Hello! This is my first post on this forum. This has been a persistent problem for me, so I figured I'd try to seek help from people who may know what they're talking about. So, anyways, here is my situation. I am using a pentium III 1 ghz PC with 256 SD Ram @ 133 mghz. I have a 40-14x48x CD-RW drive. It's a cheapy. "Cen-Dyne" brand. The CD-burning software I use is Nero Express. Now, within the first few months of installing my windows XP operating system, I have no problems burning CDs at 32x (the fastest my CD media will allow.) After a few months, my system becomes EXTREMELY bogged down while I burn CDs, under the exact same circumstances. In Nero, I can observe the cache reserved fluctuates with the spins of the CD in the drive: 20%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 98%, then back to 20%. The higher the number gets, the faster the disc spins. Nero is often stalling on me as well, forcing a cold reboot to gain access to the drive again. I have tried writing at lower speeds with mixed results, but my main issue is: Why would the problem consistently develop as it has? Any insight would be appreciated.

Alot of things could have affected this. What changes have you made to the system that affected this? Have you tried restoring the system to an earlier point?

Is it possible to do a fresh install of windows?

(in reply to Sephka)

There have been 0 hardware changes. The only changes have been in software, mostly games I've added. However, the majority of software was installed the day windows XP was installed. It IS possible to do a reinstall, but i'd like to find another solution if possible...

(in reply to Sephka)

You might want to make sure DMA is still enabled for the burner. Sometimes it will just revert to PIO mode and work very slowly till you figure it out and fix it.

(in reply to Sephka)

quote:

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Originally posted by Dartman

You might want to make sure DMA is still enabled for the burner. Sometimes it will just revert to PIO mode and work very slowly till you figure it out and fix it.

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my money is on dartman. very apt description of the way windows does things.

(in reply to Sephka)

Yeah, "DMA if available" is checked. Still the same problem. I can't recall, but can i create a new partiton on my HDD, install XP (thus having two OSes on one drive) and transfer from there? In the past i think i've just created a NTFS partiton with now OS, but it's more of a hastle.

(in reply to Sephka)

Even if it says DMA if available it can still stay at PIO mode when you check the extra box for what mode it is in. You can try a over the top reinstall, it worked OK for me when a bunch of stuff got deleted. I did do a backup first of what was left in case it blew up but it went in OK. You also might want to defrag the drive and see if the windows burning program is still enabled, it can cuase problems also by interfering with others. You also might want to just remove and let XP redetect the IDE channel the burner is on just in case it's gotten weird. That has fixed DMA mode errors for me and many others when I couldn't get it to work right anymore.
My favorite excuse when redoing my XP is to get a bigger drive and just do a fresh install to it and leave the old drive alone as slave to the new one, if it ever has a meltdown you can boot to your older drive and try repairs or be in business again till you get it sorted, just a bit out of date.

(in reply to Sephka)

Well, DMA if available is the only DMA mode available. The windows burning program is disabled. This problem is really pissing me off - i'm pretty sure it's OS related, as even ME didn't give me this problem. I've had to reinstall XP twice in the past to fix it...and it redevlops in less than half a year.

(in reply to Sephka)

Generally if an OS goes 6 months without needing to be re-installed I consider it a good 6 months! but then again, I do a lot of software moding of my system, and it tends to make it somewhat unstable over time [:o)]

(in reply to Sephka)

I'll Consider my XPPro excellent then, since it's been running 2 years without a reinstall, or any major problem.

(in reply to Sephka)

Strange...removing the IDE cable and putting it back DID fix the problem. That makes VERY little sense, but i'm not about to argue. Thanks for that suggestion, Dartman! I would have never thought of that on my own.

(in reply to Sephka)

*SIGH* I take that back. After restarting, it's back to the same old slowdown. And keep in mind, this is "it takes ten seconds to open start menu" slowdown. Not minor, bearable slowdown. Total system stoppage.

(in reply to Sephka)

I had an idea...would uninstalling and reinstalling the cd-rw drive and/or the secondary IDE channel possibly help?

(in reply to Sephka)

Sephka,

There was a WinXP update, that caused alot of Machines to come to a standstill (mine was included in this) did you perhaps download updates to WinXP via Microsoft update? If you did.... I can tell you which one to uninstall to return your system to normal. Please let me know, I am anxious to help you resolve this issue.

(in reply to Sephka)

Whoa, sweet mp3mogul. I really appreciate your help. Yes, I have downloaded just about every update that microsoft offers...and come to think of it, that's about when the problems started, when I got these updates. I'm surprised that issue hasn't been addressed by MS...or has it? Anyways, thanks again for your help.

(in reply to Sephka)

Ah, also mogul, I noticed your audophile "certification" :) I just ordered a pair of Grado SR60 headphones - pretty sweet, right?

(in reply to Sephka)