Having trouble using a CD-ROM on a different machine, what do i have to do?

As with audio CDs, discussed in the previous section, there are several possibilities. The media compatibility issues mentioned above apply to CD-ROM as well.
If you're using CD-RW media rather than CD-R media, you have to be sure that the CD-ROM drive in question is MultiRead compliant. Some older drives are able to read CD-RW media, but most are not. Newer drives should work fine.
If the disc was written using a packet writing application like DirectCD (where you format a disc and then copy files directly to it, instead of creating a disc layout and recording a whole bunch of stuff all at once), some CD-ROM drives will stumble on packet boundaries. Refer to section (4-21) for information and a possible workaround.
If a packet-written disc was closed in ISO-9660 Level 3 format, it won't be usable on systems that don't support ISO-9660 level 3 (e.g. DOS). If the disc was *not* closed as ISO-9660, and is still in UDF, you will need a UDF driver; see sections (6-3) and (6-3-1) for an overview and pointers to free drivers

This is a semi-common problem among Dell Burners and the software for some reason. Out of the 40 Dell laptops we have 3 of them contained this problem. This problem is worse when burning audio CDs. If you have tried another CD media out then try some of these solutions to help you out:

1. Close your session. Make sure you are closing the CD/session if you are using the default program for Dell (Easy CD Creator) you can close your session by clicking on the "Record" button this will open up the Record CD Setup dialog box, inside the Record CD Setup dialog click on the button labeled "Options" and then under the section labeled "Record Method" click the option for "Finalize CD". Now try to burn that CD.

2. If you are using Dell's pre-installed default burning program (Easy CD Creator) you might want to upgrade the software. There have been reported errors and bugs that do not finalize some CDs in versions old then 5.3.4.21 SP8. To download the updates from Dell: Go to http://www.dell.com, click on "Home and Home Office", then click on Support then go Downloads, enter in your service code or select your model from the drop down box then click on GO. Next enter your Operating System and then click on "Find Downloads" link. Under the category "Patches and Fixes" select the Easy CD Creator update. Run the installation and follow the instructions.

3. If all else fails, flash your BIOS, to do this: Go to http://www.dell.com, click on "Home and Home Office", then click on Support then go Downloads, enter in your service code or select your model from the drop down box then click on GO. Next enter your Operating System and then click on "Find Downloads" link. Under the category "FlashBIOS Updates" and download the Harddrive installation version. If your BIOS is older then A6 you may want to upgrade it, Dell added a bunch of hardware support.