HELP! Burner not working. Acckkk!!!

[sondra_lewis1]

I have a Gateway E-4000 and I am running Windows XP. I don't know why but all of a sudden I can't burn cds. Both my drives (cd and dvd) do not show up in Windows Media Player when I'm trying to burn. I get an error message that I need to insert a cd into the drive. I have tried changing the disc in case it was faulty. This is a brand new pack of Memorex cdrs. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers for both drives. Oh, and btw, the drives read cds just fine. I can do everything but burn.

[Disk_Contented]

Are the drives using DMA?

[sondra_lewis1]

At the risk of exposing my ignorance , what is DMA?

[MrBeatnik]

Originally Posted by sondra_lewis1

At the risk of exposing my ignorance , what is DMA?

DMA (Direct memory access) mode is a high performance mode for transferring data to and from CD and DVD burner devices.

Right click "MY COMPUTER" and select Properties.
Select HARDWARE tab. Go to DEVICE MANAGER.
Find your IDE ATA/ATAPI controlers.
- There may be a lot in here.
Find the Primary and Secondary IDE Channels and go to the properties.
Click ADVANCED SETTINGS tab.
Ensure that "DMA IF AVAILABLE" is set on the "Transfer Mode" sections.

[sondra_lewis1]

OK, since I don't even have an "Advanced" button I'm gonna guess that I don't have DMA.

[jaklawson]

Hi there my 1st post here!!! actually DMA stands for Direct Memory Access -- transferring the content of the memory to a I/O device (or back) without using the processor. Hope that helps.. Jack