Member Avatar for jimlaver

Hello everyone.

I'm having trouble with a TS-L632D DVD+-RW drive installed on a Dell XPS M1210 notebook with Windows XP Media Center Edition.

The drive reads CDs and DVDs, but cannot write/burn on any blank disk... nor a data CD with free space available. Whenever I try to burn data to a CD the writing wizard does everything normally, displaying the progress bar, calculating time left and preparing the disk for reading. All that while the led on the drive is flashing. It even ejects the CD after it finishes, but when I insert the disk again it turns out to be empty.

I've already uninstalled the drive, reinstalled it, flashed the drivers with firmware from Dell's website and nothing works. I also tried to burn a music CD from iTunes and still nothing. The notebook doesn't have any Roxio or Nero software installed.

Of course, CD recording is enabled on that drive and also tried lowering the recording speed. Toubleshooting shows that the drive is working properly.

What could be going on?
I'm grateful for any of your help or suggestion.

Thanks.

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Short diagnostic summary tied to the thread: the symptom reported by (and echoed by ) — the burner looks like it finishes but discs come back empty — is commonly a failure while writing the session TOC / lead‑in (the Program Memory Area, or PMA). When the PMA/lead‑in cannot be written or fixed, the session never becomes readable. (flylib.com)

Practical next steps (order matters):

  • Inspect a failed disc with a raw/session tool (IsoBuster or similar) to see whether a PMA/lead‑in or any session was created. Capture the drive log and any SCSI sense/error codes.
  • Make a controlled test burn of a small ISO (not just drag‑and‑drop) with a utility that produces a full log (for example ImgBurn) so the exact failure step is recorded. Keep the burn log and sense codes; they’re the fastest way to distinguish media vs driver vs hardware failure. (isobuster.com)

Common software/driver causes to try before replacing hardware:

  • Remove packet‑writing and virtual‑drive software and clean optical filters in the registry (UpperFilters/LowerFilters) after backing up the registry — Microsoft documents this fix for XP-era problems.
  • Check chipset/IDE controller drivers (RAID/AHCI drivers can change how the burner is presented to Windows and have caused PMA/finalize failures in Dell systems).
  • Verify the IDE/SATA channel is using DMA (not PIO). These steps can eliminate many non‑hardware causes. (sony.ie)

When to accept hardware failure: if the exact same errors (PMA/fixation or end‑of‑disc failures) appear with different burning software, multiple good batches of media, and after the registry/chipset checks, the laser/electronics is probably failing and replacement or an external USB burner is the pragmatic next step. Keep and share the ImgBurn/Nero log, IsoBuster session view and the Device Manager + IDE controller info when asking for further help. (softexpo.com)

Member Avatar for naveenpullal

Hello everyone.

I'm having trouble with a TS-L632D DVD+-RW drive installed on a Dell XPS M1210 notebook with Windows XP Media Center Edition.

The drive reads CDs and DVDs, but cannot write/burn on any blank disk... nor a data CD with free space available. Whenever I try to burn data to a CD the writing wizard does everything normally, displaying the progress bar, calculating time left and preparing the disk for reading. All that while the led on the drive is flashing. It even ejects the CD after it finishes, but when I insert the disk again it turns out to be empty.

I've already uninstalled the drive, reinstalled it, flashed the drivers with firmware from Dell's website and nothing works. I also tried to burn a music CD from iTunes and still nothing. The notebook doesn't have any Roxio or Nero software installed.

Of course, CD recording is enabled on that drive and also tried lowering the recording speed. Toubleshooting shows that the drive is working properly.

What could be going on?
I'm grateful for any of your help or suggestion.

Thanks.

am facing same problem with Dell Inspiron 1525 WinXp sp2 while burning DVD

Member Avatar for Chaky

What burning software are you using? (either of you)
If it is nero, maybe you left the "simulate" checkbox checked.

Try fixing the .

Member Avatar for naveenpullal

What burning software are you using? (either of you)
If it is nero, maybe you left the "simulate" checkbox checked.

Try fixing the .

-----------
Hai chaky

i have checked 'Simulation', but says 'simulation not possible'..
i have installed aspi (xp32)
burning failed with following log
- PMA update failure
- could not perform end of disc at once

Member Avatar for Chaky

Nero uses its own aspi layer, so installing adaptec one won't solve your problem. Your problem is most likely faulty drive (or power supply) or corrupt Nero aspi layer. I suggest reinstalling Nero.

Member Avatar for naveenpullal

Nero uses its own aspi layer, so installing adaptec one won't solve your problem. Your problem is most likely faulty drive (or power supply) or corrupt Nero aspi layer. I suggest reinstalling Nero.

-----
Hai chaky

Data CD has written even same error log shown
DVD image file tried to write ; same error came ; but dvd shown no data

Member Avatar for Chaky

Ok, you lost me here.
a) Why is this marked as solved?
b) You tried to make a DVD Image or burn one to DVD?

Member Avatar for naveenpullal

Ok, you lost me here.
a) Why is this marked as solved?
b) You tried to make a DVD Image or burn one to DVD?

Hi Chaky
a) How i know mark solved?
b) DVD data writes with all process but its empty

Member Avatar for Chaky

Ohhh. You didn't start the thread..

Is the DVD disc EMPTY (as, the available capacity stays unchanged) after "writing" or is it just not readable? Use DiscInfo tool to check the capacity after burning attempt.

"PMA update failure" is usually media-related, which translates: your burner can't write to the DVD you put in.

Try using Traxdata or Verbatim DVDs. 99.999% of burners will work with those.

Also, updating drive's firmware might solve your problem. Firmware updates usually adds more DVD media on the "can write" list.

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