I have a gigabyte dvd rewriter combo drive , but it refuses to allow me to write dvd's

whenever I tell it to write a dvd, it doesn't allow me t, sayingthat it only accepts cdr's

WTF?

hmmm.... Someone else I knew had this problem. Don't recall they resolved it. Maybe try re-installing the drivers for the writer. Does it not write any DVD's? i.e. +'s or -'s? Are the DVD's you are using the DVD's you have always used? Can it still read DVD's?

always used the same media, in fact same batch , same box.

xp shouldnt have to need drivers for it

rush your lazer on your dvd might have given up on you... else try flashing the bios it could fix the problem - but make sure your power doesn't go out while flashing else you can chuck it away!

sometimes its not the laser - maybe you should try to uninstall your writing proggie - and then reinstall it after a reboot - if that doesnt work then try the writer in another machine ...... cause if it works in another machine and still refuses to work in yours maybe a reinstall of windows XP might sort it out for you

another possibility is some form of virus - when last have you run a scan - can you still visit the symantec.com site cos there are some virusses that stop your writer from working and dont allow yo to visit the usual antivirus sites

if that isnt the problem then its possible that the laser has given up - how many discs have you written in total - most writers will give up within a total of around 1000 writes - but if you continually overwork it ie like doing 10 discs within an hour or two every day then you will find it could give up after around 600/700 writes and thats not only dvd writes - it means even a cd will count as a write

i had a similar problem once with a writer that only did around 50 writes - and after landing up with a few coasters i reinstalled windows ......... problem solved

I also vote fresh install, otherwise it sounds buggered to me.

I had an LG drive do exactly the same thing a couple days before it died