GCA-4040N in ZV5287 pavillion Wont Burn DVD´s

[eduardo mz]

I need help please!
I cant burn any DVD, (data,video etc) using any program, I called HP but they dont know anything, I alrady upgraded firmware to 1.19 and wont burn!
I have "insert a blank DVD´r or DVDrw to the unit" but I ALREADY DID" I have like 10 DVD´r and DVD´rw from different brands and No one works..
If some one know what to do... please help me

Thanks
Eduar

P.S. This thread ahs been moevd from Disk to Optical Jukeboxes & Drives. - Hp forum Moderator

[Hernán]

I have the same drive and problem but my notebook is a Pavilion dv1040us.

I read about a lot of people having the same problem, even with another brand of notebooks.

It seems like the drive is one of the worst drives in the market.

Please, I need some advice.

should I take my notebook back ?? it's still in warranty

thanks
Hernán

[Juliano_2]

Hi;

I got the same problem... My pavillion zx5275 won't burn DVD+RW's...

Any solutions?

[Lloyd Northend]

I have the exact same problem.
I phoned HP to get a replacement drive, when it arrived (7 weeks later!) It gave me the same problem...
The drive reads DVD+R/RW (that are not copied from itself) perfectly, but wont copy DVD's at all, and when trying to open a dvd that was created with the burner it freezes!

Anyone overcome this problem?

[Juliano_2]

After installing Nero Express, I could burn my DVDs and DVDRWs normally... try that

[Robert Lake]

I have done some checking, and through HP help, was put onto the Nero InfoTool, which checks what a drive can handle.

Unfortunately for both you and me, the GCA-404N can only handle DVD+R or DVD+RW.

It can read DVD-R only.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Rob.

[Robert Lake]

I have done some checking, and through HP help, was put onto the Nero InfoTool, which checks what a drive can handle.

Unfortunately for both you and me, the GCA-404N can only handle DVD+R or DVD+RW.

It can read DVD-R only.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Rob.

[Lloyd Northend]

After trying several different softwares, and 5 different DVD brands (all DVD+R/RW), and getting my IT guy at work to have a look at it, I basically concluded that it had a fault. I had a replacement sent to me (another 4040N) and it also didnt work! I then phoned up HP again and they sent a 4080N as a replacement and that worked perfectly. I think the 4040N is just poor quality.

I would recommend phoning HP Tech Support - they are very helpful.

[niall hannell]

Me to, I have flashed to firmware 1.19, uninstalled and reinstalled the drive.
Nothing works
Though I have found that I can Burn Imation brand DVD+R and RW's though only about 1 in 3 discs will work!
I have a Pavillion zv5014ea laptop
Does anyone have answers?

[stack overflow]

Similar story here...CDs burn fine, but DVD media (either -R or -RW) will not even be acknowledged.

I don't think it helps that the installed driver is a generic XP CD-ROM driver. I have scoured the 'net looking for GCA-4040N drivers, but can't find one anywhere.

I just got off live chat with an HP tech...he had me uninstall the driver and reboot, to reinstall the driver. That rules out corrupted driver.

Then he had me run a VB script that helps when XP 'loses' your CD/DVD drive and won't recognize it...of course, that's not the problem here. The drive shows up just fine, and even reads DVDs and reads/writes CDs...it just sucks at the DVD write part.

I will be back on chat with tech support in a bit...

[stack overflow]

TechChat, part II

Ok, just got finished with another round of diagnostics--the bulk of which was re-explaining the issue to the current support tech.

It was suggested that I install the Px Engine patch, and since the patch requires rebooting, the session ended there.

The patch adds to the list of drives supported by the Px Engine--the guts of the RecordNow! software. Unfortunately, I downloaded the patch from the Veritas website, rather than the Sonic website. (Veritas sold the product to Sonic a couple years ago.)

So, I went off to the Sonic site to download a newer Px Engine patch...but you can't download from Sonic's site without registering the product, and the OEM RecordNow! software on my laptop has no serial number. :sigh:

Hoping that the problem really is just software, I am currently downloading the latest patches to Nero, to see if it helps.

If the Nero patch doesn't help, I will be back on tech chat. They did say that if the patch doesn't help, then I would probably require a replacement drive.

[niall hannell]

I am interested to know if you can get your drive to work with other burning software. I am going to try nero today on mine, I have given up with Roxio Easy CD.
I suspect the problem may be hardware though.
Lots of people all with this drive in different machines and using different software are reporting the same faults. ie it won't burn DVD's. I have tried Roxio, winDVD creator, Itunes and SuperDVDcopy software and they all act similarly when asked to burn.They either claim the disc is not blank or that there is a problem with the disc.(I have 3 different brands of DVD+ all fresh out the box)
I will post If Nero works
In the mean time I can only suggest you try Imation brand media as they seem to work fine for me Both DVD+R and RW
Good luck!

[Manuel Barrios]

Hi,
I bought 2 Compaq NX5000 with the same GCA-4040N burning machine, and that´s true; i can not burn with DVD-R. I only was able to burn with a freespace brand and with a DVD+R.
When i bought the labtop i thought it will burn everything. Do you think HP could help us to fix it? i meant, HP could replace the CD/DVD drive?