Won't Burn

hey, after my fresh installation,

when ever I try to burn a dvd it says it burns properly but when i put it back into my computer, it looks blank. like nothing happened.

any ideas?

 

What program are you using to burn. Are you closing the session?

 

I had used imgburn,nero9,windows movie maker,and good old explorer's tool

it turns out I was burning properly because if I put them into another device, whether that was a dvd player or my friends laptop, they would run what ever I burn on them but if put back into my drive, my laptop only recognized them as a blank disc.

which was very strange because these were Dvd+r's not Dvd+rw's. Recordable not rewritable.

 

Hey man,
I have exactly the same issue, CD's and DVD's would SEEM to burn ok wether it be a data disc (was trying to update to BIOS A09), or film/music disc. When i put it back into my lappy it either froze or crashed
I got advice from this forum to contact dell and see what they say. I did just that and got told via email that i had to run a diagnostics test for my optical drive from the resource disc (Boot up from CD/DVD drive F12 at startup, let it run, then navigate to CUSTOM TEST --> Choosse Optical drive and away it goes, if it passes all tests its fine, mine crashed at SEEK test!). A few emails later and there going to replace the drive. I'm just waiting on sorting a date out for the tech to come.
Hope this helps

Grads

 

I've had this i put a blank disc in the drive and nero still tells me to put a blank disc in, I've email dell support as well so waiting to hear back from them as well Just hope they will replace the drive

 

Is this your first "fresh install" of this M15x?

 

yup, its my first M15x fresh installation.

 

I have the exact same problem with my M17x, I'm 99.99% sure it's my drive on the way out as it also has trouble reading.

 

You sure it works before the "fresh install"?

 

umm i can see, I haven't wiped that drive yet, but I'm pretty sure it?

 

Well, the BD isn't good either: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/555731-blu-ray-drive-problems.html

You should call Dell Support and ask for a replacement.
I'm sure I have read some thread about the bad quality of the DVD drive somewhere here.

 

got the same problem after re-installing the windows.....i got my optical drive replaced after speaking with call center guy....just chill and make way for the new drive

 

Yours also a DVD drive, not Blu-Ray?

 

I have the same thing; But will play a dvd just not a dvd I burn on this pc or one of my other pc`s. An it did work be for I did the re-installing??

Can see drive and the driver. did a test passed all test so what to do now?

 

Yah its the basic dvd-drive. not the blu-ray ^_^

 

Sorry to drag up an old thread but, did anyone find a solution to this? I started a thread about this a while back and was hoping to pull it up for some advice but I found this one first. Looks like a lot of people are having / had this issue. Did anyone find a fix? I'm out in Zambia right now so replacing the drive is simply out of the question (the computer technology here is abysmal, most of them are still using Win 98), not to mention the fact that my warranty is dead and buried...



Desperately need to upgrade to A09. Running A03 and it's kind of... Old.

 

@Laxxi, got a USB ram stick out there?

 

Certainly do sir! But I thought the bootable USB option was a no-go?

 

More than one way to skin a cat. Flashing A09 from a USB stick works fine, just did it again to confirm, but has the same quirks as the CD version. You just need to extract the A09 BIOS files from the iso or the CD and copy to the USB stick. Since your CD is on the blink, I'll zip up the extracted A09 files and post a link shortly. Is your USB stick already DOS bootable or do you need the files required to create one?

 

I did have the files to configure it but I'm pretty sure I deleted them after reading the longwinded instructions coupled with a few users in the BIOS thread that claimed the USB option wasn't functioning correctly. If the optical drive method isn't going to work though, I'll suck it up and deal with it. Can't be a lazy all my life eh? And perhaps I'll actually learn something. One thing that did concern me though, the DOS bootable file thingy on the Dell site was 4 or 5 years old (something like that). Is there a newer version or is this one still a decent candidate? Would really, really appreciate any further help you can give Rev. This whole thing is starting to drive me crazy. Oh and the USB needs to be under 1GB in size? Or was that just hearsay? I have a cheap and nasty one that's something like 998MB (freebie from the bank, looks like a worthless piece of junk to be honest)... Hope that will cut it. Got a decent 4GB one too. I've gotta crash out, have to be up early. Will pick this up again first thing tomorrow! Many, many thanks mate!

 

It will all be waiting for you tomorrow.

 

Flashing the Dell A09 BIOS from a USB Stick:

Either USB stick should be fine. You will format it with Fat32, which can address up to 32GB of memory. The A09 BIOS files only require about 8MB (expanded). The HP Format Tool and DOS files are old, but DOS is old, so not much choice. Both work perfectly.

Note: Proceed at your own risk. Improper flashing can result in damaging your computer or rendering it inoperable.

Step 1: Download the following files:

1. HP USB Key Utility: HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8 Download - EXTREME Overclocking
2. Windows 98 system files: Windows 98 System Files Download - EXTREME Overclocking
3. A09 BIOS Files: UpShare.me - The easy file hosting

Step 2: Create a Bootable USB Drive

1. Install the HP USB Key Utility
2. Extract the Windows 98 System Files to a convenient location, i.e., c:\Utilities\Win98Files.
3. Launch the HP USB Key Utility and do the following:
- Insert your USB thumb drive.
- Select File system as "FAT32"
- Select Format Option as "Create a DOS bootable Disk..."
- Check "Quick Format"
- Specify the folder/directory used for the Win98 files.
- Format the USB key using the Win98 files.

Step 3: Extract files from A09_BIOS_Files.zip and copy to the USB stick.

Step 4: Flash BIOS A09 and EC 1.18

1. Insert USB stick (Assure that system is on AC power.)
2. Reboot.
3. Press F12 at the Boot/Alienware Logo screen.
4. Select "Boot from USB"
5. At the Command Prompt, type "FA.bat” (no quotes) and press Enter to launch the flashing process, responding affirmatively at any prompts.
6. When the BIOS flash is finished, you will be asked whether you wish to flash EC 1.18. Press "Y". At this point one of two things will happen:
(a) The EC flash will proceed without further ado, or
(b) You will get a "bad command" message and be returned to the c:> prompt. At this point you have to flash the EC manually.
7. To flash the EC manually, type DFLASH EC_W670.118 (Enter) and press "Y" when prompted. The EC flash is very quick.
8. When the EC flash is completed, the computer will shut itself down.
9. When you restart the computer, A09 and EC 1.18 should be installed. The boot process may be somewhat slower than normal the first time as the system adjusts to the new settings.

 

Complete! A million thanks Rev, you're a hero! Wish I had more to give than a meager 3 rep points. Really appreciate the time you gave to help me out with this.



Wow, this is fantastic. I can actually use the touchpad now... Can't wait to see what else has improved!!!

 

You're entirely welcome. Delighted to hear that all went smoothly.

My regards to Sir Issac.