[BillTanner]

I have a Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop running Windows XP Pro, SP2. It has a "QSI CDRW/DVD SBW-242" drive. I have been able to burn many CDs, saving family pictures taken with a digital camera. All of a sudden today Windows does not seem to recognize that the CD drive can write CDs. It plays a CD fine, so I can open a CD with pictures or that has a game on it and it runs fine.

However, now, if I insert a blank CD, I no longer get the pop-up window that asks if I want to open a writable CD folder, write files using Windows Media Player, or take no action. Nothing pops up. Also, if I select picture files on my hard drive in Windows Explorer, I no longer get the item on the left-side taskbar to Write These Files to CD. Also, if I right-click on the selected picture files, I no longer have an option in the Send To sub-menu to send the files to the blank CD.

If I try to click on the drive in Windows Explorer, I get an error message that says "D:/ is not accessible. Incorrect function." That is all it says, with just an OK button. Explorer will not display the empty conjtents of that blank CD.

I have looked in the Device Manager and all is well, no exclamation marks. I have looked for the latest drivers on the Dell and Microsoft websites, and I have the latest. I have rebooted several times, and tried several blank CDs. None of that works. Windows just will not recognize that I can write CDs anymore!

Nothing has changed in the computer from the last time I burned files. It plays CDs fine. I am at wit's end because this is the only way I can save all these photographs!

[Advertisements]

Start-> Run.
Type: services.msc.
Press <enter>.

Check if IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service StartupType is Manual.

[darth_ash]

Start-> Run.
Type: services.msc.
Press <enter>.

Check if IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service StartupType is Manual.

[BillTanner]

Yes, it is set to Manual. Should it not be? I tried switching back and forth to Automatic, starting and stopping the service, rebooting the computer. None of that made any difference. I reset it to Manual. What can I try next?

Thanks for the help!

[darth_ash]

Open "Device Manger" and uninstall the driver for the CD Drive.
Reboot windows so that Windows can install the driver again.

[BillTanner]

OK, I did that, and it uninstalled and reinstalled the driver without complaint. However, that did not fix the issue. Windows still gives that error message when clicking on a blank CD in Explorer, and it will not burn to a CD, or recognize when I put a blank CD in the drive, or show the menu options for sending to a blank CD.