How can I diagnose what's up with this DVD+RW drive?

[Guest]

Hello,
I am trying to help a friend with his Dell XPS 400 desktop. He has recently added a second hard drive, My Computer lists the new drive as "C" and the old drive as "F".
I added the above info because I don't know if it is important to resolve his problem with his DVD+RW drive. What I have learned about the drive thus far as it is listed as being in "Location 1". He has a second drive, a DVD-ROM, listed as "Location 0". Also, Device Manager is callling this drive's manufacturer "Standard CD rom". The drive is actually a "HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GSA-H21N".
This drive will recognize a CD, but will not see a DVD, much less burn one. Is this because Windows xp is considering this just a CD Rom? Do I need to change this somewhere? I have pasted the driver info from Device Manager below...don't know if this is helpful or not.
My suggestion was for him to cough up less than 30 bucks and buy another burner. He can't be convinced to do so.
Any advice most greatly appreciated.
IDE\CdRomHL-DT-ST_DVD+-RW_GSA-H21N_______________B109____
IDE\HL-DT-ST_DVD+-RW_GSA-H21N_______________B109____
IDE\CdRomHL-DT-ST_DVD+-RW_GSA-H21N_______________
HL-DT-ST_DVD+-RW_GSA-H21N_______________B109____
GenCdRom

 

[dokk2]

Hello,
I am trying to help a friend with his Dell XPS 400 desktop. He has recently added a second hard drive, My Computer lists the new drive as "C" and the old drive as "F".
I added the above info because I don't know if it is important to resolve his problem with his DVD+RW drive. What I have learned about the drive thus far as it is listed as being in "Location 1". He has a second drive, a DVD-ROM, listed as "Location 0". Also, Device Manager is callling this drive's manufacturer "Standard CD rom". The drive is actually a "HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GSA-H21N".
This drive will recognize a CD, but will not see a DVD, much less burn one. Is this because Windows xp is considering this just a CD Rom? Do I need to change this somewhere? I have pasted the driver info from Device Manager below...don't know if this is helpful or not.
My suggestion was for him to cough up less than 30 bucks and buy another burner. He can't be convinced to do so.
Any advice most greatly appreciated.
IDE\CdRomHL-DT-ST_DVD+-RW_GSA-H21N_______________B109____
IDE\HL-DT-ST_DVD+-RW_GSA-H21N_______________B109____
IDE\CdRomHL-DT-ST_DVD+-RW_GSA-H21N_______________
HL-DT-ST_DVD+-RW_GSA-H21N_______________B109____
GenCdRom

OK,, First things first, go to,,, My computer/Control panel/Administrative tools/Computer management/Disk Management, and therein arrange the drives accordingly C drive first then D and so on and so forth,you can assign any drive letter you want to any drive after the primary hdd the C drive,,,, the primary hdd will always be "0" and so too will the primary [first] dvd/cd,,as to why thr dvd is not working properly I don't have a clue, if it is properly plugged in,,,you guys could try it in another system, and if it dosen't work there,,well,,,,,.

 

[aford10]

Go to my computer-->right click on the DVD drive that's not burning-->properties-->make sure recording is enabled.

If that doesn't solve the issue, try deleting the upper and lower filters.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982116

If that doesn't work, try running this Fixit scan.
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cd_dvd_drive_problems