hello all -

as many of you already know, i'm out of town staying with my mom and getting medical help right now.

i'm trying to help her get her older dell demension b110 in somewhat of a working order. she used only has one CD drive and it is a burner as well.

she used to be able to copy audio cd's with it using a program that came with the pc called SONIC DIGITAL MEDIA LE V7 -
now, it will only copy the audio info to the hard drive, and then not be able to BURN the cd.

So i downloaded what i thought was a new free version of this program from DELL, un-installed all the components of her original version and tried to install the new version. turns out what i downloaded was an UPDATE, NOT a full version, so now i cant install it back on her system at all. she is very frustrated with me right now - DOH!

i saw a reference to a FREE program called CD BURNER XP PRO so i downloaded it and installed it on her system. same thing as the 1st program, it copies the audio cd info to the hard drive but will NOT BURN THE DISC!

ARGHH(!*@&(^&**!^!!!!

anyone have any suggestions as to get ahold of a FULL FREE version of SONIC DIGITAL MEDIA LE V7? it came pre-installed on her system, so she doesnt have an installation cd.

OR, any suggestions as to WHY it will get the audio data to the hard drive, but wont BURN THE CD?

OR - any REALLY SIMPLE (my moom is 64 and doesnt know much about computers yet...) and 100% FREE recommendations as to another AUDIO CD copying program compatible with an older dell pc running windows xp service pack 3. it doesnt even need to do to anything else but copy audio cd's using one cd drive.

ANY help is SO MUCH appreciated!
THANKS!

JUNEBUG

I use ImgBurn on XP SP3, it's free and very good. I hope it works for you:

http://www.imgburn.com/

Are you able to burn anything atall on it? Maybe the cd writer is faulty?

Another thought, some CDs are copy protected.

hello again -

do you guys think it's more likely that the blank cd's have gone bad by sitting in a un-heated and un-air-conditioned room, or that the cd burner itself has gone bad from the same reason.

she has the pc AND the blank cd's in a room that gets hot during the day/summers and cold at night/winters. it's been that way for quite a few years now...

which is more likely do you think?
the discs being bad or the burner?

i guess we could try buying a BRAND NEW blank cdr and trying that, her CD/DVD drive works fine except for burning. but i've found that the problem is that it just doesnt READ the blank cd's when we put them in - it keep saying there is no cd in the drive...

??
thoughts?

JUNEBUG

here is another free option - http://www.imgburn.com/

maybe look for an updated firmware for the drive?

It sounds like the burner itself isn't being recognized, so it's just burning a 'disc image', onto the hard drive instead. Which could mean a dead burner, or maybe it just needs the driver reinstalled.

i was going to say that the ASPI used to get messed up, but that is for XP - unless this pc is still using xp? sometimes the ASPI driver layer would get messed up - simple adaptec driver update can be in order..

yes, it's still using xp, how do i update the ASPI driver?

THANKS!
JUNEBUG

Maybe buy another copy of the CD ? It's ok to not steal audio work.

hello -
we're not trying to steal audiowork...
she just wants to be able to make back -up copies of some of her cd's for use in the car is all....

JUNEBUG

i think you just install this - http://download.cnet.com/Adaptec-ASPI-Drivers-Windows-98-Me- NT-2000-XP/3000-2098_4-10161912.html

Don't know if this will help in this case, but have you tried system restore ?
Then try the update.

thanks for the suggestion - i downloaded and installed, re-booted but it's still sating no disc whenever i try to burn ANYTHING.
i'm pretty sure at this point that the burner part of her cd drive is broken somehow...
SHEESH!!

JUNEBUG