I have a dell e521 with combo dvd drive. it will read cd's and will burn audio cd's. but will not read a dvd disk. when i try to burn a dvd disc using nero, i get a burn failure error. this has been progressively getting worse in the last month.

All except the bluray ones.

Your cdrom drive can read a data disc or play cd audio? Check if its CDR/CDRW not DVDR/DVDRW, buy a disk cleaner and play it on your cd/dvd drive. After that try to burn again.

Are you using DVD burning software? -The internal windows function only does CDs.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

Its only cd writer burner and can only that it can read dvd disc also. That is why its called combo. But burning blank dvd it can't. But if you want buy some dvdburner too.

Hello Rfd832,
What I see from the description is that the drive is a combo drive. Combo drives are CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives means
CD-RW = Compact Disk-Read Write
DVD-ROM = Digital Versatile Disk - Read Only Memory
so these drives can read and write CDs but can only read DVDs (Cannot write or burn DVDs)
If you want to be able to burn DVDs then you need to have DVD RW drive (either DVD+RW or DVD-RW)

You said that you are able to burn DVDs on other computer so please check the label on the DVD drive.. it should be DVD-RW/DVD+RW drive


Hope that helps.. :)

Thanks and Regards,
Srinivas

Sorry, but that model is not a DVD writer. It can only write and rewrite CD's. It can only read DVD's.

Here is a page with specs:

Sony CRX310S Specs

Note under DVD>Write DVD it says N/A. (Not applicable.)

the combo drive you listed above is a cd-rw/ DVD-ROM....meaning that it will play and burn cd, cd-r, and cd-rw disks. the dvd rom will only be able to play dvd-rom and dvd-r disks providing they are in the proper format. check that the disk in question is not a dvd-rw or (+2) disk. the drive will not recognize that a disk is in the drive if the disk isnt compatable. try a dvd movie, if that works then a dvd-r, if that works then try a dvd-rw +1. if the last option doesnt work then you will have to stick with the dvd-rom and dvd-r, or purchase a dvd-rw drive to install.

GOOD LUCK AND DONT FORGET TO RATE MY POST!! :D

You may be using the wrong type of DVD format. Some DVD-ROMs and players will only read certain discs. i.e. DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM. If you are trying to read a DVD-R disc that was bought blank, and then had things burned to it, it may be that the disc wasn't finalised after burning. You could always try updating the Firmware version by downloading it from the website.

ITs a dvd rom drive. It will not burn blank dvds
in order to burn, it has to cd-r/cd-rw/dvd-r/dvd-rw. If a drive cannot write to a blank disc, it will eject it. Rom drives read only (Read Only Memory), Combo drives- burn cd's only read dvd's, and super drives both read and write to cds and dvds.