Why won't my Sony CDRW/DVD CRX835E allow me to burn to a DVD RW disk? It will recognize a CD when I put that in, but nothing happens when I put a DVD RW disk in. I am running Windows XP.

you might have to physically unplug the leads for this cd/dvd then plug them back this should activate the found new hardware wizard or
you might have to uninstall then restart your computer then reinstall your DVD/CD then reinstall the driver for this device
if your computer came with a motherboard disk the drivers could be on it
click start control panel administrive tools computer management device manager scroll down cd dvdrom drives if you see a yellow question or exclamation mark?! or a red x right click you will need to update the driver or
select properties general troubleshoot, select driver click to reinstall drivers click update driver
hope this helps

Hello mychella513, hi, there is no need for you to find the device driver for your sony combo, because its already present in windows. If you cannot power on the device or the computer cannot detect your drive, its defective, Windows has already installed the device driver for CD/DVD for your computer.

It sounds like you are having the exact problem I am. I'm being told I need to replace the CDRW drive

Your CD-rw/DVD may be cross wired and is getting the wrong signal from the bus
You may want to check the cables to the CD burner. and reload the or reinstall the device and drivers.

the combo drive you listed above is a cd-rw/ DVD-ROM....meaning that it will play and burn cd, cd-r, and cd-rw disks. the dvd rom will only be able to play dvd-rom and dvd-r disks providing they are in the proper format. check that the disk in question is not a dvd-rw or (+2) disk. the drive will not recognize that a disk is in the drive if the disk isnt compatable. try a dvd movie, if that works then a dvd-r, if that works then try a dvd-rw +1. if the last option doesnt work then you will have to stick with the dvd-rom and dvd-r, or purchase a dvd-rw drive to install.

GOOD LUCK AND DONT FORGET TO RATE MY POST!! :D

You have a combo - an optical drive that is a cd writer and a dvd reader. You can't write dvd's with it.

There are dozens of free perfect functioning  burning software. the one that i use is Totally Free Burner 3: as the name says it's free, extremely small ( just 1 MB compared to 100MB for Nero), fast and very easy to use. get it from here http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/Audio-CD-DVD-Burning/Totally-Free-Burner.shtml

it means that your driver for that device is not completely install. so reinstall the driver.
thanks for your question

SONY CD-RW CRX835E

that is b/c you only have an CDRW/DVD ROM (from your title). You need a DVD+-R to be able to write to a dvd+ - R disk.