Cannot Burn DVDs on External Burner

[Lawrence H. Bulk]

Using Hardy or Intrepid, I had no problem copying CDs or DVDs using my external CD/DVD drive. In Jaunty I still have no problem COPYING them; my computer instantly recognizes my external drive with the included media.

I had effected a network upgrade from Intrepid to Jaunty and, after that upgrade, while I could still burn CDs (data and audio) with the external drive, I could no longer burn DVDs. I was forced to use the computer's internal drive to do that and, using the internal drive, the discs burned perfectly.

Thinking there was some error in my upgrade, I "wiped" the computer with DBAN and, with the official disc sent to me by Ubuntu, I effected a totally clean install. I reconfigured my computer with programs installed from the Synaptic Package Manager (with three exceptions - MP3Splt, Ubuntu Tweak, and PeaZip which were installed from web sites as Debian packages; I also have two programs installed under Wine. All of these programs, with the exception of MP3Splt, were also installed on my computer when I was running Hardy and Intrepid and MP3Splt was NOT installed in Jaunty when I first noticed this anomaly). Brasero and k3b are the latest supported versions.

But the problem persists: though the computer recognizes that there is a blank DVD in the external drive, neither k3b nor Brasero recognize the drive nor can they write to it.

As I stated, this never happened in Hardy or Intrepid. Is anyone else experiencing the same or a similar problem? Can it be fixed/corrected in Jaunty?

I have an Acer Extensa 5620-6419 with an Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 processor and 3 GB DDR2.

[Lawrence H. Bulk (lhbcomm)]

This bug has been open for a couple of weeks now; is there no one who can help with this or at least post some information?

[Lawrence H. Bulk (lhbcomm)]

I use K3b primarily but Brasero will not function either.

[Lawrence H. Bulk (lhbcomm)]

A member suggested that I provide more information.

The external burner I use is a CompUSA private brand machine; it shows up as either < DVD DW 8X16X8X16 > or < ATAPI_DVD_DW_8X16X8X16_DEF10C934IED-0:0 >.

When I insert a regular audio (music) CD or a regular video (movie) DVD into this external drive, the icon appears on my desktop and I can play the disc and also "rip" it with, in the case of the CD, Sound Juicer Audio CD Extractor and, in the case of the DVD, k9copy.

In other words, playing and "ripping" proceed normally using this external drive.

When I insert a blank CD to which I wish to burn music, the external drive is recognized by K3b and burning proceeds normally.

However, when I wish to burn a movie and I insert a blank DVD (DVD+R) into this external drive, though the icon for this Blank DVD+R appears on my desktop, neither K3b nor Brasero recognizes the drive.

It's as though it were not connected to my computer (though it is!).

When I put the same blank DVD into my computer's internal CD/DVD drive, the Blank DVD+R icon likewise appears on my desktop but then K3b DOES in fact recognize the (internal) drive and I can burn to it.

In other words, I can burn a DVD with my internal drive but I cannot do so with the external drive. CDs, however, present no problems along this line.

This problem has appeared only in Jaunty; when I used Hardy and, later, Intrepid, I had no such problem.

I hope someone else can duplicate this (or at least explain it) and I certainly hope it can be fixed, if not in Jaunty, then certainly in Karmic. Thank you.

I hope the above information is sufficient for someone to attempt to fix this problem but PLEASE - should any further information be required, do not hesitate to contact me. Thanks again.

[Lawrence H. Bulk (lhbcomm)]

To whom should this bug be assigned? Thanks for any help.

[Lawrence H. Bulk (lhbcomm)]

I just tried using an HP dvd640 external USB CD/DVD burner. I had the exact same results as with the CompUSA burner described above.

Using either of these burners:

(1) I can play and/or copy a CD

(2) I can burn to a blank CD

(3) I can play and/or copy a DVD

(4) But I CANNOT burn to a blank DVD. I MUST use the computer's internal CD/DVD drive to burn to a blank DVD.

Before Ubuntu 9.04 'Jaunty Jackalope' I had no problem doing ALL four of the processes; now, using 'Jaunty,' I can do only the first three of them with my external USB CD/DVD burner.

I prefer using K3b to burn discs but the DVD burning problem occurs with Brasero as well.

It is obvious to me that the external USB CD/DVD burner is not the problem; the problem lies in 'Jaunty.'

I'd certainly like to know what the problem is and if there is some way that it can be fixed.

Can ANYONE help?

Lawrence

[Lawrence H. Bulk (lhbcomm)]

The "Karmic" upgrade fixed the 'bug.' This was a strange one - and I am quite surprised that it was never addressed in "Jaunty." But, in any case, it has now been corrected and I can burn DVDs as well as CDs with an external burner.