Can anyone help? I bought an Acer Aspire 3500 in August 2005 and used it for a few months before storing it. I'm using it again now and notice that my DVDRW comes up as a CD Drive in My Computer. Also, Nero can't burn a backup data DVD disc presumably because of the same reason.

How do I get my laptop to realize it is looking at a DVD drive and not a CD drive? The drive is a Slimtype DVDRW SOSW 833.

I told you about not using the laptop just in case it was in anyway relevant!

Thanks
Jackie D

Irrelevant what EXPLORER shows you.

Open up devicemanager and you will see the correct drive listed.

Hi, it is a DVDRW drive (checked in device manager) but I can't burn a backup data disc on DVD. I've read loads of posts since I asked for help here and it seems my drive (SOSW-833S) is problematic. I can't tell whether it's the type of media I'm using or trhe drive itself. I couyld change the drive but some forum members say this doesn't make a difference. The complaint seems to be slow burn speed. My problem is it's not burning at all. I've asked Acer for help but they've suggested it's a software issue. It doesn't seem likely given the reams of complaints on CD Freaks alone.

It can burn to DVD by using 3rd party software, windows has no DVD burnsupport.

Sorry I can't tell if that was a question or a statement. It can't burn to DVD at all. I've used Nero and NTI CD/DVD Maker. It can burn CDs no problem. But I've got far too much to burn in one session to stick on to a CD.

You must select DVD first in Nero.

Yes, I select DVD in Nero. I'm very familiar with Nero - it's the only burning software I have bought. Selecting DVD seems to be the problem. It thinks I have a CD in the drive and won't burn. I don't have a problem burning CDs.

Hi,

I am facing a similar problem with my DVD Drive SOSW 833.... It used to work fine but after I loaded the OS again the drive does not recognise DVDs even those that had previously been written by the same drive. I have tried all tricks including using a new firmware (v04) and using the Win XP DVD troubleshooter without any success.

As of now, the drive recognises and read/writes all CD-Rs but it just does not read a DVD, Windows Exporer hangs once a DVD is inserted into the drive.

I am searching the net to see if somebosy has found a solution to the problem.

This is further to my previous post. The technical document of the DVD Drive SOSW 833S is available at http://www.prince-tech.com.tw/Eng/Pi...SJxd_94997.pdf

According to this document the compatible/recommended media are
Recommended Media
CD-R: CMC, LeadData(Silver-Sil), Maxell,
MCC(Bagdad), Mitsui, MoserBaer(India),
MPO, NanYa, Plasmon, Prodisc, RAMedia,
Ricoh, Ritek(JS,S,Richo dye), SAST(ultra
green), SKC(Korea), TDK, TY(DX dye)

Low Speed CD-RW: CMC, Ever Media, Maxell,
MCW, Mitsubishi, Philips, Pony, Power,
Princo, Ricoh, Ritek, Verbatim
High Speed CD-RW: AMT, CMC, Infodisc, Infodisc,
NanYa, Prodisc, Ritek, Ricoh, MKM,
SKC(Korea)

Ultra Speed CD-RW: MKM, Ritek, CMC

DVD+R : BEALL, CMC, MAXELL, MBI, MKM,
PRODISC, Philips, RICOH, Ritek, SONY,
TDK, TYUDE

DVD+R Double Layer: MKM

DVD+RW : CMC, MKM, PHILIPS, RICOH, RITEK

DVD-R : BeAll, CMC, DAXON, Imation, LeadData,
Maxell, Mitsubishi, NANYA, Pioneer,
PRINCO, Prodisc, Ritek, SKC, Sony, That's

DVD-R Double Layer: MKM

DVD-RW : CMC, Mitsubishi, PRINCO, RITEK


However this does not solve the problem, the quest is on...

I personally think it is a software problem and has something to do with the driver and the software being used to burn the DVD. NTI CD & DVD Maker 7 is not the appropriate software.

In my case I am also investigating whether it is a case of a dirty lens but then if the lens is dirty then I should not be able to burn/read CDs also (which presently I can do) Can somebody throw light on this.


Thanx

Hi, I have got almost the same problem as you have. I have an SOSW-833S coming with an ACER Aspire 3003 laptop. It had worked fine for about 17 months before it started to have difficulty to recognise some DVDs burnt by itself.

Initially, it started to take a big while to recognise some DVD-ROM media of general to low quality. I once recover this problem by using a optical cleaning disc. However, it only lasted for a couple of days. And after that, it went worse and it started to fail verification after burning a DVD (still successful burn). It ended up not recognising even good-quality DVD media.

In some very rare cases it would spin-up some DVDs, particularly when it is cold or when the computer just been switched on. And, just like what you said, it writes CDR and CDRW without problem.

I tried every possibility of different firmwares (VSR3 and VS04), OS settings, different burning softs... just time-wasting. Eventually I gave it up and got a new DVD-writer for the computer and it working well again.

ive got a similar problem with my acer aspire 5612 but my drive wont recognise dvd's or cd's and i cant find a driver for it anywhere!