My recently-acquired (used) Optorite DD0405 DVD-RW won't read or write to DVD+Rs or DVD-Rs... The firware is 140E and I can't find a download for 150E anywhere, except for the Dangerous Brothers PRC1 firmware. The only DVDs it seems to pick up is pre-recorded video DVDs. I wondered if it was lacking a suitable DVD decoder so installed K-Lite codec pack and Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility reports my OS now has Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD8) MPEG-2 decoder installed and set as the preferred decoder. Nero Info tool picks up the drive OK but just keeps saying 'no disc inserted' for blank DVDs (blank CD-Rs are OK) CDBurner XP seems to pick up blank DVDs but the Disc Information says the disc is empty yet has no free space! Again CD-Rs are OK. Any help please???

i had that make model dvd writer (bought new a few years ago). It came with 150 firmware but did not work right so i changed it to 140 firmware. That advice was on the buyers reviews on www.ebuyer.com where I bought it from. I got the firmware from the makers website, and it made it work right. But the drive failed after less than 2 years, it got worse and worse at detecting discs (in spite of dismantling and cleaning). I had not even used it very much. Anyway, based on my experience 140 firmware was better than 150 but the drive totally failed at an early stage. All of which will not inspire you with confidence of success.