Sony DVD-RW DW-D18A Issue

[PowderBB3D]

Hi. I've been having a problem with my Sony DW-D18A lately. It burns CDs fine, but it will not burn a DVD. It calls itself a "DVD-RW" drive in "my computer" but when for some reason when I put a DVD in the tray it changes to "CD Drive" and will not allow me to use it. If I drag files into it when it's a DVD (a la Windows' "click-n-drag" burning) it fails and asks if I'd like to retry or cancel. Retry just fails again. CDs work fine in this manner, however. If I use the DVD burning software that came with it, NTI DVD-Maker Gold Suite, it won't even detect the drive, presumably because it believes it not to be a DVD-R or RW drive (since it also does not detect my DVD-ROM drive).

I checked to make sure it's compatable with the program I'm using and it is.

Supported Drives Click on that and you can see DW-D18A by Sony as supported.

To be honest, I've never burned a single DVD using this drive (only started trying about a week ago, and can't solve this problem on my own. CDs have always worked though.

Help?

AMD A64 FX-53 (939)
GIGABYTE "GA-K8NSNXP-939" nForce3 Ultra
eVGA GeForce 6800 GT
Soundblaster Audigy 2ZS Platinum
Sony DVD-RW DW-D18A
Samsung DVD-ROM SD-616E

Specifics on the drive itself:

Drive E:
Description CD-ROM Drive
Media Loaded No
Media Type CD-ROM
Name SONY DVD RW DW-D18A
Manufacturer (Standard CD-ROM drives)
Status OK
Transfer Rate Not Available
SCSI Target ID 1
PNP Device ID IDE\CDROMSONY_DVD_RW_DW-D18A_____________________VYS2____\2020202030323430373035313030353038343333
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys (5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158), 48.38 KB (49,536 bytes), 3/31/2003 4:00 AM)

Edit: It occured to me that I should perhaps list this: the Samsung is set to master and the Sony to slave.

 

[PowderBB3D]

bump?

 

[krcat1]

I almost hate to ask this, but is the firmware updated? I would think you would have done that, but sometimes one forgets.

I had a Plextor that burned CDs ok, but burned DVDs very slow until I updated the firmware.

 

[PowderBB3D]

D18A = OEM = no support from Sony = no firmware that I can find.

Should I flash to an SOHW-832S, since its essentially the same component?

 

[PowderBB3D]

Not to be annoying but...

"bump"

 

[jackschmittusa]

People may not be ignoring you. I have never even heard of your problem before and have no idea what the solution is. My next troubleshooting step would be to try the drive in another rig. If you get the same results, I would guess it is a defective drive. If not, I'd be scratching my head again.

 

[krcat1]

You could be using bad media. What type of DVD are you using?
I am guessing that the drive is both plus and minus, for can't find any info on the D18A.

 

[PowderBB3D]

jackschmittusa - I'll try this as later. Still want to try a few other things, but yes I suspected that I would eventually need to test in different rigs.
krcat 1 - Yes, it is +/- RW. I'm going to go get a different DVD, see if it helps. I was using an HP +RW. I'll go get a Sony -R, see if it works.

 

[imported_foxeh]

I had a similar problem with my ASUS DVD-RW. It was a conflict between Nero6 and Norton Email Scanner.

Had to disable the email scanner use the Nero InCd Removal Tool, reboot, re-enable the email scanner, then right click on the actual drive, select the recodring tab and make sure the "Enable Recording on the drive" was selected.

Voila! fixed. Not sure if this will work in your case but its worth a try if your are using Norton AV

Plus I always thought the recording drive should be the master and the reading drive to slave

 

[PowderBB3D]

Update:

I tried a sony DVD-RW. Does not work either, same errors (althoug this time it lets me "erase" the disc, which it would fail to do with the HP DVD+RW). I switched it to master and the Samsung to slave - still fails. Turning off Norton does not appear to make a difference unless I'm failing to see a critical step in your procedure.

I really don't understand, since it writes to CD's fine...

 

[Odenax]

One of my friends wrote me a few dvds and sent them from another country but when i put the disk in it reads it as an empty cd. Is there any software i can use to retrieve the data off the discs?

 

[Billdo]

I too have the same exact drive.
I also am having the same exact problem.
I went to thier media website click here for it ---> Sony Media Website

and it does not even list the drive.

I called Sony, and the only thing they could tell me, was that they do not support that drive at ALL.

So if anybody else has any ideas I would like to know.
Also as a reminder to everybody else, don't buy this drive unless you know how t make it work,

Billdo