CD-R's are still blank after burn

my friend has this burner that seems to be alright, you go to burn something and everything looks completely normal, but when it's done, the disk is still blank.
it does burn CD-RW's though..., which kinda baffels me; it reads pretty well too
the drive is a LG GCE-8525B 52x32x52x

she reformated the computer and it still doesn't burn CD-R's, which means that it must be the a hardware related issue.

the drive makes weird noises sometimes when reading disks, ect.; no idea if it's related

I doubt it matters, but-
P4 1.3GHZ
256MB RDRAM
Windows XP SP1

things I thought i might try-
firmware update
switch IDE controllers
lens cleaner (same lens for CD-R and RW's though?, could this help?)

but each of those are more or less a shot in the dark.

thanx in advanced,
Byan

Chances are its hardware related, ie the drive is bad, but make sure that you are closing the burnt sessions.

Definitely try the lens cleaner. Also try a different brand of CDR and see if that makes a difference.

My guess here though is that the laser control circuitry has failed. Reading, burning CDR and burning CDRW all use different levels of laser power, which would explain why burning RWs or reading discs is OK.

already tried different brand of CD-R, forgot to mention that

I really need to buy a lens cleaner..., I kept borrowing from a friend, but he lost it...; next time I buy something from newegg, I'm getting one