I will have to find some way to download the most recent Nero update.  Over my dial-up modem, the download
takes about 7 hours!

Resolution(s):

I removed a recently installed program (E-Z DVD Creator) supplied by one to the manufacturer of a DVD-RW drive
installe on my computer.  This program uses software from Roxiojavascript:void(0);
glupek2 that is incompatible with INCD.  Unfortunately, it didn't resolve the problem because the uninstall program will not remove some of the software drivers that it installed. 

Next step was to revert the computer to an old restore point.  This removed references to the problem drivers.  Viola: drives now work. I just have to reinstall a few pieces of software (except the Roxio product).  The drivers are still on my computer, but are not being used.

Finally a reply from Nero:

1) There are the following drivers installed on your system which may
 cause compatibility issues:

Driver                     : Pfc
Description                : Padus(R) ASPI Shell
Version                    : 2, 5, 0, 204
Company                    : Padus, Inc.

Driver                     : PxHelp20
Description                : Px Engine Device Driver for Windows
 2000/XP
Version                    : 3.00.41a
Company                    : Sonic Solutions

Please contact the manufacturers of these programs and ask them how to
 uninstall these drivers.

2) Please update to the current Nero 7 Version.
You can download the latest Nero 7 Version from our website:

http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-nero7-update.php

In Nero, open Nero Smart Start, select tools, Open Image Drive.  Then you sould be able to select diable to remove the phantom drive.

I have changed the DVD-RW drive, the power supply, and the cables to the drive.  After all this, I had teh same problem and found that the CD-RW drive also was experiencing the problems.

I don't think cleaning will help.  I can still read music cd's and only have problems when trying to write or insert a disk requiring packet writing software to write to.

I have recently been unable to write to CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW media on an XP-sp2 system.  Attempting to do so causes my computer to crash.  Loading any disk where packet writing has been used also causes a crash.  They can be inserted before boot-up is complete and be read or written to, I can no longer complete a format procedure on these media unless I do an erase procedure first.

The only thing I can recall changing is the installation of recent security updates for Windows XP and Office 2000.

I have been using Nero's InCd (Currently Nero 7 Ultra Edition) with excellent results for several years with few problems till now.  I sent an inquiry to them 5 days ago, but haven't had any reply.

Any idea what may be happening and how to remedy the effect?