Sony CRX 230E Is Doing My Head In

[anniel]

I have a new PC..Hurrah! It is an Evesham operating XP Home.

The Sony CRX was OEM and my first job was to transfer some MP3s and other data files that I had written on my old PC using Adaptec Direct CD, which had been bundled with my old Sony CD Writer on the previous PC.

Problem is the new CD writer could not recognise the disc, nor others I had recently made. It did recognise some much older CDRs I tried.

I had done the job properly, so it was not the case that they had not been finished and closed.

I went out and bought a couple of Maxell XL-11s, which the guy in the shop said were up to the job and put one of them into the drive to try to write to it....no recognition. There seems to be an intermittent problem.

Has anyone any solution to this problem as I am having no joy with the techies at Evesham.

Please help..I am getting desperate. I am sure you will have gathered I am not particularly technical...I just try!

[Ian]

So let me get this straight, you're trying to read some discs you had written to using Direct CD? I don't suppose you remember what version of Direct CD you had, do you?

Windows XP should be able to read UDF formatted discs without any sort of client. However, I'm not sure how compatible it is with older UDF formats.

[anniel]

I bought my last PC in 1999-2000 , so it was a reasonably old edition. My Sony writer was a CRX 145E and wrote quite slowly!

Does this info. help?

[CDRecorder]

You probably had DirectCD 2.x or 3.x. What is the speed rating on your old CD-RW discs?

[anniel]

I looked it up..the speed was 10X4X32.

I have just tried to burn a disc using Nero (because I read that ir installed an ASPI layer?, which is good on XP)...but needless to say it did not work.

Failed to recognise the CD in the drive.

[CDRecorder]

I assume that you mean that the new drive wouldn't burn, correct?

If so, it sounds to me like your new CD-RW drive is defective and needs to be replaced.

[anniel]

I have now managed to convince Evesham Computers that the CD Writer is defective and They are coming next Monday to install a new one!

I just wish it was not another Sony. Do you know how well the CRX 230 is rated?

[Ian]

Do you know how well the CRX 230 is rated?

It's based on the Lite-On LTR-52327S. Good drive IMO.

[CDRecorder]

I agree; I have two LTR-52327S drives, and they're really good.

[anniel]

The engineer came..said that the laser on the CD Writer was "on its way out" and simply installed a new writer and got it working.

I am puzzled as to how a Sony CD Writer on a new PC could be "on its way out"

I am totally untechnical and rely on good quality hardware/software that works and am prepared to pay for it. Is my problem common?

I read through all the threads and realise that I am, most probably, your least knowledgeable member, so I crave your indulgence if my questions seem to be simplistic, but then the test of a clever person is the ability to explain complex matters in simple terms!

If you accept my lack of knowledge, I will be back with more questions...like where in central London do I buy CDRs that will burn on a 52X24X52. So far I have only seen bog standard Sony, Maxell and Philips ones.

[CDRecorder]

I'm glad it's working now. It sounds like your drive was just defective, which, while not common, does happen occasionally. It's nothing to worry about.

We'll be happy to answer any more of your questions; please don't hesitate to ask a question just because it might seem "simplistic". After all, we were all newbies once!

Unfortunately, I can't give advice on where you can get good CD-Rs in London, though, as I live in the U.S. However, Maxell discs should work well for you, so if they are available, you shouldn't have any problems.