I have a retail LG GSA-4166B with latest firmware.
It and it's predecessor (another LG DVD-Multi drive) has served me well for years in Windows 2K Never a problem no matter the burn software or media.

When Vista came out I decided it might be time to go to XP finally. So I buy XP (sp2) and do a fresh clean isntall.
For some reason XP seems to be getting into a state where it refuses to see blank CD-R media. It will see and burn DVD media including RAM.

The first time I noticed the problem I had just installed Nero and I assumed it was a issue with Nero and the driver in XP. I ended up uninstalling and trying various fixes (like disabling XP built in burning) that did not repair the problem, so I did another re-load (found the issue before I got much installed again) while tracking the registry changes every step of the way.

For some odd reason after the reload the DVD drive would see blank CD-R media (and write to it correctly) until I installed the Nvidia drivers (all other hardware drives were loaded and the drive saw media first) for my video card (9800GS). Then after the reboot my drive no longer would see the media. Uninstalling the video drivers seemed to restore the missing functionality. I then installed them again and the drive stayed working.

I have checked the DMA mode, I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling all kinds of things, after the problem came back again (I think triggered by a Nero7 install).

I have registry snapshots and difference comparrissons between each stage of setup but they are long and I wont post them unless they are some kind of use.

Going back to 2k (still have a basic boot drive) and it all works fine.

Any ideas?

Can you provide more specifics on your system (motherboard/cpu, etc.)?  Did you install a slipstreamed WinXP SP2 or apply a SP afterwards?

(in reply to minkus)

I slipstreamed my OEM XP Pro disc (all but I think 6 updates when I checked windows update), 32 bit not 64.

Motherboard is an Epox 9NDA3I revision 2.x (nforce 3)
Nforce drivers are the latest for this chipset. I am not using the Nforce IDE drivers (others have had issues with these).
CPU is an Athlon 64 4000+ (single core)
2GB of Corsair RAM (2.5 cas I think)
Video card is EVGA geforce 7800 gs (256 MB)
Forceware drivers are latest non beta (94.24).
I have a fairly generic 1394 PCI card and an Intel Pro 100 PCI NIC (onboard realtek is crap in games).
Other then that, I have 6 internal drives, 5 HDD and the writer. 2 SATA, 2 on the primary IDE channel, and DVD-Multi (set to master) sharing the second channel with the last drive.
Power supply is 800W.

I can read audio/video/data CDs, even ones I burnt or were burnt on other drives. I can read and burn all forms of DVD based media.

The only issue is that all burning programs, and windows for some reason, can not see blank cd media (Verbatim, same batch that was working) and if I boot into 2K everything works fine still. I find XP a bit smoother performance wise and I like having remote desktop available.

In trouble shooting it the last time, I used regoshot to capture the registry after each driver/software install until  the drive was not able to see the cd-r media. I then did comparisions between the snapshots showing was was added or removed.

All I found was stuff that looked like what the registry does when you remove media from the drive.

(in reply to SithTracy)

Here is one thing you could try:  Microsoft KB Article 314060

Though it is now my kids PC, I have an nForce4 SLI system and have had good luck with the nVidia IDE drivers... that's just my two cents.  I know others have not, but I always use them and have not had any problems... but I won't say they if they won't be troublesome for you... Never owned the nForce3... went right from nForce2 to nForce4.  My current rig is Intel C2D.

Also, I'm losing faith in Nero myself.  I've been burning with ImgBurn (data and video cd/dvd's), and VSO CopyToDVD and CDRWIN.  I still have Nero installed, but it gets very little use these days.  I think they have a problem with AHCI (SATA) on ICH8R (Intel P965), but I am waiting for Nero support to test.  But Nero works great on my nForce4 SLI board (Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe).

(in reply to minkus)

Looking at that KB article, I went looking in the registry for those entries and they do not exist. Maybe that is the problem?

(in reply to SithTracy)

Don't think so... exhausting day to day... will try to get back to you tomorrow.

Also, if MP3Mogul is about, perhaps he can give some comments... He once had the LG GSA-4166....

(in reply to minkus)