Re: CD-RW Drive Is Acting Strangely in Nero & Explorer

cuttergallery wrote:

> CD-RW Drive Is Acting Strangely in Nero & Explorer
> This is a problem that has been bugging me since I built this system
> in Dec 2002
>
> My system:
> WinXP Pro
> AMD Athlon XP 2100+
> Abit KG7-RAID
> ATI Radeon 9000 Pro 128MB
> 1 GB Crucial DDR 2100
> Enlight 420W PSU
> Maxtor 7200rpm 60GB & 80GB (no RAID)
> Cendyne 16x CD-ROM/DVD Drive (slave)
> Cendyne 48x CD-RW (master)
> SoundBlaster Audigy 2
> Leadtek Winfast TV 2000 XP
>
> After startup I can burn CD's without problem using Nero 5.5
> (latest version). However, if I try to burn a CD several hours later
> in the day, I can experience one of the following two problems:
> 1. Nero cannot detect blank media in drive and won't proceed. If I use
> it's Medium Info utility, it says there is no disk in drive (even if I
> try several different disks)
> 2. Drive will spin at high speed, but will not burn...Drive will not
> eject or stop spinning. Nero won't close and PC will lock up requiring
> a manual reboot.
>
> After reboot, it works OK again flawlessly for a while, but the
> problem eventually returns.
>
> I believe it's either an Explorer issue or a defective drive. During
> problem #1 Explorer cannot detect a disk in the drive either. A few
> times I have been unable to eject the drive unless I rebooted first.
>
> If anyone knows what I can do (aside from reformatting & reinstalling
> Windows), it would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Dave
>

Dave,

Try a different power connector. I had a similar problem with a CD-ROM
which would work just fine for awhile, and then suddenly fail.
Sometimes the IDE access light would go solid. Other times it would
lock up Nero when using it to copy directly from CD to CD-R, or
Explorer when accessing a disk. The most maddening thing about it was
that it would only do it *sometimes* making it terribly difficult to
troubleshoot. Like you, a reboot would clear it up.

I tried everything I could think of, reinstalling all the relevant
software, drivers, and WinXP components, IDE ribbon, different
configurations, and opening and cleaning the drive. Nothing helped.
Eventually, I tried a known good power connector and it miraculously
went way. I guess the short or poor connection in the molex connector
would unpredictably disrupt communications. The crazy thing was that
it would fail *after* but not (usually) during heavy use.

Good luck,

Enkidu