DVD burner stopped burning

Used to work but now....

[photon]

I recently replaced my DVD-ROM drive with a DVD-R/-RW drive. I burned several DVDs with no problem, but then noticed that the existing CD-RW drive wouldn't burn CDs. I somehow got the CD-RW burning again (not sure how), but now the DVD won't burn files any more. It will still play DVDs, but when I put in blank media (and yes, I'm using -R/-RW disks) it won't recognize the disk--and in Windows Explorer its designation changes from "DVD-RW drive" to "CD drive". When I eject the disk the designation goes back to "DVD-RW drive".

I initially had both drives set up with the jumper set to "cable select", which is how the old drives were set up. I've since tried virtually every combination of master/slave and cable select. I've uninstalled both drives, disconnected and reconnected the cable, and a few other things, but no joy.

Any suggestions?

[edited to add]
I'm using Windows XP Pro.

[Reflect]

Have you tried deleting the DVD burner from control panel?

When you reboot it might detect it correctly.

Just a thought,

Brian

[photon]

Yep, I've tried that with no luck.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Sinner_G]

Have you tried downloading the newest firmware from the manufacturer's site and installing that?

[lawman]

When ordering online from Dell, it's impossible to order dual optical drives where both will write. One always has to be CD/DVD -ROM while the other can be CD/DVD-RW. Don't know why. Maybe dual writable drives are an impossibility.

lawman

[Sinner_G]

>Maybe dual writable drives are an impossibility.

Nope, I have a CD writer and a DVD writer and both work.

[photon]

Sinner_G--

I can't find any mention of firmware downloads on the manufacturer's web site. They list drivers for their video and audio cards, but nothing for their optical drives.

lawman--

My machine is a Dell (Sinner_G: which kind of box are you running your dual writable drives on?). That could explain why it seemed like an either/or thing. But it'd be nice to go back to the "either" instead of being stuck with the "or". :)

[Sinner_G]

What brand is your dvd writer?

My machine is no brand, just something pieced together (Shuttle mainboard, AMD processor, NEC DVD ReWriter, Philips CD ReWriter) running on win2k.

[photon]

It's a Maddog Dominator 6-in-1. But the Windows device manager sees it as a Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-R5112. That "ROM" bit worries me.... But as I said, I was able to burn DVDs until I "fixed" the CD drive.

[bcolflesh]

maddogmultimedia.com/products/optical/dominator6in1.asp

They don't appear to have any downloadable updates for it, but they do have a troubleshooting PDF:

maddogmultimedia.com/support/faq/docs/FAQ%20-%20Optical.pdf

[photon]

Saw the PDF previously. Sadly, it doesn't address DVD-RW, just -ROM. Thanks for looking though.

I did fill out the technical support form, which stated that I should receive a "detailed" reply within 24-48 hours. That was last Friday. :)

I'm going to give them a gentle reminder this evening

[bcolflesh]

I imagine Maddog just rebrands drives - it may actually be a Toshiba as indicated by Windows - you should write down all the actual numbers/serials printed on the drive and Google for them - you'll find out what it really is.

[Sinner_G]

bcolflesh is right, Maddog just rebrand.

As for the Toshiba SD-R5112, it is RW, don't worry about that. If I were you, I'd look for firmware for that and flash it.

<added>Just saw that the Toshiba site even has a page describing proper jumper settings for their devices, you might check that.</added>

[bcolflesh]

This may be of use:

hijacker.rpc1.org/discinfo/

[photon]

Thanks for all of the additional info.

I checked out the Toshiba site. The troubleshooting page does't address what to do if the drive doesn't record [*sigh*].

I'll double-check their jumper settings against the setup document I got with the drive, and see if that reveals any clues. I don't have high hopes for that since I've already tried several permutations.

I didn't find any firmware updates for it on the site. I may have overlooked them; I'll double-check when I get home. I did find some "patches" on another site; I may try one of those as a last resort.

I'll download the discinfo program; it supposedly is able to find firmware updates on its own. Maybe that will help.

Thanks again to everyone for trying to help me cipher through this.