Despite being empty my lg cdrw states it has no free space, when i put a blank disc in the error message states the disc is full...This has only just occurred and i have not adjusted any of the drive settings lately. Any ideas? Ta

Have you tried doing a system restore to a point before the trouble started? Have you tried several different discs?

had tried different discs and xp wouldnt allow the system restore despite restore being activated.
The problem is solved and was a virus...well 3 including one in the system volume. My (AVG) anti-virus after a full scan failed to spot 14 virii and trojans etc. I installed one called avast! which is free to download and can be updated free too and it can scan specific areas so you dont have to do full time consuming scan. So all is better now thanks for advice though mate.