Error message "Not enough disk space"

Don't know if this is a hardware or software problem. Trying to help a coworker with this perplexing problem. He has had a HP zd8000 laptop for about 15 months and everything worked fine until about 2 months ago. When he tries to burn photos to a cd, he gets an error message saying not enough disk space. Has double checked and is using blank cds and is NOT exceeding the storage capacity for the cds. He was using Sony and Memorex cds. He called HP tech support who informed him that the burner did not support these brands. (Had burned several disks successfully before problem started.) So he bought some Imation cds and burned 5 successfully. On the sixth he got the same error message. Tried one more after that with the same result. Could this possibly be a heat related problem? I know laptops can run hotter. Strange thing is, when he tries to burn just a few pictures, 10 to 15 megs, it works fine. Seems to fail when he approaches the 200 meg area. Any suggestions on this would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.