Burner / Software question

[Barjo]

I have a brand new Gateway PC 820GM with dvd burner, Nero software. I typically use dvdshrink to rip, and have not yet used either dvdecryptor or dvd43, though both are installed.

About 3 days ago my dvd drive ceased to recognize any media whatsoever in the drive, whether it be blank or burned audio/dvd. Normally when you click on the drive, it asks to insert a disk. I get no such message, and have checked it via bio and safemode. According to tech support it's probably a software issue.

Right now I'm looking at a full restoration which means losing about 60gb of files, something I'd much rather not do. But if I do the restoration, I want to continue backing up my dvds without causing a repeat of the problem.

So my question is - has anyone run into problems using either of these three programs that might cause this?

Thanks all.

[Infection]

Not that I know of, I doubt it is a software related problem. If you can access the disc using Windows then it is the hardware that has the problem.

[LT. Columbo]

dvd43 does cause problems, but you haven't even used it, so i don't think it is the source of the problem in this case. can you do a system restore? any changes YOU made that may have caused this?

[tigerman8u]

as columbo stated I would try a system restore first. It's a good idea to use a 2nd hard drive dedicated to video. Prevents problems like this if you have to format the 1st drive. I found out the hard way. lol

[devilgirl33]

I agree with tiger and columbo, but i would also check and make sure the firmware of the burner drive is up to date, that caused problems for me before

[Barjo]

Thanks, all. I know, it's a trade off - but I'd much rather not lose the data. I'm seriously considering buying an external 80gb harddrive as a purely backup drive in case this ever happens again. It's definitely cheaper than having the store retrieve it for me.

Devilgirl, what is firmware? I've never heard that term. Everything was preinstalled, and I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers for both the master and slave dvd burner (don't know why there are two, but there are and they are both the same drive).

I'm going to uninstall dvd43 and see what happens. Can't hurt (famous last words).

[devilgirl33]

Firmware is what the hardware itself needs to run properly, you should be able to get the information in the computer management part of you control panel. you can do a google search for the brand and then look up the firmware from that. It should be checked periodically for upgrades, some of the new dvd+r disks state that if you don't have a new burner you will need to update the firmware in order for them to work properly, I found this out first hand.