NEC ND 6100A Not recognizing blank DVDs properly

Unfortunately I too have the same problem. I have an Inspiron 6400 with an NEC DVD +-RW ND-6650A. I cannot find any firmware updates and have no clue what "flashing" is but I don't think I want to risk trying it. I found on google that some other people have similar problems with these NEC drives so we are not alone. I did succeed originally in burning a data dvd to a dvd-rw, but I cannot burn multimedia. In all programs, for example roxio easy media creator suite and nero, it tells me I have bad media or that I need to insert the appropriate media type. The same problem arises no matter what software I use and when I insert a blank dvd, it tells me it is a blank cd. I hope this is worked out soon. I just got this computer under a week ago.

--David

Hey dude, thanks for the show of solidarity.

The only thing I can offer in the way of help to you is that you try another brand of blank DVDs. I have found that not all DVDs are created equal so buy a small pack of pricey ones and give that a try. I never used to buy the very best but I always steered clear of very inexpensive generic brands since I always thought I ended up with more duds that way. Anyway - best of luck, your case is encouraging since you have successfully burned recently.

First check this out and i will tell you what type of CD or DVD you can use with the NEC ND 6100A drive. http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/storage/p71024/en/specs.htm
Unless the media you are tring to burn is RW then the disc will not have to be formated.
Even though your software program says the DVD is a CD have you tryed to burn the DVD+/DL+/RW ?
Have you checked Device Manager/ IDE controllers/ Secondary IDE CPs transfer mode DMA available ultra DMA mode 2.
Use only top qulity DVDs. Like Sony (made in japan) or fuji (made in japan) or for DL+ DVD there is realy only one choice Verbatim. If you perfer to order online these DVD+ are about the best you can get. http://www.rima.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=R&Product_Code=1733-50&Category_Code=DVP8X
If none of this helps then i would say you have a software problem and its time to uninstall and then reinstall or upgrade your software.
You do know that with Nero you have to tell nero what type of disc you want to use.
The first thing i did after i got my E1505(with a NEC ND 6100A) was to reformat the HD and install XP and the Dell drivers only.
After that i installed my software that i like and know how to use.

Message Edited by Flatnose on 04-12-200612:12 AM

I am having the same problem you described here.

Cannot read the dvd on my inspiron 9100 bought a year and half ago!

It has the NEC ND-6100A drive

Did you find something about it to fix the problem?

---

@Jamie_mahar wrote:
Hey dude, thanks for the show of solidarity.

The only thing I can offer in the way of help to you is that you try another brand of blank DVDs. I have found that not all DVDs are created equal so buy a small pack of pricey ones and give that a try. I never used to buy the very best but I always steered clear of very inexpensive generic brands since I always thought I ended up with more duds that way. Anyway - best of luck, your case is encouraging since you have successfully burned recently.

---

I have been particulary touchy with brands of CD/DVD I use when burning, seems that The guy in the flying chair brand (Maxell, if you've seen the ad on tv) works fine with my current Burner ( which is not the one mentionned in this post.) It actually came out to my attention ( reason why I quote this post) that you guys are looking for blank dvds to be read like and AS dvds. have you tried teh Maxell ones? they are cheap , and reliable. I've had tried some unnamed (actually it was Cicero) and Nature CDs and it actually had the sound being choppy and un readable towards the end of the CD. I also tried Eworks dvd-r media, and I got the same result. Since I Have switched to maxell, I have no more issues. I recently bought Verbatim CD too... they are working great as well... Hope this helps.

 

 

well i called dell up and described my troubles. they put me on hold and 5 mins later they came back and said "ok david no problem we will .send u a new drive" etc....i recieved the new drive, exactly the same nec model and installed it....and guess what...the problem is STILL THERE! so it is obviously not a hardware issue...i know people say it is a software issue (which is obviously correct) but the question is, what is the software problem? i've used 6 different burning programs and all do not work. a firmware problem? i can't even find a firmwire update for my model. i i will try a better brand of media, as the ones i am using seem to not be supported, according to the list provided by nec. now before u say "well that's obviously the problem!" my father has the same computer with the same identical drive and that handle the exact same blank dvd brand that does not work on mine (benq)...so my question to all is, what is the software sollution to this problem??? would something like anydvd be messing with my drive? some people say itunes also causes issues...i guess what im searching for is a kind of list...a way to go through a process of eliminination so i can go through each idea and hopefully work out a way to get this working!

Apologies in advance if folks know this already.

The 6100 is quite limited when it comes to which DVDs it will write to. Seeing as I use DVD-Rs on the home DVD player I use for watching stuff and that this 6100 "device" does not write to that format (nor a good many more), I'm scr**ed. Will have to look for another one.

Bummed.

Compatible media /< Read/Play>

DVD-ROM (SL, DL)      No/Yes  
DVD-Video (SL, DL)     No/Yes
DVD+R (SL, DL)         Yes/Yes
DVD+RW                   Yes/Yes
DVD-R                        No/Yes
DVD-RW                     No/Yes
DVD-Audio                  No/Yes
CD-DA                        No/Yes
CD-Extra                     No/Yes
CD-ROM                     No/Yes
CD-R                         Yes/Yes
CD-RW                      Yes/Yes
Video CD                    No/Yes
CD Text                      No/Yes

As long as you're replacing it, try cross-flashing it to the NEC 6500.  http://tdb.rpc1.org/#ND6500A

Dave

I know my posts above have shown I'm using a different drive (the 6650A) but still the problem and suggestions do help. I would like to flash my drive but am very unsure what to do. I've never done anything like that before and I'm quite confused with what to choose. Also, there is no update driver for my model yet. But what about the warranty? Does cross-flashing the drive void your warranty?

I've never had a problem flashing drives in Windows, but I've seen messages from people that did and could only get the DOS versions to work.  If you don't have a floppy you can make a DOS bootable CD or bootable USB flash drive.

For more info on the 6100@6500 crossflash see this thread.  Yes, it may void your warranty if it's still in effect.

Dave

I agree with Dave. I am no expert but found that flashing the drive in Windows is not that difficult. I gave it a try because I too had an issue with my NEC 6100A drive in my Dell 5160. I recently bought a new pack of DVD R+ that were 16x and the drive would not recognize them. After a little research I figured out that I needed a firmware update. After some more searching I found that Dell and NEC do not currently offer a firmware update to resolve this issue (I found this very frustrating).

My soultion was to use Liggy's Binflash (Windows GUI 32) flashing utility and the 223rcp1.bin file. This flash will convert the drive to a 6500a and allow you to use DVDs greater that 8x. After flashing I rebooted the computer and it recognized new hardware (NEC6500A) and I have had no issues since. It will write and play DVDs and CDs no problem. The info that I used can be found at the following addresses:

http://liggydee.cdfreaks.com/page/
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=113959

And yes, this will void your warranty... but my warranty was up anyway.

Steve

I had the same symptoms - DVD showed up as a CD, not able to burn on a blank DVD+R. Sonic reported 'No recorder'. Accidently I inserted an old DVD (2.4x) and recording suddenly worked again. Then I tried with my new DVD which was a 16x Sony and same problem. Decided to try with an 8x DVD+R disc and burning was OK.

It was only minutes before I'd started flashing my burner, but just changing the disc solved my problem. I've spoken with two different guys at Dell support about my problem but they did not figure it out either - and was close to sending me a replacement drive.