Optical drives don't record.

[Vrex]

Whenever I try to make a CD I get the following errors:
Sonic: No compatible recordable devices found on system.
Roxio: CD Copier could not locate a supported CD Rom reader. Creator API can't see all the cdroms in the system please check if they are connected properly.
I have two optical drives: HP DVD-RW 400i and HP CD-RW 9300.
I can't solve this problem by restoring system. I have already uninstalled then reinstalled both drives from the device manager. After rebooting Windows XP correctly identifies and automatically loads the drivers for both drives. After noticing that the "enable recording" box on the properties tab unchecks itself, I changed the device type from "1" to "2" (recordable) for both devices in the registry. Now whenever I enable recording on one of the drives, the other one automatically unchecks "enable recording". And I still get the same software error messages. What is wrong? Thanks in advance for any suggestions, advice. I have already tried several registry cleaners without success.

[aedipuss]

may be the too many/conflicting filters in the registry problem. try this.

Step 1: Start Registry Editor
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. Registry Editor starts.
Step 2: Delete the UpperFilters registry entry
1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2. Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet.
3. Expand Control, and then expand Class.
4. Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
5. In the right pane (topic area), click UpperFilters.

Note An UpperFilters.bak registry entry may also appear. To delete the UpperFilters registry entry, you must click UpperFilters and not UpperFilters.bak.
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. When you receive the following message, click Yes to confirm the deletion of the UpperFilters registry entry:
Are you sure you want to delete this value?
The UpperFilters registry entry is removed from the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} registry subkey.

Note Do not exit Registry Editor. You must have this program for the next step.
Step 3: Delete the LowerFilters registry entry
1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2. Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet.
3. Expand Control, and then expand Class.
4. Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
5. In the right pane (topic area), click LowerFilters.

Note An LowerFilters.bak registry entry may also appear. To delete the LowerFilters registry entry, you must click LowerFilters and not LowerFilters.bak.
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. When you receive the following message, click Yes to confirm the deletion of the LowerFilters registry entry:
Are you sure you want to delete this value?
The LowerFilters registry entry is removed from the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} registry subkey.
8. Exit Registry Editor.
Step 4: Restart the computer
If a CD recording program no longer works after you restart the computer, you must reinstall the CD recording program.

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[Vrex]

aedipuss,
Thank you for your reply. I followed your instructions. However, there were neither UpperFilters nor LowerFilters subkeys present. There was only a "UpperFilters_Backup" subkey present. Should I delete this subkey? Or, just try reinstalling the software?
Thanks again for your help.

[aedipuss]

probably try to re-install. but a good choice for most burning chores is imgburn. it's free and very useful.

[Vrex]

It should be possible to record on both drives. Since I can't enable recording on both at the same time, doesn't that indicate a configuration error?
Would reinstalling Windows XP solve the problem? I would then have to reinstall all software which would be time consuming. First I will try to reinstall the CD software. If I can get one of them to write, I will be satisfied. Thanks again. Please let me know if you have further suggestions.

[Krispy Kritter]

If the drives were installed after the software was installed, then you will likely need to uninstall and reinstall the software. Also, as noted above, IMGBurn is a much better burning application. Even if you don't intend to keep it, it would be worth installing to see if a different app will function correctly.