New CD/DVD - need driver

[JimL]

Running XP Pro, SP3. I got a new 39T2851 CD/DVD reader/writer. It comes up in the software with only one speed on the pick list - 4x. I'm assuming I need a better driver than the one provided by XP. But how do I get it?

I've Googled all over and the word "driver" seems always to be synonymous with the word "drive." So now I have a new CD/DVD driver in the Slimline bay! (You should see the moon rising over Slimline Bay!)

One hit took me to Lenovo who seems to have most pages marked "Cannot be displayed." At least that is the case with their Downloads page and several others. Is this another hacker's dream day?

Suggestions? Demands? New car orders?

JimL

[RealBlackStuff]

Go into Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager and uninstall the new drive.
Under "View" tick 'Show hidden devices'. You may find your old drive there. Uninstall that too.
Then reboot, XP will install afresh and hopefully work now.
There are no specific CD/DVD drivers other than the XP-provided one.

[sktn77a]

Well, burning software kinda is the "driver". When you say speed, are you trying to burn a DVD? This may be the fastest you can get with a DVD on that drive (despite its 8x for DVR-R). If it's saying this for a CD, it may just not be reporting the speed correctly.

[rkawakami]

According to what I found, the Re-write speed for that drive is 4X (DVD+RW, DVD-RW). For -R or +R it's supposed to go up to 8X. With the various DVD burners that I've installed in a T23, there's been no need to update any Windows drivers. I believe that the burning engine you are using, be it the one built into Windows or a third-party program such as Nero, is what matters. What "software" are you using and what disk (if any) is loaded in the drive at the time?

[dr_st]

Burning speed depends a lot on the compatibility between the burning program and the CD.

E.g., I've seen some situations where you couldn't get a 16X burner to burn 8X media at 8X - it would only burn at 2X. But 16X burnt at 16X just fine.

[sjthinkpader]

The Nero InfoTool can tell you the type of disc and the maximum speed supported by the drive. This is a standalone utility.

[JimL]

Go into Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager and uninstall the new drive.

Just repeated that. No change.

Thanks

[JimL]

Well, burning software kinda is the "driver". When you say speed, are you trying to burn a DVD? This may be the fastest you can get with a DVD on that drive (despite its 8x for DVR-R). If it's saying this for a CD, it may just not be reporting the speed correctly.

Two different burner programs say 4x. That is for CD/RW which specs say is 8x.

Thanks

[JimL]

According to what I found, the Re-write speed for that drive is 4X (DVD+RW, DVD-RW). For -R or +R it's supposed to go up to 8X. With the various DVD burners that I've installed in a T23, there's been no need to update any Windows drivers. I believe that the burning engine you are using, be it the one built into Windows or a third-party program such as Nero, is what matters. What "software" are you using and what disk (if any) is loaded in the drive at the time?

I have MagicISO and CDBurnerXP Pro 3.

I'm using Maxell CD-RW 700 mb. It doesn't show a speed rating. I hadn't thought of the media limiting that. That's probably the problem.

Thanks

[rkawakami]

Found the official IBM specs here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-67919 I had originally thought that you were referring to DVD speeds, that's why I quoted the DVD+RW/-RW specs (which turns out to be 6X according to IBM). The listed speed for CD-RW is from 4X to 16X ("Ultra speed media") so it does matter what type of disk is installed.

A newer version of CDBurnerXP is available: http://cdburnerxp.se/