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CD burning not working

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Hi

I use Easy CD Creator 5.3.5.10 which came pre-installed on a Dell Optiplex GX270 running Windows XP Pro with SP2 and all updates. I have a CD/RW combo DVD reader drive.

I frequently receive an error message when trying to burn CD’s. The error message is:
The Disc in the recorder is not the proper media for this project.
Insert a blank CD or a CD with enough free space to record the project.

When I originally had this problem Dell Support directed me to a document which recommended opening ECDC and running the System Tests… under the Tools menu. This ‘recalibrates’ the data transfer speed information held by ECDC about the drive. Apparently, if a removable disk or other removable media is attached to the computer it causes ECDC to lose this info. I frequently attach a camera and an MP3 player to my computer, so have used this workaround several times, though I don’t often burn CD’s.

Lately this ‘workaround’ does not work. I repeatedly get this error message. I have run the system tests… several times. I am trying to burn 38MB of data onto a 700MB CD. It’s worked in the past, but not now.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Or is there alternative software which will keep a ‘memory’ of the data transfer rate without having to retest the drive every time I want to burn a CD?

I will be very grateful if someone can help.

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Easy CD Creator 5.x and Windows XP really don’t play together well.

One good approach is to upgrade to Easy CD Creator 6.X or later. It is stable in XP and I have had no problems with these later versions.

Another, and perhaps better, approach is to switch to Nero 5.5 or later. Not as user friendly as ECDC, but stable and has better control over burning process.

Dalton

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Uninstall existing ECDC software before installing any other burning software.

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Thanks for answering, and also for the priceless information you sent.

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Quite a few major players in the cd media world have been having issues after the sp2 upgrade. I know for a fact that Nero 5.x may experience some problems as well. Nero has a fix for this through an update patch, so you should be ok.

Bottom line – Get rid of Roxio. I have never liked the EZ-cd packages.

If it is simple data, then try using the native writing utility in XP. Right click your data and ‘send to’ -> cd-writer. This will put the files in queue by adding a hidden shortcut within the cd-writer’s drive letter. If you navigate to your cd wirter and remove the folder view from your windows explorer, you will see the link to ‘write files’ in the tasks area to the left.

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I’m at a loss. I know that the native XP writing utility is pretty useless for anything else besides backup. If you have all of the necessary updates for your writing software, then I don’t know what the issue could be. I know that I’ve had to update my version of Nero to 6.x after installing sp2, otherwise it would not work properly. The problems that I experienced though, were related to the software buffer and caching.

Have you tried booting into safe mode? It could be a third party app that is causing you grief. Try killing all startup items using msconfig from the run command, except for the ‘check’ that is used for your writing software.

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Thanks for answering, and for replying so quickly to my message.

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Thanks for the suggestions thus far.

So far I have…

I uninstalled ECDC and installed a free CD burning application. This worked first time. Next, I connected my camera and iPod, transferred the pictures from my camera, disconnected it, and then tried to burn another CD. The new software could not detect a CD in the drive. I uninstalled the free software and rebooted. I next tried to burn a playlist using Windows Media Player 10 but this did not work either. Next I tried iTunes, this immediately ejected the disc, I pushed the tray back in, and then could burn to disk! Presumably iTunes worked because it is designed to work with my music player. I could not burn files to disk using the OS – the wizard reports there is no disk in the drive and prompts me to insert a writable disk.

I disconnected the player and rebooted and was able to write files using the OS. So, I reinstalled the free software but still could not write a CD, so I uninstalled it again.

However, although I can now write files using the OS, XP does not support creating disks from ISO images.

I’ve just run spyware scans (3), a full AV scan, I’ve run a registry scan (this only detected broken links to the uninstalled ECDC), and also system file checker and everything was fine.

I am reluctant at present to buy any CD writing software because I wonder if this has something to do with the way Windows is configured. I do not want to install and have the same problem, as I frequently connect my music player and camera.

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Hello,

I haven’t upgraded my XP to sp2 because before the release of sp2 there are countless rumors that if a user upgrade his/her XP to sp2 there’s gonna be hell in 3rd party software compability.Look’s like the rumor’s are somewhat true.
Rite. My solution to your problem (i hope it helps).
1. Check ECDC for updates.XpSp2 has no errors, the problem is whether ECDC can support XPsp2 or not.Don’t forget to check if the update support XPsp2.
2. No.1 doesn’t work? oh well, there are other CD-burning software like NERO, CLONE-CD, PADUS DiscJuggler, WinISO. But if you just burn simple data ,then i go with the others.Use XP’s CD writing capabilities is not that bad.

When all thing fails,i go for the last resort.Trash Win XPsp2. 🙂

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Hi Andre, thanks for your input. I had been getting this error before XP SP2 came out, so no points there I’m afraid. I had also made sure that ECDC was up to date.

As an aside, you should seriously consider installing SP2. I have installed on my personal machine and several machines at work with only minor problems. You should also remember that at the end of the day, software is supposed to be written for the OS – not the other way round.

Thanks again

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that is weird but i say it is old version of burner software also.
when you say burn using os do you mean drag and drop onto the cd burner via windows explorer, (because if so that means you have a run-time utility that lets you use your cd like a drive)?
for sure that utility is causing problems if it is teh originally installed version betcha.
if you think you have covered all the bases, swap the drive into another xp box and see how it works in there…maybe the problem will follow the hardware…

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Thanks for the advice.

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