Problem burning in Vista... settings, hardware, conflict?

[Hexametaphosphate]

I have a Sony DRU-120C (also tried 3 other drives, though) , Vista 64-bit Home Basic, Biostar TForce 965PT, 2XCorsair XMS, eVGA 8800gts 320mb, sata WD 320mb Caviar hdd.

I build this rig for a friend kinda on a tight budget... Vista has been a bit of a pain. Overall, however, the computer is running and performing well.... EXCEPT it will not burn a cd/dvd to save it's life. His wife only wants to use the computer to burn some pictures to CD or DVD, so she's not happy at all with this problem.

Here's what I've done:
* Installed Vista. Only downloaded new NVidia drivers... rest were found by Vista.

* Tried to format a blank CD (Vista prompts this when you put in a blank)... this simply sits on the screen for about 5 minutes Calculating the time left. The drive will spin, then stop. It either says it fails or last time gave me a 0x8007045D error code.

* I've tried to skip the format and just drag files to the burner. Same type situation. It will utilize nearly 100% of the CPU for about 5min... will often show "not responding" on other windows or the actual transfer windows themselves, then announce it failed 5 minutes later and everything is back.

* I've also tried Nero 7.5.9.0 and it did the same thing. It would get to 4% and then just hang for 5 minutes or so. Then it will announce it failed. It even failed burning at 8x (cd, not DVD...and it's a 40x cd burner)

This is very frustrating. I've checked a few things. DMA is turned on to the burner. I ran a speed test (Nero) on the Sony DRU-120C and the read speeds seemed normal, but trying to test the write speed produced the same hang symptom.

Anyone have a similar problem? I've tried the DRU-120c in my home computer with XP and it work, I've tried 3 or 4 drives with this computer and Vista. I just put Vista on another hard drive of my home computer and was able to immediately burn files to a CD just using vista.

***I've concluded it is definitely something with this one computer. The same burner that works in my home computer (which is actually similar in specs/parts) will not work in my friends computer. The main difference is the motherboard (Asus P5b deluxe in mine, Biostar TForce 965PT in his.... the Biostar is supposed to be Vista ready, and this is the only problem I've had so far)

Thanks for any help you can provide. I think I'm going to reinstall windows while I look for a solution. Please feel free to ask any questions.

 

[Slikkster]

What format are you using in Vista to burn, the "Live File System" or "Mastered"? I'd try Mastered for more compatibility. See what I'm talking about here:

http://itsvista.com/2006/12/itsvista-tip-10-how-to-burn-a-cd-with-vista/

 

[Hexametaphosphate]

I've tried both ways... was trying the "Live File System" more, but have tried both... right now I'm trying to burn a 150mb file as "Mastered" and it really, really just doesn't seem like the info is getting to the cdrom.

On this one I chose to try 8x (drive is 40x) and the light on the drive is blinking and it's not spinning up evenly (I'm 99% sure the drive is fine... worked like a champ on my home computer under XP and I'm pretty sure it would work on my home computer under Vista). Then it hangs at "Finalizing...." and eventually gives the error that "There was a problem burning this disc"

This is typical of this computer. I believe the IDE on this motherboard (Biostar TForce 965PT) is the problem. It could be a driver/config problem, but I am finding very little driver support from Biostar. It does claim to be Vista ready, so it's very possible that it's not software/driver related. I'm guessing I just got one with bad IDE.

 

[Horsepower]

I have a similar problem with a Plextor PX712SA as well as my PX708UF. Tried both formatting options, reinstalled Vista clean (required a call to MS), tried clean boot, etc, etc. I am running 64 bit, but installed 32 bit on another partition with the same problem. It WILL, however, make a picture/video DVD, with no problems. It won't copy a file or allow backup to optical drive. I install Nero 7 and I can do anything I want. Others have said the built in burning is really slow, but it should WORK. Every time I get the "operation failed" on format, and I have 20 or so CD/DVD "coasters" because it trashes the media as well.

 

[Horsepower]

I opened a case with MS, and they replied with a registry key deletion that fixed my problem. They said an update is coming for this.