Laptop problem - cont'd.

[Aggers]

Some time ago I mentioned that I was having trouble with my Laptop failing to burn discs.
Today I took it to PC World and they checked it and said it was working OK.

I've tried burning a music CD this afternoon and still without success, I also found that
a CD of photographs I burned would not work on the DVD player on my TV. I then put
the CD into my Laptop, and a message said there was an Error, Code 0x80010108.

I've Googled this number and found several websites saying I can download something
that will fix such problems, but I am scared to do so, as I might download further problems.

Any suggestions? I'm wearying of trying to solve this problem.

[Suff]

Hi Aggers,

I did a bit of research and it seems that the Windows Live Photo Gallery is borked. Unless you have a serious need to use it, I suggest that you uninstall it. If you go to uninstall Windows Live Essentials, you can choose which part to uninstall.

To be honest, now that MSN messenger is dead, unless you use Windows Live Mail, there is no need for essentials at all and they can be removed.

Looking at what the Photo Gallery is trying to do, I'd guess that it is also interfering with the CD/DVD as you try to write them and is getting in the way of the disks you are trying to write.

Go to control Panel and Programs and uninstall a program. Get rid of it is my advice.

If you absolutely must have it, have a look at this thread, where the Dell Employee suggests how to fix Live Essentials if you really need it.

Not one of Microsofts better products. It' disabled something I used daily (totally forgotten what it was) and I binned it. About 6 years ago.

For the CD not working with the TV, could be the firmware on the TV's reader. I try to avoid consumer stuff as much as I can, but for the living room it's hard to avoid.

[Workingman]

John, my first instinct is to know whether PC World charged you for checking things out. If they did then I would go back to them with the CD that will not play in your stand alone DVD drive and which gives the error message in Windows Explorer. I would also take in the CD of music you tried to burn, but which failed.

My thinking is that they tried a music CD and it played, then they tried a film DVD and that also played so they are noting that everything works.

If you didn't pay anything then it all changes, but please let me know.

[Aggers]

Suff - Thanks for your advice. I will try to digest it later. I'm a bit out of sorts at the moment.

Frank - PC World did not charge me. Unfortunately, as the man was the other
side of the counter, I couldn't see the screen to tell exactly what he was doing, but it
did appear that he succeeded where I had failed.
I really feel out of my depth on this problem, and feel inclined to abandon my efforts
to produce CDs of my own compilation, as I can achieve the selection of music tracks
for my musical evenings here by using my CDs having a variety of songs, and skipping
the tracks I don't want, which is quite easy with my new CD player. The problem with
photographs, however, is another matter, but there is no real urgency about fixing it.

[Suff]

Hi Frank,

It's quite possible that the person at PC world simply right clicked on an image and opened it in the Windows Photo viewer. Something I would do. But Live Essentials will have set itself as the default viewer. Something he should have checked.

You can simply check this by going to Windows Explorer, opening the CD of pictures and right clicking on a picture and selecting Open With. In the Open With list select Windows Photo Viewer instead of the Live Essentials Photo Gallery. That will tell you that the CD is working and that Windows can view the files.

For the burning, I still assume that Live Essentials is trying to grab the CD during the burn process. Corrupting the burn.

[Aggers]

You refer to Windows Live Essentials. I can't find anything on my Laptop programme list called that.

With regard to burning the photographs, this seems to be taking place, as I can now see the
slight change in colour, starting from the centre of the disc (which I didn't expect) but my
DVD blue-ray player will not accept it. When I try inserting the same disc in my Laptop, sometimes
it accepts it and at other times it doesn't, showing an error number. It's all so damned confusing.

[Workingman]

John. Windows Live Essentials is a set of programs from Microsoft and they all integrate in some way with other Microsoft programs including IE, Media Player and the operating system. Most of the software is installed in the background and is never noticed until you install the front end - the bit you see - or activate it in some way. Some of the softwares are: Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Live Writer, Live Mail.....

To find if you have any of them go to Control Panel>>>Programs and Features and look for Windows Live Essentials near the bottom of the list. Get rid, you do not need them.

Suff and I are coming at this from different angles, but following his tack Photo Gallery, Movie Maker and Windows Media Player all have CD burning capabilities and it could be that (virtual) wires have got crossed somewhere. Uninstalling Windows Live Essentials will go some way to sorting this, but in Programs and Features you will also find 'Turn Windows features on and off'. Scroll down to Media Features and untick Media Player and anything else, this should break the chain. The only burning options now are the very basic OS burning engine or Roxio.

Once done you could try uninstalling and re-installing Roxio then try burning again and see what happens

If that fails I have some ideas, but I don't want to confuse you..... not yet.

[Aggers]

Thanks, Frank'

[Incidentally, while you were typing your message I was adding something to
my previous message that you would have missed.]

[Aggers]

I've uninstalled Windows Live Essentials - a notice came up saying I had,
although it still appears on the list of programmes. ???

[Workingman]

I think that you have to reboot to make it go away completely...... a lot of Microsoft stuff needs a reboot.