Samsung 308B drive in PCV-LX1

[rich6]

The Samsung 308B drive in my PCV-LX1 plays CDs and DVDs without a hitch, but appears to be unable to record CD-Rs. The record process runs smoothly, and the write process appears to run well. The software (Nero 5.5) reports that the burn has been completed. However the CDs appear to be blank to both the Samsung 308B drive and my domestic CD player. The 'blank' CDs are probably corrupted, because they cause my PC to hang temporarily, and cannot be accessed by the Samsung drive.

The drive would not record under WinME, and displays the same behaviour following a recent upgrade to WinXP.

Device manager reports that the drive is working fine, with a current and functioning driver (T102, downloaded from the Vaio website).

I suspect a faulty drive, but before I take the machine for repair, can anyone suggest any solutions ?

[chuckalicious]

It could be a faulty drive, although it could be faulty discs, which happens quite a lot. You would need to test a few different brands of CD-R before you could blame the drive. Also, what are you copying? I know that trying to record folders with many sub folders can reult in a corrupt disc, so if it's neither of these things, then it could well be the drive, but I would try a fresh install of as much software (and OS if possible) as possible before sending away the PC as this is much quicker than waiting on Sony.

[kee-lo_]

I think that drive could be faulty. But to do a few checks before throwing it out would be beneficial.

Go into safe mode (F8 BEFORE windows logo) and uninstall the drive.
Re-install Nero.

See if this does anything. If you need more details let me know.