Generic troubleshooting tips for a CD-ReWriter drive can range from the obvious(a misplaced jumper) to an expedition into the deepest crevasses of your system! Typically a CD-ReWriter should be installed in the master position for optimal performance. This usually places it on the secondary IDE Controller, possibly with a CD-ROM under it in the slave position.
Are you installing a parallel port CD-ReWriter and it’s not functioning? Enter the BIOS and in the Integrated Peripherals section change the onboard Parallel Port to EPP.(To enter your BIOS, follow the instructions on your screen during the Power On Self-Test. Usually, you press the Delete key).
If you’ve got everything hooked up correctly and your computer system still doesn’t recognize the CD-ReWriter, check the Device Manager to see if there’s an exclamation point beside your CD-ReWriter.(Start/Settings/Control Panel/open System/Device Manager Tab) This might be a system resource conflict that you might be able to resolve by working your way through the Hardware Troubleshooter.(Start/Help/type Hardware Troubleshooter).
Your CDROM can’t read the CDR that you made? Try turning off or reducing the’read ahead’ optimization.(Start/Settings/Control Panel/open System/Performance Tab/File System/Hard Disk Tab/adjust Read Ahead Optimization).
Your CDROM still can’t read the CDR? Maybe it’s not able to read packet-written CDs. A packet-written CD has blocks of data written in three parts: data to guide to the packet, the data packet itself, and data to ensure the accuracy of the packet upon arrival at its destination. You’ll need to check the documentation or the Web site of the drive manufacturer to see if this applies to you.
No audio and only a single input on your sound card? This one’s easy: Buy a new dual input sound card or purchase and install an audio’y’ cable to connect your single input of your sound card to both your CD-ReWriter and your CDROM.
Buffer underrun errors? Reduce the write speed of your CD-ReWriter to 1x, close all open programs(Cntrl+ALT+DEL/CLOSE) and disable power management.(Start/Settings/Control Panel/Power Management). If you’re still incurring buffer underrun errors, defragment your hard drive, run scan disk, check for corrupted source files, disable memory resident programs(antiviral, screensavers, TSRs, networks, etc). Additional causes can range from dirty, scratched source CD’s to incompatible brands of destination CDs.
Continual buffer underrun errors can be detected before you sacrifice another CDR by indicating’test before writing to the CD.’ Use the’write to the Hard Drive first’ feature of your CD-ReWriter’s software program to assist with a successfully burned CD.
Form transition errors? Unfortunately, some CD creator programs cannot duplicate a disk if the track of the CDROM that you are copying contains more than 100 form transitions
I haven’t even touched upon the software bundled with CD-ReWriters. Some of it is fairly decent, but most of it is incredibly buggy! If you have an older version of Easy CD Creator, you should update it at https://adaptec.com/solutions/so ftware.html. Check for updates for the rest of the bundled software packaged with your CD-ReWriter, too.
Still: It’s worthwhile! Installing a CD-ReWriter is easy; making it operate properly is what can be troublesome. But after you’ve worked through any glitches that you may have, it’s a mighty handy drive to have in your system. I can’t even imagine a computer without a CD-ReWriter in it.