Burning dvd's

[green_ninja_mackdaddy]

I can't state how pissed I am right now at my dvd burner. For the past 2 days I have been trying to burn my photos that I took for a job onto a dvd. Well so far nothing has worked.
When I got the first set of dvd's I got the dvd-r ones cause that's what the front of the burner says it is. When I put the discs in it said there was nothing there. I tried that with 10 of them. So I went back to Office Depot and switched them out with dvd+rw. Figured I might as well get the rw just to be sure so I can reuse.
So I put them in and at first it would read that it was there and start to burn but after about 15 seconds it stopped and said there was a problem. I tried this with another 10 and same thing happened.
Figured my drive was dirty so I go spend 12 bucks on a cleaner that don't work and is not even being read either. Can't take that back so now I'm out the 12 bucks.
I start to think my burner is dead so I put in a cd-rw and it works fine. Burned and ereased and burned again.
So I head back to Office Depot today and switch yet again from dvd+rw to dvd-r again but instead of getting the store brand like I did before I got the name brand that went from 8 bucks to 25 bucks.
Guess what, not burning either. It's says that there is no disc in.
So my question is does anyone know what might be causeing this problem?
I"m going to take these dvds back yet again and switch for dvd+r but considering that the +rw didn't work and the -r didn't I don't know how much of a difference the +r will make. So if you got some tips let me know.

[theperfectwave]

what's the model of the burner like make & model, & what are you using software wise

[green_ninja_mackdaddy]

Not sure what type the burner is, came with the computer, it's a compaq. And the software I'm using is Record Now.

[theperfectwave]

mmm yeah i'd make sure your driver is up to date for the burner & the software is up to date for starters

to find out your burner model number just go to start -> control panel -> system -> hardware (tab at top) -> device manager -> dvd/cd-rom drives
it should be listed there..unless you're on an apple/linux which case i don't know well enough to help

to make sure you're up to date check which version of record now you have which should be under help -> about & then you can download the update from the link below

http://www.roxio.com/enu/support/software_updates/default.html

[green_ninja_mackdaddy]

It's a HP dvd writer 300c.

Ok I just tried the update for it and I got a popup saying that the original software has to be installed before the update can be done.

[cariosity]

did you try going to compaq's or hp's site to download the original drivers for your machine?

[theperfectwave]

from what i read your burner only burns DVD+R & DVD+RW as far as burning DVDs are concerned..if it's saying it needs the original software installed first then you'll probably have to either find the disc that came with the drive (unlikely since you said it was bundled with the system) or get the software installation from one of the recovery discs (not the system recovery disc but the application recovery disc) & if you can't find that you can order the installation disc off of hp's website i think it's like $9 or $10 & then maybe more depending on how fast you want it to get there (shipping costs)

[green_ninja_mackdaddy]

Thanks for the help. I took back the other thing of dvds and got the dvd+r and they are working. On my second try I tried the dvd+rw but they didn't work and I had tried the store brand of dvd+r and they didn't work. That's why I went with the -r. But this time I got the name brand of +r and they are working, knock on wood.

[theperfectwave]

glad i could help