My HP dvd840e (external) connected to my Dell Inspiron 8200 notebook with USB 2.0 card is not functioning.

System:

Dell Inspiron 8200
Windows XP Service Pack 2
Mobile Intel Pentium 4 1.8 GHz
640 mb ddr dimm
30g HD
ADS technologies USB Turbo 2.0 for notebooks
HP Deskjet 5740
NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go (Dell Mobile)
Hewlitt-Packard HP dvd840e(shows up as 840y in device manager) ext. dvd writer
Netgear WG 511 54mbps wireless card
MCAFFEE Antivirus
Nero Suite (came with ext.DVD writer)
HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4240N (int. OEM)

When I try to burn a Dvd I GET a message of "not enough free space on disk" when it is a brand new Phillips DVD-R 4.7 gb 1-16x disk. I tried the light-scribe disk that came with the HP dvd and got the same message. I have tried files of different SIZES and types with the same results. I tried recording at slower speeds and still no success. I tried to burn a music CD and it froze @ 20%. A speed test of the ext. HP dvd with the Nero software gives an average speed of 7.75x. The ext. HP dvd will recognize and play other dvds and cds (music and VIDEO). The printer shares the USB 2.0 card with the HP DVD and works fine. There are no conflicts in Device Manager. There is 12g of free space on my HD (the HP ext. dvd requires 10g). I have done virus scans with updated McAffee with no infection found. Anyone have any ideas? All help is extremely appreciated.