My Mac won't burn CD's for me. Help?

the finger genius · Post by **the finger genius** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:39 pm

It looks like your internal drive is read only (they definitely did come that way on some G4s.)

I would try to find any software / drivers that go with the external burner and install before messing with the OS.

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:43 pm

I found this:
http://macosx.com/tech-support/mac/powe ... 24535.html
While Diskwarrior would represent an additional investment (and I won't guarantee that it will work for this issue), it is a good tool to have for OSX. I use it to repair my directories about once every two months.

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:47 pm

Also:
Apps>Utilities>System Profiler
Does it say "Disk Burning" under "Hardware". Try this also with your external hooked up.

PrettyMusic · Post by **PrettyMusic** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:53 pm

"Did he provide you with a copy of OSX?"

No, as mentioned in the original post, if he had supplied an OS disk I would have simply re-intalled. But I think he was afraid Apple would come get him.

the finger genius · Post by **the finger genius** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:54 pm

I did some more research, and your internal does appear to be a DVD recorder (in which case I can't imagine it wouldn't also take care of CDs, although its weird that nothing is listed next to CD-Write:)

Is there any reason you haven't upgraded the OS to 10.4.11?

also found this:

http://forums.support.roxio.com/lofiver ... 11709.html

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:58 pm

PrettyMusic wrote:But I think he was afraid Apple would come get him.

Also, copy my signature into an email and send it to him. Just on GP.

PrettyMusic · Post by **PrettyMusic** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:01 pm

the finger genius wrote:Is there any reason you haven't upgraded the OS to 10.4.11?

Been wary of spending more money. I'll look into that. Thanks for all your help, both of you.

So right now it looks like the internal burner writes DVD's but only reads CDs. Weird.

As for the external burner, the system profiler shows this:

QPS CD-R PX-W1210A:

Firmware Revision: 1.05
Interconnect: FireWire
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: No
CD-Write: -R, -RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO
Media: No

... which would seem to indicate the hardware and connections are good for writing to CD-R or CD-RW, but it isn't working, so apparently I have missing software... of unknown name.

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:05 pm

Updating to 10.4.11 is free. Just make sure you download the combo updater. I'm with TFG on this one: update.

the finger genius · Post by **the finger genius** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:13 pm

Yeah, only the major releases (like from 10.4 to 10.5) cost money. To upgrade from 10.4.9 to 10.4.11 (for free), just use the Software Updater in System Profile (sorry if I'm messing up the terminology, I don't have my mac in front of me.)

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:17 pm

the finger genius wrote:Yeah, only the major releases (like from 10.4 to 10.5) cost money. To upgrade from 10.4.9 to 10.4.11 (for free), just use the Software Updater in System Profile (sorry if I'm messing up the terminology, I don't have my mac in front of me.)

Sorry to quibble, but I'd advise going here:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/ ... teppc.html
to download the combo updater and run it from you hard drive.
Remote updating can be dicey.

PrettyMusic · Post by **PrettyMusic** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:55 pm

I updated as soon as I discovered it was free! Updated to OS 10.4.11 and updated i-Tunes to 8.

But I don't know if it fixed anything. The menus have changed in I-Tunes and now it's not showing my external CD burner like it was before the upgrade.

And when I select the "Burn Folder" on my desktop, and scroll down the File menu to "Burn disc..." it tells me to "insert a blank disc to begin." But there's already a blank disk in the external burner. I would say all this is making me crazy, except that life has already made me that way...

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:26 pm

Re-launch Disk Utility (Apps>Ulilites>Disk Utility) while you have the external connected. Does it show you anything?
Have you disconnected and then re-connected the external since you updated?
Maybe give it one more permissions repair post-update? I know folks who do it every time the add a new app.

PrettyMusic · Post by **PrettyMusic** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:44 pm

superaction80 wrote:Re-launch Disk Utility (Apps>Ulilites>Disk Utility) while you have the external connected. Does it show you anything?

In Disk Utility it only shows my 2 internal hard drives. Doesn't show the external CD burner or the internal burner (which is apparently DVD read/write and only able to read CD's.

superaction80 wrote:Have you disconnected and then re-connected the external since you updated?

Yes, no change.

superaction80 wrote:Maybe give it one more permissions repair post-update? I know folks who do it every time the add a new app.

Tried that, as you suggested. No change.

I don't know where to go from here. I think I'll shut down the computer for now and take a breather. I've been hacking away at this for seven hours in a row. Sheesh.

Dr Rubberfunk · Post by **Dr Rubberfunk** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 3:31 pm

PrettyMusic wrote:
the finger genius wrote:Is there any reason you haven't upgraded the OS to 10.4.11?
Been wary of spending more money. I'll look into that. Thanks for all your help, both of you.

So right now it looks like the internal burner writes DVD's but only reads CDs. Weird.

As for the external burner, the system profiler shows this:

QPS CD-R PX-W1210A:

Firmware Revision: 1.05
Interconnect: FireWire
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: No
CD-Write: -R, -RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO
Media: No

... which would seem to indicate the hardware and connections are good for writing to CD-R or CD-RW, but it isn't working, so apparently I have missing software... of unknown name.

Your external drive is a Plextor mechanism - might be worth updating the firmware - it's up to 1.10 : http://www.plextor.com/English/support/ ... _1210.html

I put a Plextor burner in my old beige G3, and I definitely updated the firmware, but I can't for the life of me remember how to do it I'm afraid. The Plextor download is a Windows .exe, but maybe it'll just run. Perhaps someone with more Firmware knowledge than me can help out at this point

PrettyMusic · Post by **PrettyMusic** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 2:53 pm

Thank you, Dr. Rubberfunk, and everyone else who tried to help.

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My Mac won't burn CD's for me. Help?

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