I have 2 CD drives, a burner and a reader. LG GCE-8525B & CRD 85228
(LG).  Both worked succesfully until 3 days ago when they both stopped
reading.Message in Windows Exp "..drive not accessible. Incorrect
function".I can play audio CD's by opening the files within Realplayer
and Windows Player (which upgraded itself the other day and I had not
requested or accepted the upgrade).About 10 minutes prior to not
reading or burning data I had dragged files to the CD-RW without a
problem and a week prior had burned 3 disks full of graphics. I
uninstalled Nero and reinstalled to no avail, in fact InCD would not
work at all with the icon having an exclamation mark over it. Have now
purchased Nero Reloaded but cannot install because of drive not
reading data. Suggestions please. Windows XP 5.1 Service pack 2
installed. All else is working perfectly.

With sincere thanks in advance.

I'm sure there are free CD burning software some you can get from
www.download.com. Nero, I use it for DVD burning and such, but you can
use Windows XP CD Burn technology or Windows Media Player/RealPlayer
to burn your music for free! Of course, since Nero is now useless to
you, I hope you have your product box # and your reciept and all the
things you need to talk to a Nero support technician.
Some suggestions:

http://www.burn4free.com/ - Free burning and all the features should
show on the homepage
http://www.alcohol-soft.com/ - 30 days trial, but execellent software
to sort your files, great with images (.cue, .iso)
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/ - I used to use it, it's efficent and has a
LOAD of features

Search options
--------------
freeware cd burn software
freeware cd write software
free cd write
free cd burn

~Kool Aid
Aiding you the Kool way!

Kool Aid
Thank you for your reply but drives D & E are not being recognised (D:
& E: Not accessible. Incorrect Function)even though I can open them in
RealPlayer and Windows Player. Both drives are working as per
"Properties" under My Computer, Devices etc/ Hardware.  Am concerned
there may have been some type of software problem.
With thanks again.

Ah, I understand better now jem110. There are a few things you might
want to check. Enter a CD with data on it, then go to the drive's
properties > hardware > properties > volume. Click on populate, if
nothing comes up THEN you got an issue. If data comes up, go see 1.,
if nothing comes up, go see 2.

1. It is propabaly working, so try clicking again, if not try to open
your case, take out the CD-RW and put it into another drive slot. Do
the same for the other one. Still don't work, then go to 2..

2. Next thing I can think of is Driver issues, get the name of your
driver which you should of specified and google it, such as "driver
name" "driver/firmware" "updates".

If still doesn't work, I would like to know the company brand so I can
do further researches or if other errors such as this had come up.
Strange indeed, but populate it and it might work.

~Kool Aid
Aiding you the Kool way!

Have you installed any programs between the time the drives definitely
worked and up to them failing?

It would be worth trying a system restore - Start, Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, System restore. Choose a date from before
the drives stopped working and restore the computer to that point. If
the drives start to work again you'll know its a software issue, and
if they don't then you can confirm it's a hardware problem.

Give this a try and let us know the results, then we can advise further.

Hello to kool_aid-ga and cheekyspanky-ga and sincere thanks for your
assistance with this frustrating problem.
Had thought of doing a System Restore and receiving your advice I went
ahead and did it and you might have heard me whoop where you are.  It
worked!
I am so grateful to  you both (and Google).
Take care.

Glad to help! (If only I was a paid researcher eh..lol). 

Keep a track of what your installing etc and if the problem occurs
again you'll know what's caused it - and also how to quickly get back
to the non broken state!

If you have figured out what caused the problem let us know, it would
be useful so we can avoid doing the same.

I'm pleased your problem's fixed anyway, and very happy to have helped!

Adam

I do remember that last Tuesday I downloaded Mozilla calendar for
Windows.A couple of days prior to that I had clicked on Microsoft
Windows Media Player and it was downloading a new version (which I
could not understand as I had not requested it!).  I could not stop
this from downloading. There was also an update to Windows XP which
was automatic but I have since turned off the automatic updating as in
the past I have always checked weekly and will be going back to that.
Somehow I feel it was the Microsoft products which caused the problem.
Difficult to prove; just have to watch it. And I am one of the people
who is EXTREMELY careful! Research may be the way to go.  Take care.

Jem110

we also had problem like you.
we sell dvd and cd recorders at http://www.inter-shop.gr

after 2 formats and reinstall of windows and nero everything workerd fine.
it was one time problem but you never know.