can't burn music files using windows media player

[Bazza]

I cannot seem to burn music files onto cd-rs anymore using windows media player. I can still play some old cds that I burned using windows media player. Old cds that I burned can still be ripped using windows media player. Also some of the cds burned in the last few days can no longer be played using on my pc as they cannot be read. However they can be played ok on my cd player? is this a software issue? Is my dvd/cd disk drive broken? any help greatly appreciated!!!!

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Bazza, first thoughts from your description it may just be a dusty or dirty read or burn head. If you have one, a head cleaner disk may be all it requires, they are not too expensive to buy if you don't have one.

Is this a laptop or desktop computer the drive is in?

If laptop you can usually see the head when the drive tray is out and clean very gently with a soft small paint brush.

 

Nev.

[Bazza]

Hi Bazza, first thoughts from your description it may just be a dusty or dirty read or burn head. If you have one, a head cleaner disk may be all it requires, they are not too expensive to buy if you don't have one.

Is this a laptop or desktop computer the drive is in?

If laptop you can usually see the head when the drive tray is out and clean very gently with a soft small paint brush.

 

Nev.

 

Thanks for your response - have cleaned the lens - can now burn music; however all is not still well.

 

When I put in the blank cd-r, ensuring that the disk is formatted as an audio cd,then after compiling my burn list I click "start burn" and everything now works normally. Looks and sounds like it is writing all the data onto the blank disk, no error messages appear, everything seems to work ok and the disk is ejected. I checked the disk and can clearly see that the music files have been burned onto the cd-r. I then put the disk back into the drive and it asks me to format the disk - it appears to think that it is a blank disk that is being inserted.

 

My cd player seems to be able to read and play the cd-r ok, not windows media player. I have tried it on vlr as well without success.

 

 

I am able to play older music cd-rs perfectly well, but not any that have been burned in the last few days.

 

Any further ideas?

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, still don't know if this is a desktop or laptop, if you can let us know please.

 

However it sounds like some slight misalignment of the heads may have happened. It may be the burn or the read head or even both. Laptop drives being so flimsy are well known for it.

Unfortunately not something that can be put right at home regardless of whether desktop or laptop, though I have known a tap on the drawer when it's out to help with a laptop drive, but that also risks making it worse too.

It may in the end require a new drive fitting to be sure of a full cure though, as I doubt it is any sort of software problem due to it being able to read earlier created disks.

 

Nev.

[Bazza]

Thanks for your response - it is a HP laptop computer. Not sure what the next steps are? Is it something I have to live with until it completely fails?

[Plastic Nev]

Like any CD or DVD drive they can be replaced, the unit itself is usually not that expensive, however it depends a lot on what needs to be dismantled in order to remove the old one and fit the new one. Some are easy to do, some require quite a lot of dismantling, it depends on the make and model.

If not too happy about doing that yourself, a reputable repair shop shouldn't charge too much, and in fact may even be able to realign the heads if that is all that is wrong with it.

f interested in doing it yourself, you may be able to find a repair manual on line which would be a big help. Let us know if wanting to try and we may be able to find a manual.

I already know of a very good laptop repair site which could be a start, here :-

 

http://www.laptoprepair101.com/

 

Have a look at the categories on the right to find relevant information.

 

Nev.