How to Diagnose Problems with CD Burners and DVD Burners
CD and DVD burning revolutionized the way that computers are used. When you want to move digital media from one computer to another, you can use a universal serial bus (USB) drive, send the file via email or burn it to a disk. If your disk burner isn’t working correctly, there are some ways to diagnose and fix your problems before bringing it to a repair shop. This will save you money in labor costs.
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Instructions
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Check to see that your CD or DVD drive is really a burner. You can find this out by reading the documentation that came with your computer. It’s possible that your drive can only read disks but not write them.
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Find out which types of disks are compatible with your burner. If you have a DVD burner, then it might not burn CDs. If you have a CD burner, then it definitely won’t burn DVDs. Discover this, again, by reading the documentation that came with your computer.
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Make sure the disk you want to burn isn’t corrupted. All CD and DVD burning software have an option that will allow you to format a disk before you burn media to it. Select this option and format the disk. If there’s a problem during formatting, throw away the disk and use a new blank CD or DVD.
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Burn at a slower speed. Most CD and DVD burners can run at variable speeds and are set to the fastest setting by default. If your disks don’t burn properly, set the burning speed to 4X or slower. Disks will take longer to burn, but your success rate will be higher. When burning a disk, synchronous data transfer occurs. This means that data is passed both ways. Burning at a slower speed ensures a smooth transfer process.
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Use a cleaning disk. CD and DVD cleaning disks can be purchased at any electronics store. Simply put the disk in your burner and let the drive run. The disk will automatically eject when it’s finished. The disk will remove any dirt or grime from the heads and laser of the burner.
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Tips & Warnings
Try playing a regular disk and see if the burner will play it back. If this doesn't work, it's possible that there's a physical hardware problem.
References
- Photo Credit Disk in the drive image by Sergey Galushko from Fotolia.com
