I can Burn CDRs but not DVD on my DVD burner

[Hagen89]

I must be an IDIOT, can anyone tell me how to fix this problem. I bought the burner a year ago
from staples, and i cant finde the box. Is there a way for me to find the correct brand on my computer?
any help would be appreciated. Tom

[redwudz]

If you have ImgBurn (Highly recommended) you can get info about your burner there. Or in XP go to 'Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>DVD/CD-ROM Drives' and you should see the brand and model.

The DVD and CD lasers are separate and you may have a failed DVD laser as they seem to die first. Some Staples drives are generic and made by more than one company, so the box may not have helped identify it.

You can try cleaning the laser lens, but if that doesn't help, you might consider replacing it. I would suggest a name brand, Pioneer, Samsung or others.

And welcome to our forums.

EDIT: When you say it doesn't burn, does it recognize a blank disc? Will it play DVDs, commercial or burned? It could be a software problem, try ImgBurn.

[Hagen89]

Thanks Yall for helping
I put in a DVD movie and it works also when i go to the explorer tree it shows the movie name. I went to device mangaer and it tells me the name is DVDRW IDE 16x. But i cant seem to find drivers for it . I dont knpow why it will only burn CDRs and not DVDs

[jagabo]

There is such a thing as a CD burner that can read DVD but not write to it. For example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106083

[Hagen89]

I have burned DVDs on this burner Before. I recently Fdisked and reinstalled XP Pro and used Nero 7.