and MCC.

I've noticed more problems with OPTODISC, but all three have given me "bad" discs.

If you haven't changed your technique or the blanks it's probably time for a new burner.

I hope not, this burner's less than 6 months old. That would be a real bummer [/quote]

[noki]

"...this burner's less than 6 months old.." it's under warranty I think.

[oldandinthe way]

Your NEC burner, when working properly, is most likely to have problems with the optodisc and least likely with the MCC.

Are the MCC disks clearly not working or is the overall experience colored by the total failures for all media?

Budz

I use a lens cleaner regularly with excellent results. This is another area in which I have seen many conflicting posts.

[MysticE]

You didn't mention which NEC you have. You can peruse these reviews to see if yours is there as they do burn/quality tests with various media. As was noted though, Verbatim (MCC code) discs usually work well in all burners as evidenced by CDFreaks reviews.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/reviews/

[krakahed]

Thanks to MysticE, old and in the way, and noki for their replies:

"...this burner's less than 6 months old.." it's under warranty I think.

I will have to look that up...thanks for the reminder!

Are the MCC disks clearly not working or is the overall experience colored by the total failures for all media?

I have had failures on all media types so far, with no clear pattern as to which media is giving the most trouble. Lately it's been more failures than not lately, but I'm currently using optodisc, so maybe that has something to do with it.

I use a lens cleaner regularly with excellent results.

I tried this for S&G, but with the same negative results.

You didn't mention which NEC you have. You can peruse these reviews to see if yours is there as they do burn/quality tests with various media.

The burner is n NEC ND-3550A. I will look at reviews and test for this burner ASAP.

I guess my biggest question is: How can the DVD be read by the JVC standalone and not by the burner that created it?

[MysticE]

.... The burner is n NEC ND-3550A. I will look at reviews and test for this burner ASAP.

I guess my biggest question is: How can the DVD be read by the JVC standalone and not by the burner that created it?

Does it really matter why? I would venture to say something's wrong with the drive. Drives are cheap. Brand name OEM drives are about $30.

Try this, go into Device Manager, find the NEC, uninstall it and reboot. Also in Device Manager check to make sure DMA is ON (enabled).

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx

http://www.onthegosoft.com/dma_setting_nt.htm

Now if you can't burn and read an MCC coded disc, scrap it.

[krakahed]

Thanks MysticE for your reply:

I tried the uninstall/reinstall of the drive, with no better results.

I guess I will return the drive to NEC for warranty repairs/replacement.

Thanks again to everyone for their help!! You guys rock!!