new guy with serious problem

[theguy23]

since i am new here, and this is my first post, i'm not sure where this should go.

when i try to burn dvds of any format with my sony dru-500a, using any utility, i always get an error message to the effect of "no media detected" or "invalid disc." when i try to update firmware, i get the error messages "write buffer failed" and "can't write f/w to the buffer." when i go to device manager, I don't see ide ata/atapi controllers displayed, either. any ideas on what's going on or how i can fix it?

[woody]

Welcome to the forum!Can you give us a bit more info?O/S,burning software installed,etc.Motherboard,and chipset would help too.Sounds like a system configuration problem.

[theguy23]

win xp home service pack 1, i've tried using nero, sonic mydvd, dvd complete. mobo is soyo dragon p4s, chipset intel 845E, 1 GB DDR

[woody]

Okay,I'm kinda baffled that you don't see your IDE channels in hardware/device manager.You should see your Cd/Dvdroms there,as well as IDE/atapi controllers/busmaster drivers.

Are you seeing any yellow exclamation marks?If you can see your Cd/Dvdrom drives try deleting them,reboot,and see if that fixes things.

If not then we will have to try something else.

[Poco81]

win xp home service pack 1, i've tried using nero, sonic mydvd, dvd complete. mobo is soyo dragon p4s, chipset intel 845E, 1 GB DDR

Doesn't sound to good but try to see if you have both IDE channels enabled in the BIOS. Most MB's Let you get there hitting and holding the DEL Key during the initial boot sequence. IF it doesn't work check you MOBO Manual for the correct Key/s.
Is your drive connected as master / slave on a seperate IDE Channel from the HD? Recomend Master on IDE Channel 2
Select Auto Detect for your drives in the BIOS check wether it shows on the first boot screen.
If all fails PM me

[theguy23]

I actually have my hdd connected on RAID, so the burner is master on IDE 1 with DVD reader as slave. I don't see any device conflicts in device manager.

[woody]

I have never used RAID,so I can't really help you troubleshoot it.If everything was working fine,it could very well be the Sony.First sign of trouble on a defective drive is reading/not recognizing media.Easiest way to test is to move the drive to another computer.

[Duracell]

one basic question: Can you read/play/explore common pressed CDR and DVDs in your Sony?
second question: CloneCD or Alcohol 120% installed and "Hide Media" activated?

when i go to device manager, I don't see ide ata/atapi controllers displayed, either. any ideas on what's going on or how i can fix it?

this looks like Intel Application Accelerator (IAA) is installed, that's why your IDE controller is not listed as IDE device but as SCSI device;
IAA is known to cause troubles related to burning software/devices;
try to uninstall IAA and use M$ Standard IDE Busmaster driver instead;


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Duracell