laptop help

[raj]

for a while now my dell xps laptop has not been able to burn dvds or burn music cds!

i use windows dvd maker to burn dvd's
and windows media player to burn audio cd's

when i proceed to drag and then drop a file into the dvd maker the program freezes and i get the message "windows dvd maker has stopped working".
the same message pops up when i use media player too.

i had a dell technician come around today and he fitted a new dvd drive and the problem is still there. so im assuming there is some sort of software problem??

thing is i dont want to reinstall the whole system because i dont want to loose the files on my laptop.

any advice would be great!

[stuTHC]

install nero. or some other burning software, and try it that way?

[raj]

install nero. or some other burning software, and try it that way?

i havent got nero, thing is im trying to get dvd maker and media player working as both use to work spot on before this started to happen.

[dgdogz]

i dont work with computers but my boss knows a hell of a lot and he says,
a lot of the time when people have problems with there laptops its always somethin simple like...

a connection inside the casing has came loose or disconnected,
if its not there than it maybe be a new update has conflicted with it?
maybe a new software instal has done it so the new software somewer along the lines has somethin fightin against it

im really just stabbing in the dark...but if the dell guys came out to see im surprised he doesnt know

best thing id say is try get an external hard drive and transfer all your files///itl prob take hours but do that then format your laptop to clear anytin out.

hope this helps...in some way or another

[raj]

thanks for the info.

i think ill going to have a go at reinstalling windows vista to start on a fresh slate......if i can remember how to do that

[Sparkie]

sounds like the driver has been deleted or summat. reinstall that first.

[Chris Hebden]

thanks for the info.

i think ill going to have a go at reinstalling windows vista to start on a fresh slate......if i can remember how to do that

Run an update first from control panel before you start uninstalling Vista! That would be my last move! Uninstall the software and then get the latest version from Microsoft as they are free. It sounds like a configuration problem to me

[raj]

ive reinstalled windows vista now, i just put the vista disc in the drive and followed the instructions.

when i restarted the laptop it still had all the old windows files and everything still on there, but they where all sectioned off in a folder called "windows.old". so i simply deleted this folder which had about 100gb of stuff in it!!

its freed up lots of space, and it seems to be working as it should now but im still yet to check if it cured the burning/copying problem.

[Sy5GTT]

thanks for the info.

i think ill going to have a go at reinstalling windows vista to start on a fresh slate......if i can remember how to do that

We had a lot of trouble with our laptop last week. We ended up having to re-boot the lot. There is an option for a non format re-boot which saves pictures and stuff in a separate file which you can retreave after re-boot. F10 is the key you need to press a few times when turning the computer on. You'll just have loads of updates to install but ours is fine now.

[raj]

the laptop is all working as it should now