Cannot open blank DVDs under 14.04

[Colin Law]

On 19 September 2014 08:55, Phil <phil_lor at bigpond.com> wrote:
> Thank you for reading this.
>
> I've spent most of the day trying to install Xubuntu on a friend's laptop
> that is currently running a very sick version of Vista.
>
> I have two laptops; one runs Kubuntu 14.04 and the other Xubuntu 14.04 but
> neither will detect blank DVDs. They both will open pre-recorded DVDs, so
> the drives are not faulty. Both had version 13.04 installed previously and
> did detect blank DVDs. So either I have missed something obvious or 14.04 is
> the problem.
>
> My Kubuntu laptop has Vista installed as well and it will detect blank DVDs.
> So I installed unetbootin under Windows, which was an exercise in
> frustration in itself, but unetbootin does not see my USB DVD drive (the
> internal drive is faulty).
>
> My friend wants to throw the laptop into the bin but I'd like to show that
> Linux can save a little bit of landfill. So, can anyone suggest why both of
> my DVD drives cannot see a blank disc but can see a pre-recorded disk? One
> of the pre-recorded disks was recorded under 13.04 on the same USB disc
> drive.

If you open brasero or whatever is the DVD writer on your system does
it see the disc?  In other words is it just the automatic detection
that is not working or does it not see it at all?

Colin