Can't get my E-Machines DVD optical drive NEC_DVD_RW_ND-1300A to write to DVD?

Question

I have been able to write to certain DVD-R and DVD-RW 's in the 1x-4x speed range.
I am now the proud owner of 4 different brands of DVD-R's, but can not burn to any of them. (get error messages related to media issues)
I have heard you can not download an updated driver as this optical drive was OEM supplied. Is this an issue of more current media being incompatible with older drives? I have also installed Pinnacle Stidio version 9 SE and fail to burn. Any help on how to proceed greatly appreciated !
Thanks.

Answer 1

Did your problem start after you loaded Pinnacle? If so, remove the program and then do a defrag. See which blank media that NEC recommends for that drive from their web site. Blank media plays a larger role in DVD problems than you might think. Manufacturers coat the blank discs with a colored dye, sometimes green sometimes blue. The laser in your burner is sensitive to one of these colors and will burn to them nicely. But, put the other color dyed disc in and it wouldn't burn for anything. Cd-RW's are the same way. An off the wall guess on my part would be to try some Ridata (Ritek) blanks from newegg.com or try and get the info off the net for that burner. You don't want to update the "firmware" , this may damage your burner beyond repair. And the warranty will be voided. Look at the manual online it says to use 4X DVD-R's, Verbatium, PVC, Fuji film, and Ritek. The 8X speed DVD's might not work with your drive, try the 4X speed DVD's. For DVD+R's the name RICOH sticks out at me , try the Ridata 4X DVD+R's and see if they work for you.


http://www.necsam.com/oem/specs/ND-1300a.pdf