CD Burner Suddenly Not Working (Vista Home Premium, T61P)

Hi All,
Suddenly my DVD burner isn't working on my T61P, not sure why.

I've tried both CDBurner XP and the built-in Vista burner. With CDBurner, the process will start normally but never burns a file (I've waited an hour before), and with the built-in software, it says it doesn't recognize an empty disc (have tried multiple blanks).

I ran PC Doctor 5 just to do a system diagnostic, but it stalled on the CD/DVD part saying I hadn't inserted a data disc (I changed discs multiple times, non blanks, and professionally written discs, not my own burned)

My guess is that both problems are related, but I have no idea how I'd go about and fix this.

Also, since I bought this laptop in the US but live in Vietnam, my official support options with Lenovo are limited.

 

Could try deleting the ide drivers and reboot. Windows will reinstall them when rebooted. The drive could possibly be defective.

 

Well, if your drive can READ everything no problem but can't write, you may have the same issue I did. Basically no matter what burning program I used prior to this fix, the program in question would either freeze or complete but nothing would show up on the disk. I tried 3-4 different 3rd party programs as well as the built-in burner.

The fix was pretty simply actually, just a registry edit disabling the built-in Vista burner. Everything worked fine after that. I don't know why or what or how but hey, it worked for me--might work for you.

-20 minutes later- sigh...I can't find the link I saved...this one gives the same steps I remember though:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-windows-vistas-built-in-cddvd-burning-features/

 

Thanks guys!

Hmm that regedit fix didn't work for me unfortunately.

I think it could be a hardware thing. Should I try to do a firmware switch (not even sure if that is possible. Will try the uninstall from Device Manager as well.

 

Uninstalling driver hasn't helped either. Poop.

 

Does the drive ever fully spin up? Or does it try to when inserting a disc and then stop?

 

Make it was secretly disabled by Lenovo + RIAA due to copyright infringement.

I just got done skimming through this thread so excuse my answer

Anyway, maybe it's a hardware issue.

 

Reading for the most part works, normal reading as far as I know.

But in Lenovo's PC Doctor it failed the reading test.

 

In my case the power management was the problem. In it's options i choose the silent mode for dvd-rom less energy less writing speed and burning errors occured.

 

Not the best speed for a movie-watcher though.

 

Just curious. In Vista in the system tray, does it list the drive as one of the removable hardware devices? If not make sure the drive has not come lose and is seated properly.

 

Actually, it doesn't show it as removable for me. Also, my power settings are pretty much normal, nothing to turn it off or emphasize it less when it's plugged in.

 

Sounds like the drive is dead or not seated properly. Why don't you see if you can pull out the drive(read the instructions, should be a tab to help pull it out) and then reinstall it and see if Windows sees it? If it still doesn't see it get in touch with Lenovo so that they can send you another drive. Hope you still have the warranty.