Start with a clean.
If that fails then unplug and plug in again the ribbon cable at both ends. If all that fails just buy a new one.
I prefer to use one drive for CDs (the audio ones) and another for DVDs.

Bob.

Excellent advice. Thank you.

What a forum!!!

Grazie

My Yamaha CD (no DVD) burner recently has stopped burning.

It continues to read/play commercial replicated discs, but not any burned discs I have tried since.

Is it possible that cleaning may help?

What is the preferred method for cleaning?

I have been onto both supplier and manufacturer, and have been told that: Yes, as there are 2 sets of lasers, you can have the DVD burning side WORK and the CD burning part NOT work. One set for DVD and one set for CD
=================
......2 sets of lasers?

There is a CD photodiode and a DVD photodiode and one laser unless things have changed in two years. Two years ago I disassembled one to repair an eject problem.

Try burning the CDs at 16X to 24X. If it is burning at 52X, some models don't burn CDs reliably at those speeds. Some models are also not good at CD burning in the first place.
Try a quality test using Nero CD/DVD Speed and look at the results. You can test the various cd nurn speeds on a sample disc then check to see which burn speed gives you the highest quality rating.

John

Apologies John. NOT 2 Lasers, rather 2 Laser SETS. My mistake.

"Try burning the CDs at 16X to 24X." Yeah tried that no good.

"Try a quality test using Nero CD/DVD Speed and look at the results." Hmmm... ?

Thanks for the response John.

Grazie

Apologies John. NOT 2 Lasers, rather 2 Laser SETS. My mistake.
=======
Still never heard of that, but that's not the point anyway. It would be helpful if you list the model. Maybe I can find out if it has any quirks. There are often official firmware updates for optical drives that resolve many problems in addition to hacked versions available that people smarter than the manufacturer develop on their own and post on the net.

John

Thank you John.

I'll take this off-line

. . you have MAIL!

Grazie

In the last thirty years, over dozens and perhaps hundreds of computers, I have had a small handful (3-4) hard drive failures, but DOZENS of CD and DVD failures. My computer is almost six years old and it is now running DVD burner number six (oh, and how I miss my Plextor 760A drive ...). I'm still running the original two hard drives.

So the point is, these things fail ALL the time. I have had them fail where they burn DVDs and not CDs (like yours); I have had them fail when they only burn on some media; I have had them fail to write DVD-RW but still write DVD-R and DVD+R. I've had them fail to write, even though they could still read. Etc. etc.

I have disassembled over a dozen of these. They all look pretty much the same inside, and unless jolly old England has gotten really dirty since I was there last, I very much doubt that cleaning the laser will do anything, although if you put a peanut butter and jelly sandwich into the drive, it might need cleaning (can't remember if it is the peanut butter or the jelly that does the damage). Remember that these lasers are able to read and write through all that gunk on rental DVDs and amazingly scratched and abused DVDs, so for it to quit working completely would require a LOT of gunk. Also, if it were gunk, it wouldn't work for either DVD or CD: both would fail.

So, give the cleaning a shot, but don't spend more than five minutes on it. Just go out and buy a new drive.


[Edit] I just saw John's idea of upgrading firmware. This can definitely help if you are using different media than you have used in the past. One of the main things that happens when a company updates their firmware is that they change the write strategies for new media. I have had media that wouldn't burn, and then after a firmware update, I could now burn on that media. Unfortunately, manufacturers are not as good about providing these updates as they used to be, so it doesn't help as often.

John, thanks. Pretty sane advice.

Y'know the idiotic thing is that I rarely USE the combo for CD stuff. Normally it IS just DVDs. So my initial thoughts were: "Why fail if I haven't hammered it?!??" But your experience has underlined my observation I had maybe 10 years back when I first got a CD writer and some awful burning s/w. Even then I found, and quickly thought, that this technology is a bit flaky.

Maybe I should just thank my lucky stars my DVD is still writing and not spend too much time over it. I still have another writer for CDs in my other pc, which burns the CDs fine.

Thanks again guys, really!

Grazie

Graham,
Check your e-mail. I sent you some instructions and some user reviews with problems similar to yours using the same drive.

John

Hiyah!

Read them and have replied to you - I appear to be in the minority. No change there then!!

Thanks John

Grazie

Never got the reply. Is it on Princess or Carnival? Will check the docks on the West Side later. :)

John

Is it on Princess or Carnival?

Eh???

I have now sent it through SONY-Mail.

Grazie

Well, chaps and ladies . . . interesting . .

I bought my burner in April/MAy 07:

http://forum.videohelp.com/topic341956.htmlMore to this than . . . . . [/link]

Any advice?

Grazie

http://club.cdfreaks.com/f87/pioneer-usa-replacing-defective-112-drives-226683/Oh! And another one?? . . [/link]

Grazie

Interesting.
I don't know where you'd stand in the UK obviously but I'd sure try to get a replacement. Probably not a bad idea to also buy another one as well, they're so cheap and they always seem to go belly up at the worst possible moment.

Bob.

Wise council indeed, Bob.

SKYPE me I have something else to proffer . . .

G

Optical drives are amazingly finicky things. A while back a friend of mine begged for a dvd burner. I had a not-terribly-old 4X DVD/CD combo burner and i wanted a newer 16X dual-layer burner. So, i bought the new 16X for me and put my old 4X in her machine. Neither one worked. I could just barely get the 4X to recognize it had a disc in it in her box, and my box acted like the 16X wasn't even connected. Annoyed, and needing to burn some discs that night, i put the 4X back in mine and it worked perfectly. Just for laughs i put the 16X in her computer and it worked perfectly there. I switched back again and same thing, neither worked.

So, she got a brand new 16X dual layer combo burner out of the deal, and i got the fun of giving it to her, i guess. Maybe i was just being taught a lesson about not being stingy in my giving. ;)

Since then my old 4X did finally bite the dust. It would read CDs, but not DVDs, and it would burn DVDs, but not CDs. Very odd. I bought another new 16X dual layer, identical to the one i gave to my friend except it had a white bezel instead of black, and that one works fine in my computer. Go figger.

Thanks Kelly.

EDIT: Deleted "link". It didn't work . . .

Grazie

Ah-hah!!!

RESULT . . .

Known issue. Manufacturer is going to send a replacement.

DONE!!

Grazie