DVD-RW drive reverting to CD-RW ... perplexing !!

[hayseed4]

I have a perplexing problem that's driving me crazy !! I have a I/O Magic Dual Format Double Layer drive (IDID16DL) installed as my only CD/DVD drive. I have not used the DVD RW portion of it in quite a while, and now cannot get ti to write a DVD data disk. When I bring up Windows Explorer it shows as "DVD-RW Drive (E:)" ... when I insert a blank DVD disk after about 20 seconds the Windows Explorer line changes to say "CD Drive (E:)". If I attempt to write data to it I get the popup that says the disk is either full or not writeable.
Does anyone out there have any idea what's going on ??
By-the-way ... it does the same thing with two other CD/DVD-RW drives.
I'm running the latest Windows XP Pro.

[Midknyte]

What program are you using to burn discs? Nero?

[hayseed4]

Thanks for the reply !!
I don't get to the point where I need Nero ... I don't have to have any program running other than Windows Explorer. All I have to do is insert a blank DVD into the drive and I get the change from "DVD-RW..." to "CD Drive..." take the disk out and it reverts back. If I do try to write a data DVD I use something simple like Windows Explorer (just copy the files to the DVD drive then right click on the drive then select "write...".

[Midknyte]

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpcd.php

This burning method is strictly for CD media only. There is no support at all in the inbuilt burning for burning DVD media.

Use Nero or whatever came with the drive to burn your DVDs.

[hayseed4]

When I try to use the Nero that came with the DVD drive it only allows me to write to an image file ... cannot get it to recognize that I have a DVD drive installed ... the DVD drive does not show up in the "Chose Recorder" selection panel. If I chose "Autodetect CDROM..." it is unable to detect the DVD drive.

[BipolarBill]

The DVD burning laser is shot or dirty.

[hayseed4]

I uninstalled Nero then reinstalled it ... problem with Nero went away !! Now can write DVD's with Nero ... wooopie !! I had two problems ... one mine (didn't know DVD's could not be written from Windows Explorer) and one with Nero coruption.
... thanks !!