CD Writer gone bad - any cure ?

[- Bob -]

I have a Yamaha CD writer that no longer recognizes media being loaded
and does a lot of coasters.

Is there any cure I should try? Something I can clean? Or just toss it
an replace ?

Thanks,

 

[Rod Speed]

I have a Yamaha CD writer that no longer recognizes media being loaded
and does a lot of coasters.

Is there any cure I should try? Something I can clean?

If you're a smoker, try cleaning the lens with some isopropanol.

Or just toss it an replace ?

Yep, even dual layer DVD burners cost peanuts as
long as you avoid the very latest blueray burners etc.

 

[Impmon]

Is there any cure I should try? Something I can clean? Or just toss it
an replace ?

If it's more than a year old it's probably better to replace it. CD
burners are very cheap nowday and if you want, yuo could also try for
DVD burner that also supports CD bruning for under $50.

I have a pair of Lite-on DVD burner, about 1 and 1/2 years old and
around 500 DVD and 100 CD burned with only 1 coaster that wasn't my
fault. Still works.

 

[jerome balti]

I have a Yamaha CD writer that no longer recognizes media being loaded

and does a lot of coasters.

Is there any cure I should try? Something I can clean? Or just toss it
an replace ?

Thanks,

I had a case with my philips writer, it was doing all you said, and I
tried anything , cleaning, reloading the drivers ..

then I was about to change it and ... unfortunately the cooler detached
from the processor, which caused a complete disk crash (bad luck)

then I reinstalled windows and everything back on a new disk , and the
writer decided to work again as new ...

so , it was actually something somewhere in the software and it exacly
looked like the hardware was faulty

 

[Aidan Karley]

ImpMon tells you that you're best off replacing a writer that's more
than a year old.
Jerome Balti suggests that the problem might be in software rather than
hardware, which I don't think is likely, but it isn't impossible by any
means.

A *very* useful bit of kit is a 5¼" USB enclosure (or at least a
USB-to-IDE adaptor that can fit onto and power 5¼" devices). Covers you
against a multitude of situations, including protecting your expensive
main machine from suspect devices.
Last time I was getting suspicious of my desktop's DVD-writer,
which was about 18 months old at the time, I got a new writer in a USB
5¼" enclosure which runs at 4 times the write speed of the old one and
cost a third of what the original drive did.
2 birds, one stone.