Member Avatar for Gary Schweikert

Have a new Dell Inspirion 560 Minitower with a 16X DVD+/RW Drive installed. Using Windows Media Play to burn audio CD's and to backup Quicken files. Using the following procedure: Start - All Programs - Windows Media Player - Library - Click Burn - Click Audio CD - develop play list - insert disc - start burn. It shows the disk being burnt with the play list...........when finished, drive door opens. I then take CD down to car CD Player, insert the disc, and I get an "ERR" message. When I try to back up files on disk, I get :cannot write to Drive A." Tearing my hair out over this one. I am also somewhat computer illiterate so directions have to be well defined.
Thanks,
Gary

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Follow-up for — common causes for the symptoms described are: the disc being written as a data/sessioned disc instead of a finalized audio CD, use of media the car unit cannot read (CD-RW or DVD), packet-writing software creating a UDF session, or a drive-letter/configuration issue that makes backup software target the wrong device (hence the "Drive A" message). This builds on checks suggested by and the idea of trying alternate burning methods mentioned by and .

Recommended basic checks and quick tests:

  1. Reinsert the freshly burned disc into the PC and inspect it in Computer (Start -> Computer). If Windows shows an "Audio CD" or lists track times and Windows Media Player will play the tracks, the burn produced standard audio tracks — the problem is likely the car player or media type. If Explorer shows .mp3/.wma files, the disc was burned as a data disc (not an Audio CD) and many older car players will show ERR. If the drive shows almost no used space, the session may not have finalized and the burn failed.

  2. For the Quicken "cannot write to Drive A" symptom: create a backup to a local folder first (use the application backup option to save to Desktop). Verify a backup file appears. Then burn that single backup file to CD from Windows Explorer (right-click the file -> Send to -> DVD RW Drive or use the Burn to disc wizard). If Quicken insists on A:, check its backup destination settings and, if necessary, change the optical drive letter in Disk Management (Computer -> Manage -> Disk Management -> right-click the optical drive -> Change Drive Letter and Paths).

  3. Try simple remedies before paying for "software support": use good-quality CD-R media (not CD-RW), burn at a lower speed (4x or 8x), and choose an Audio CD format when burning. If packet-writing software (InCD, Drag-to-Disc, etc.) is installed, uninstall or disable it and try again. If the PC can play the burned disc but the car cannot, try burning the same audio as an Audio CD on a new CD-R at slow speed.

If these steps fail, gather the optical drive model from Device Manager and the exact error strings; that information will narrow the cause between configuration/driver issues and media/format compatibility.

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Member Avatar for Ed E

Gary,

Have you tried reinserting the CD into your PC to see if it did get burned correctly? Also, which operating system are you running, Windows 7 or Vista? Do you have the latest updates for the operating system and Windows Media Player installed.

Ed E

Member Avatar for Gary Schweikert

I'm running Windows 7. No, I haven't tried reinserting the disk after burning I've tried several disks and they have all come out with the same message. The one error message that bothers me is when I tried to copy to disk my backup to Quicken and the message said can't write to Drive A. I have downloaded all the updates on the computer as I have been advised to by Microsoft. I don't know if this is a software or hardware problem.

Member Avatar for dave.lalonde

do you have problems burning using drag and drop or copy and paste through windows explorer?

Member Avatar for 4Bee

Did you make sure that your mp3s are in wav format? If not then he you have to convert them to .wav format before making audio disk (even if some windows apps do that for you, do that manually). Make sure your files are in wav.. there are plenty free converters around.

Install this http://cdburnerxp.se/

It might not be visually as nice or with as many options... but it works like charm and its truly free ((dont have to pay for extra features.. or whatever))

Another thing,... DVD burner is not the same as CD burner. Also if you burned your DVD/CD okay... your CD player might not be able to read them if media is not right. Might be worth checking your cd/dvds in a different device((or try to play them from computer... and see if it works))

Member Avatar for Gary Schweikert

Well Dell fixed the hardware problem online but they want $139 to fix the software problem since software problems aren't covered under warranty. Seems a little extreme to me to have to pay for a resolution of a problem on a new computer. Of course they didn't happen to mention what the software problem was or assume responsibility since they were the ones who installed it and should have tested it.

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