mmreed,
Indeed, I am able to read from the unit, and it does appear as a drive with an assigned letter.
I went to the Device Manager window and my dvd writer appears normal... no X or yellow simblo attached to it.
Do you think that it was the upgrade? If nothing else works, I will go back to Win2K to see if it works like before. It will be a drag, but if I have not choice I will have to do it.
What do you think it could be?

are you able to use the DVD burner to write to a cdr using windows integrated cd writting feature?

I cant see it being myDVD...

one other thing would be to go to HPs site and get the newest driver

also - when you say it doesnt work.. what exaclty occurs...any error messages?

mmreed,
No, I can't use the dvd burner to write to a cdr. At the beginnig, I thought it was a bad dvd-r, but then I tried another and the same happened. I also tried to burn a cdr and i got the same result as when I tried it with the dvd.
You're right, I dont think MyDVD is the problem.
I did go to the HP website and they dont have a update on the driver. I even tried to apply the drivers of newer models, but it would not let me update. The updating program would recognized my dvd writer as a non candidate for such update. Talking about smart updates!!!!
The error that I get reads as follows:
"There was a problem writing to the disc." I get this information from a third party dvd burning software.
MyDVD would simple spit the dvd out.
I got another PC that has Win2K. The DVD writer used to work under that OS.
I will give it a shot.
I will keep you posted.

Sorry to butt in....

Take a look at vcdhelp.com. I found your burner there with 27 user comments, mostly good. It might be the disks you are using. (?)

Hope that helps,

Jon

If you cannot burn a CD using the WinXP native cd burining tools, then there is an issue in how your drive is installed. If you go to the hardware manager, are you able to see which driver is being used under the properties of your burner? XP may have installed the incorrect driver if it was detected via plug-n-play aka plug-n-pray.

I have also heard many horror stories about XP upgrades not going well...but most were win98 to XP upgrades.

I would force the new driver install from HP - even if it is not a newer version...the one on your PC may be corrupted. I see on HPs site that you can also order a DVD300i install CD set that says its Version 2, dated 9/29/2003

There is also a compatibility utility there you can download and run that might be of help.

mmreed,
It's funny that I've gone to the HP driver download site for my dvd burner unit, and I did see the CD set you're referring to; however I never noticed that it said version 2.
I will look in to this to see if this solves my problem. Thanks a lot for your help.

Stiffer,
I did check vcdhelp. I will see what I can find there.

Thanks a lot.

if worse comes to worse...

www.spoofee.com has great prices on TDK -/+RWs!

Make sure that the drive does not have special install instructions under Win XP.

Another choice would be to go to control panel, and remove the hardware. Physically disconnect the drive, then reboot. After a successful reboot, shut down the computer, and re-connect the drive. WinXP should detect it when you turn the computer back on...