My computer was build in 2000 and has a P4 processor. It came with Windows Millenium and I upgraded it to XP. It originally had a DC-Rom writer and a DVD drive. I upgraded the CD ROM writer to a DVD Writer. Model is AOPEN DUW 1608/ARR. I am not able to have the Windows recognize the drive accurately. In the bios correctly reads this drive as the master with the correct model number. On the 'My Computer" field, the drive still shows up as a CD drive. When I click on properties the correct drive's model number is displayed. I have reinstalled the driver and I have gone to the manufacturere and dowloaded the updates and re-installed. Somehow the original setting from the computer's manufacturer show up each time I reboot. However, the BIOS is set correctly.

Any suggestions please?

Are you having a problem with the drive, other than the name?

Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

XP sometimes doesn't recognize a DVD drive as a DVD drive when you first install it - it sees it as a plain CD drive.

Go to Device Manager
- IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers

- open up the Properties of (double click on) the Channel the DVD drive is attached to - Primary Channel or Secondary Channel
- select the Advanced Settings tab

- you will probably find the the position the DVD drive is attached to is in PIO mode.
Click on the down "arrow" on the right of the Transfer Mode box, select DMA if Available.
Click OK.
Open up the same Channel again - the DVD drive should now be in Ultra DMA Mode 2, or similar - anything but PIO mode.

You may have to reboot to have the rest of Windows recognize the drive as a DVD drive.

It may be labelled as a DVD Rom drive, even though it's a burner - that's okay - it will work as a burner, if you have burner software installed.
......

If it won't come out of PIO mode, it is because Windows detected a problem with the drive or its connection to the computer and has forced it into PIO mode. Further info avaialable for that situation.

Thanks for all the prompt replies. It’s very much appreciated. The problem persists.

This drive works perfectly well burning and playing CD ROMs. I followed the advice of Tubesandwires and the drive was correctly set after I had run the driver install routine again. As soon as I reboot the computer it goes back to the CD ROM setting.

Even when 'CD' is showing abefore the drive letter in Explorer and I go into the Device Manager, both drives shows as 'Transfer Mode' as 'DMA mode, if awailable' and in the box "Current Transfer Mode": it states "Ultra DMA Mode 5". I also note that the Device Type: is greyed out and shows as "Auto Detect" for both devises.

I tried to copy a picture file (.jpg) to this drive to see it it works anyway and I got a Problem Box as Follows:

Problem Copying. Windows encountered a problem when trying to copy this file. What do you want windows to do? This is followed by the file name and information. Nothing wrong with the files

I went to “my computer” looked at the CD Rom Drive and at the drivers. It shows the following device driver for this device: COWINDOWS.000\system32\DRIVERS\cdrom.sys by Microsoft Corp. And all that despite the fact that I have downloaded and installed the driver several times.

I also took out the drive to confirm the model number from the label and checked the physical connections. It works as CD drive anyway. The jumpers are set to master and in the bios it is set as devise 0. (teh other drive is device 1)

This is the second DVD drive I purchased. The first one did not work properly either, but I thought that must be a device problem and so I returned it to the company and bought a different model, this AOPEN.

I am truly perplexed with this issue….

"As soon as I reboot the computer it goes back to the CD ROM setting."

It should not do that after it has been corrected in Device Mangaer as I described.

That can indicate any or all of several things. The two most likely are:
- you don't have the proper chipset drivers loaded for your mboard, and Windows is "confused" about the capabilities of your IDE/ATAPI controllers. Windows XP Setup does a pretty good job of detecting what is needed for a mboard, but on it's own it may not correctly determine all the features and correct settings it should use for your mboard, especially if the release of Windows you have is older or not a lot newer than when the mboard was released. After you run XP Setup, or any Windows Setup, you should always load the correct chipset drivers for your mboard. If you haven't done that, or if you're not sure whether you did that, load the chipset drivers for your mboard - in your case the best place to get those is the Intel web site. (since you also had a problem with another DVD burner, this is most likely your problem)
- you have a problem with the data cable the DVD drive is attached to or it's connections. If Windows determines there is a data transfer problem with the drive, it will reset the hard or CD/DVD drive to PIO mode - when that has happened enough times, it will change lines in the Registry so that the PIO mode is locked. The data cable for a CD or DVD drive can have either 40 or 80 wires - if a hard drive that is capable of UDMA 66 (ultra DMA mode 4 in XP) or higher is on the same data cable, the cable must have 80 wires. Open up your case and make sure the data cable connectors for the drive are well seated, the cable has no gaps between the cable and each connector - if it does press the cable against the connector to eliminate the gap - and that there are no broken or damaged wires in the cable, which usually occur at the connectors or under the clamps there, at the edges of the cable. If in doubt try another data cable.

Much less likely - there is something else wrong with your Windows installation.
e.g. DVD playback synchronization of sound and video requires a stable audio clock, and audio drivers that work well with the DVD playback. If you have problems with DVD playback such that the sound and video are out of sync, and/or the video or sound is too fast or too slow, you may need to update sound drivers, or get a sound card or a different sound card.

"...both drives shows as 'Transfer Mode' as 'DMA mode, if awailable' and in the box "Current Transfer Mode": it states "Ultra DMA Mode 5". "

Ultra DMA Mode 5 would be the setting of a hard drive. CD or DVD drives cannot transfer data that fast - the fastest I have seen for them is Ultra DMA Mode 2 (33mb per second).

"I also note that the Device Type: is greyed out and shows as "Auto Detect" for both devises."

Nothing wrong there - that is the normal situation.

"I tried to copy a picture file (.jpg) to this drive to see it it works anyway and I got a Problem Box as Follows:

Problem Copying. Windows encountered a problem when trying to copy this file. What do you want windows to do? This is followed by the file name and information. Nothing wrong with the files"

What was the additional error info Windows may have displayed with that error?

In order to copy to a burnable CD or DVD you must be using a CD or DVD type that is compatible with your burner, and have some kind of burning software installed. Whether you can just copy a file in Windows to a burnable disc without opening the burning program directly varies - sometimes you must use the burning program directly. Some brands of CD or DVD burner drives are more particular (fussy) about which types and brands of blank media that you use - you may need to try a different type or brand of blank media. Some burning software is only for burning CD's, and can't be used for burnable DVD's. DVD burning software has much greater minimum system requirements than CD burning software does - it appears your cpu speed, if it is 1.5 ghz, exceeds the minimum, but you must have enough ram, and enough free hard drive space (up to 10gb or so, in addition to what is reasonable free space for Windows itself to run properly) in order for the DVD burning software to work properly.

"...It shows the following device driver for this device: COWINDOWS.000\system32\DRIVERS\cdrom.sys by Microsoft Corp. And all that despite the fact that I have downloaded and installed the driver several times."

You don't need any special driver for a CD or DVD drive - the Microsoft one Windows installs should work fine. I have no idea what driver you are talking about that you downloaded.
It is the burning software you install that makes it capable of being used as a burner drive.
......

A remote possibilty is there is a jumper setting on some burner drives that enables DMA mode for the CD (or DVD?) burner - if the jumper is not set to enable DMA, it will not work in DMA mode, or it will not work properly in DMA mode. As far as I have seen, only some older CD burners that can't burn DVD's have such a jumper, and those will still burn cd's with the DMA mode jumper in the disabled position.

Hello Tubesandwires

Thank you very much for your help. My problem is now solved and my faith in kind strangers is restored.

As you suggested, my solution was twofold. I went to the Intel site and they had a newer set for my motherboard and I downloaded it and installed it according to instruction.

Secondly, I was under the mistaken impression that I could simply drag files in the Windows Explorer onto the drive icon and they would then be written, like it was for the CD ROM burner. That will never work with this motherboard and I needed to install additional software, as you mentioned. There was an original OEM software disk supplied for Nero Express. After I had updated my motherboard, this program worked flawlessly and I already backed up my data files on DVDs.

I guess my motherboard was just a little to early for the home use of the DVD burners. When I got it, it was the very latest, top of the line, 1.5 GHZ Pentium 4 processor. With the latest available OS, ME. Time flies and now it is almost legacy.

Thanks again for your kind assistance!

I'm glad to hear your problem is solved.
Thanks for tying up this thread.

It doesn't matter whether your mboard is older or newer as long as your cpu speed, the amount of ram you have installed, and the hard drive free space are at least the minimum required for the DVD burner. XP Home and XP Pro don't come with the capability of you being being able to copy files to a burnable disk; XP Media Edition has basic software included that allows you to do that.
Once you have installed burning software, as I said before....
"Whether you can just copy a file in Windows to a burnable disc without opening the burning program directly varies - sometimes you must use the burning program directly."