My friend was looking through my iTunes and picked out some stuff she wanted me to burn her (completely legal to do so!). So I got my stack of old and dusty blank CDs and put one in the drive. The disc spun, was read, I could see it in "My Computer" but when I went to file > Burn playlist to disc in iTunes, the option wasn't available.

I tried another disc. Anger rising, I tried another. I tried ten more.

Then I clicked the disc from "My Computer" and it asked me to format it. Not very computer-technical myself unless it comes to anti-virus and getting rid of spam, I do so. Nothing different happens. I right click to make it compatible, waste 2 minutes of my life doing so, and still no difference. I run my anti-virus. Clean there. Run Ad-Aware. Clean there. Run Spybot. Nothing of notice there.

One disc out of the 30something I tried worked. I gave up after a while and went to the store and bought a brand of Philips CD-R blank audio discs. I was using imation and figured that perhaps changing the brand would work.

I was wrong. Same deal.

So now I have to sit here and wait in a chat to speak to someone who is probably from Arabia and won't fix my problem. I keep my computer updated and clean and I am the only person who uses it so I see no reason why my laptop would suddenly stop deciding to burn CDs for me. I looked at Dell's FAQ and downloads and I see nothing in relation to my problem. It rips CDs just fine but it won't burn them. I thought that maybe it was an iTunes thing, so I checked it in Windows Media -- well, same thing. Nothing different at all. iTunes and Windows Media Player don't even recognize that there's a disc in the drive.

I'm running on a Dell Inspiron 1300 with a Pentium M. It's not the newest of laptops but I don't need anything brand-new. I've had it since June (it was a birthday gift).

Does anyone know what's going on? Because to top off my anger, some idiot in MSN keeps talking to me and saying, "Oh, I wish I could help." Like that does anything. I don't need sympathy and idiocy. I need answers and logic, dang it!

I'm going to feel really stupid when the answer is simple, though.

Usually the problem in these situations is one of the following:

(1) You accidentally put your blank CDs in your toaster, rather than the CD drive of your computer.
(2) You accidentally used Eggo-brand frozen waffles instead of blank CDs.

Ironically, making both mistakes (1) and (2) simultaneously will result in a happy though unexpected outcome.

(don't kill meee....)

I feel your pain - computers evoke the very definition of love-hate relationships, don't they.

It's possible your CD drive has conked out. I don't know much more than that, but I know that they can do it.

EDIT: When you say "dusty" blank CDs, are you being serious? If so, look for instructions on cleaning the lens.

Laptop CD-ROM drivers just suck in general. I decided not to talk to the guy from Arabia and am just going to send it in to get a new CD-ROM drive with my warranty that cost me an arm and a leg. I've toted this thing from Massachusetts to Washington and back three dozen times. Of course the first thing to go would be the thing I need.

Regarding dusty CDs, they were dusty, but I cleaned them before I used them. And brand new dust-free ones didn't work either.

You'd have to clean them very thoroughly if they were to work if they were as dusty as you said they were. Also, I mentioned lens-cleaning for a reason. The brand new ones might not work because the lens has a speck of dust on it. Just one getting caught can potentially spoil it until you remove it.

Ok, before you go packing your lappy all up and sending it back for a new CD drive, have you tried writing CD's with windows? I dont mean music CD's, just your run-of-the-mill file storage CD's. Do everything you can to make sure its not the drive and not a software problem before you send it back.

There is nothing computer companies like more then arguing about who's problem something really is... >_<