BleepingComputer.com: Cd-rw Stopped Working

So, i have a Dell HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8483B as the second CD drive on my Dell computer. I use it to burn CD's.
But, about a week ago, for no apparent reason, the drive stopped functioning properly. I use either iTunes or Nero as my burning software and both go through their process as normal, and say that a disc has been burned successfully when no data is actually on the disc at all.
I didn't install any updates or do anything that new to my computer, i've system restored almost a month into the past, and this hasn't improved anything.
Do i just need to buy a new burner?

This post has been edited by nyarlathotep13: 06 March 2008 - 12:52 AM

What version of Nero?

Any error messages by the Nero software?

Louis

It's an older version of Nero, although it's always worked fine. It's version 6.0.0.0.
Usually i burn audio CD's because my stereo is hooked up to a better speaker system that isn't really compatible with my computer, and i use iTunes for that and have the latest version of it. Of course, when it stopped working i tried Nero right away and it did the same thing where it didn't display any error messages, said it had burned the disc successfully, and then the disc didn't have any information on it.

I thought it might be the physical CD itself, but have tried several different ones, because i did think the same thing was happening the first time i ended up with a defective disc. But i thought i should mention that that is probably not the problem.

Well...to pinpoint the problem, I would try a more current version of a burn program, there are a ton of them.

If another burn program fails to work properly, then you know that its a hardware situation, especially in light of no apparent error messages.

BTW: Did you check Event Viewer for errors concerning that drive? IME, EV is usually able to pick on optical drive failures, when such is the case.

What is the Event Viewer, and Should I Care - Ask Leo! - http://ask-leo.com/what_is_the_event_viewe...uld_i_care.html

Appropriate reference in EV would be to Disk 1, etc., I believe.

Have you checked all the other functions of the drive in question?

Louis