Ok I have a dvd/cd burner. It has always worked until just recently. It is able to read & play dvd's and cd's without any problems, but when I go to burn a cd or dvd it says, please insert a blank cd/dvd, even though there is already one inserted, I tried a variety of different blank dvd's and cd's, it just works when it wants to work. Randomly it'll work, like one out of 20 times it burns with no problem. I have tried updating the driver, but it says I have the best one for it, I have also tried lense cleaner, has anyone had this problem before? What could be the issue? Is my dvd/cd burner just broken? also there are no errors for it in device manager, it says it is working properly.

One easy thing to try is a different brand of blank DVDs. Did you recently buy new DVDs?

Just a thought,
WallyH

Have you recently uninstalled any CD/DVD burning software?

No

Even if you are not getting any errors in device mgr, go to this link and follow method 2,
This will resolve the problem many times but not all, so it is worth a try.

The changes made by following method 2 will not effect your computer in any way if it does not resolve your problem. If concerned about changes made after giving it a try and it does not work:

-When you first open regedit, click file and then export and export registry to your desktop
-If you would like to undo the changes made by following step 2, just click on the shortcut on your desktop that you exported the registry to and everything will go back to the way it was before making changes.

You can no longer access the CD drive or the DVD drive, or you receive an error message after you remove a CD recording program or a DVD recording program in Windows XP: "error code 31" (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060)

The laser may be going bad.

Agree, if not a software issue, look at the hardware, If you have access to another DVD drive, see if that would be abe to burn in your machine to test out the hardware aspect

Well Try as Seahwk stated, in trying another dvd burner if you can, if another works than its something in your burner,

I seam to remember that once I had some major burning issues a few years back, and to fix I actually rolled back the firmware of the burner, did your problems come after an update? When you say a lens cleaner what type did you try?

If worse comes to worse, internal dvd burners are relatively cheap to replace and easy to do :)

What brand is the burner? Do you know the model #?

The laser may be going bad.

ashley velez agrees: :( I sure hope not
Hey, a DVD burner can be purchased for $20 if you just look around. Probably a LOT better use of your time than frustrating hours and hours away trying to get the old one to work.

Buy a new one, takes 10 minutes to install, and 10 minutes after that it's working. That's my recommendation.

It is HP DVD Writer 840b, I think it had light scribe too

Lightscribe is an AWESOME idea I never use. Media costs more and it takes a LONG time to scribe those label sides.

Unless you're an avid fan, I wouldn't fret losing that feature, too much. You can also buy a Lightscribe enabled replacement, it will just cost more.

Your best off just getting a new one, I think hp's won't let you roll back the firmware, but even a lightscribe burner is about 35 to 40$,, in anyevent getting a new one will most likely lead to a step up in burning speed. I've seen them as cheep as 25 after shipping so its not bad at all, just don't go to best buy or circuit city to buy it or replace,

Replacing is easy as cake :)

Turn off the power and pull the plug, make sure your using demagnitized phillips screwdiver.

Matter of taking off your side panels, unless your case is tool-less in which case its so easy, taking off front cover and squeezing the tabs pulling forward, and swap.

For a non tool-less just remove sides, take out the screws holding the burner inplace usually on each side, and swap and reverse to assemble.

See easy