If you are having problems burning a CD or DVD, the problem is most likely not defective discs or a defective burner. It probably is related to something called "compatibility" between the 2 products - the disc and the burner. With each new model of burner or upgrade of disc technology, manufacturers of these products are continually changing the products. Sometimes this causes a compatibility issue between the products. One way to reduce or eliminate these problems is to update the burner "firmware".

All CD and DVD writers have firmware that contains basic operating instructions which enable it to write to the wide range of disc types in the marketplace. These instructions first tell the writer to identify the manufacturer and the speed capabilities of the disc. By referring to a look-up table, it finds specific writing instructions, then determines the optimum power level and other parameters needed to get the best recording quality for your disc.

Drive manufacturers test recordable CD and DVD media from all of the major disc makers. These sample discs are used to determine the optimum "writing strategy" that is best suited for each media type. The writing strategy governs laser power and the on/off speed needed to optimize writing quality. In addition to using the lookup table, the optimal writing power is determined for that disc when the drive does a "test write" to a non-user area of the disc. After test writing, the drive can finally "burn" or write your picture, data, music, or other file to your disc in the form of marks on the disc that ultimately are the 1s and 0s of your digital information.

If the firmware in the drive is incomplete or outdated, it may not record at the top rated speed and even the best media may not produce acceptable recording quality. Sometimes the burner cannot write to the disc at all because it cannot find an appropriate set of instructions in the look up table.

The process of updating your burner's firmware is a simple one. All you have to do is get the brand and model number of the burner in your computer. This is typically either on the door of the burner or in the written information that came with your computer. Then go to the manufacturer's website and look for firmware updates. If you have trouble locating the firmware update section, type "firmware updates" in the search function of the website. Then simply find your burner model and download that firmware version to your computer. Then when you next attempt to burn a disc, it should work at the optimum capability of the drive and media.

To assist you with the process - we have collected the website URLs of the major drive manufacturers for you and they are shown below. Simply click on the manufacturers name and the hotlink will take you directly to the manufacturer's web site.

Click on the links below to go to sites providing the most recent firmware upgrades.

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