DVD writing fails on Ubuntu

[thedaylights]

I have been trying to burn DVDs with my external DVD burner. It is a USB Multiburner 3. I'm running Ubuntu 7.10, and I've used both Brasero and K3B software to write. I get an input/output error message. This is a fairly common problem - there is a thread dedicated to it on the Ubuntu community forum, but no solution. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=652740

So I decided to post here. Anybody have any idea? Is it the blank disc I'm using? (Sony) Or the fact that I'm using an external burner? Both the discs and Multiburner functioned fine under Windows XP.

[lightweight]

Can you mount a disk, and if so, are you also successful burning CDR/W? Perhaps the problem is not DVD burning specifically but rather something like /dev/dvd not being symlinked to the correct device.