Date: 12/02/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: virus, spyware, microsoft

Hi. My computer is a Compaq Presario SR1011NX, with Windows XP installed. After not having done so for a while (I know, bad thing for me to do), I decided to back-up my important files (text files like writing, artwork stuff, etc). Ever since I had this computer, the only way that I've backed up files was to use XP's built in deal to copy the files to CD-RWs. And that process has worked just fine and good.

But now, I'm having some serious problems with that.

I collected together said CD-RWs and go to clean the old files off of them... and they won't delete. So I look around a bit, and see that I'll just have to erase the whole CD-RW -- okay! Only, there's no option to do so. The option just isn't appearing. Puzzled, I do some more poking around, some more tests, and now I know what's wrong. Apparently, whatever writing ability my CD drive had is... gone. Doesn't work. Any attempt to delete or even add files onto the CD-RWs is met with this error message:

"Files on this CD-ROM drive are read-only. You cannot copy or move files over to this CD-ROM drive."

Any attempt to take off the read-only status on those files results in:

"An error occurred applying attributes to the file: E:\path\file Access is denied."

I tried a third-party CD-writing program (NTI CD-Maker 2000 Plus) installed on here, and tried to erase the CD-RW or tinker with files on there, the error message was:

"No supported CD-RW drive detected."

So I tried copying files over to both a fresh CD-RW and then a fresh CD-R. Both times, the wizard for copying files wouldn't open, and I instead got this lovely message:

"E:\ is not accessible. Incorrect function."

I then checked to see if things like games would run by popping in The Sims, and that ran fine, so... it just won't copy/write to CDs anymore, or let me mess with the files off of data CDs. It'll read the files and let me access them, but I can't delete or alter them. Any options involving writing to/copying to/deleting for CD-Rs and CD-RWs just don't appear at all anymore.

On the My Computer screen, the drive still reads as "CD-RW Drive (E:)". Oh, and for the type, it's a Sony CD-RW CRX25E5, and the Device Status reads that it's working properly... even though it's not.

Basically, I have no idea what's going on. I never messed with any drivers or such, and my computer is clear of any viruses, spyware, and the like. I've tried contacting both Compaq/HP and Microsoft, but those attempts aren't going well. Hopefully I've provided enough information, and if not, let me know and I'll post more. Thanks ahead of time for any help on this problem! I just want to back up my files, as many of them are too big to fit on floppy disks (and I don't have anything like one of those nifty flash drives).

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/718032.html