Just had a message from a friend, apparently his cd-writer will not recognise any blank discs, it will recognise pre-recorded ones and he asked if anyone knew or could guess what might be the matter, I think he runs Nero but what version I don't know, if anyone has any ideas could you please let me know

Sounds like it's really a cd-rom. Assuming it's a cd writer, make sure you are running the latest firmware. And try a different brand of media, preferably a name brand one.

My Benq 4816P would not recognize Memorex 40x even with the latest firmware, and they burnt fine in all my other drives.

Did it ever work? If yes, when did it stop and was it after he installed any software or hardware?

Yes it's definately worked, and I think he's always used the same sort of media, however he did have a virus a while ago and has only just got the PC working again, do you think the virus could have damaged the software or the drivers. If he puts a cd in that was bought in a shop it works fine it's only having a problem with recognising blanks coming up as please install disk

Just been on to him now, apparently it will only recognise discs (genuine ones) it wont recognise anything with mp3's photos or any type of information on them

Sounds like you should consider blanking the hard drive, and reloading the OS and the latest drivers. Only way to get rid of that virus fully.

What type of drive is it...model number, manufacturer, ect....

I've no idea only what he told me I know he's just gone up from 98 to XP and is using Nero everything worked fine before so I don't know if that's anything to do with it besides which he has had a virus whick he had now got rid of