I recently bought a new Sony DRU - 820A DVD/CD burner. It worked fine for about a month then one day it started making bad discs. It would say it completed the burn successfully but the files would not work when I clicked on them. The window showing all the files on the disc would just freeze. I tried slowing the speed down from 16x to 8x and it works but it still has trouble burning once in a while. The discs say they are compatible with 16x and they worked before that day when the burner suddenly started having problems. It didn't take any damage or impact of any kind.

Any THOUGHTS about what could be wrong would be APPRECIATED. Thanks.

BTW I'm RUNNING Windows XP with SP1
AMD Sempron (TM) 2400+
256MB RAM
What software are you using to burn your CDs?I believe its Nero 6 SEFirst of all...I can't help but notice you are running XP (SP1)...

You should visit Windows Update and check for high-priority updates.

You should also check to see if Nero 6 SE needs to be updated as well.

I'd visit Microsft first...then open Nero and look for an option to update if it is available. If not...why not try another program to burn CDs and DVDs...there are plenty of them out there...some are totally free.

Some of the problems you may be EXPERIENCING may be caused by simply not having your operating system and/or your burner software up-to-date.

Keep us posted...Also keep that burn speed down...it makes the best CD's.
And try a DIFFERENT brand of media as well.

Are you remembering to finalise these burns ? ?