dvd drive/burner issue

hey all,
have a little problem I am hoping someone here can shed some light on.

from the day I built my new comp my dvd burner hasnt recognised a disc it goes through the motions like it is reading it but the box showing options ie burn to disc never comes up.

I have tried just using nero to burn a disc but wont actually let me click burn as it says there is no disc in the drive.

I have actually bought a new dvd burner and installed it and still does exactly the same thing. So therefore I have reinstalled the old one as I assume there is nothing wrong with it.

any thoughts/advice would be appreciated

Is the drive SATA? Some older software has problems recognizing SATA burners.

Did the new drive come with any software? Did you try using it?

Have you checked and/or replaced the data cable to the drive? (I assume it's getting power.)

Is it recognised as being present in the BIOS?

what software are you using? I assume it's getting power and that you aren't using a paper clip to open it ???

ok the old drive (that is still in it) isnt sata but the new one was as for the software no i didnt install the software with the new drive and yes the bios recognised the drive.

and yes its getting power

hope that helps

Next step would be to try a new data cable on the drive.

b4 i try that when i connected the new dvd drive it is sata and completely different line and that made no difference

Actually, looking over this thread again, there are a couple more things to clear up, since you didn't go into any great detail.

Is the DVD drive on the same controller/cable as the hard drive?

If it is, have you checked that the jumpers on the drive are set properly? The hard drive should be set to "master" and the DVD drive to "slave". (I find that putting them on CS (cable select) is iffy at best)

If they are on the same cable, is the cable installed properly? The newer cables require that you put the proper end into the motherboard (Often times marked with a "blue" connector)

If they are on separate controllers/cables, make sure the hard drive is on the "primary" controller and the DVD drive is on the "secondary" controller, and, in that case, set the DVD drive to "master".

Try using a different cable for DVD drive. Just because the SATA drive didn't work, doesn't mean you've eliminated the cable - the SATA drive could be a separate problem and/or the PATA cable could still be causing the problem if you didn't remove it.