CD Burner Related Issues (need advice)

[Louer Adun]

I would consider myself a computer guro, but I am completely stumped on this one. I have a generic CD-R/RW ripped out of a dell dimension 4800 (I think) a sumsung something or other, but anyways, I don't think the drive is the issue. The drive was working fine up until a week ago... I suddenly started recieving a CD Drive in use from any program I tried to burn a cd with. And yes ive tried them all. Every program has its own way of telling me the CD drive is in use but that seems to be the error.

Is there a utility I can use to see what program is using the drive... My CD burner is vitaly important, but a format is not warranted, so PLEASE do not post telling me to format or try some other cd burner. Nothing works. Windows XP's own built in CD burning doesn't work.

I have also tried uninstalling every piece of software using the burner (that I know of) deleted all remaining subdirectories, deleted all the registry entries which I have found for those burning apps. All in vain. Some help please.

[LooseChippings]

If there is a program / application using the drive you should be able to see it in Task Manager.

Ctrl + Alt + Delete > Applications & Processes.

If you cannot find the culprit in either of those try this ...

Shutdown > Disconnect the Data & Power Cables from the back of the drive > Boot the PC > Shutdown > Reconnect the cables > Boot the PC.

[Louer Adun]

I have allready tried ctrl-alt-delete and killing every process (except the vital system processes) and I'm going to go ahead and dissconnect the drive and reboot, I'll let you know what happens.

[Louer Adun]

No change im still having the same problem. I removed everything from my device manager beforehand (including hidden devices) and it had the same problem.