win98 and cdrw compatibility prob ??

[papraw]

hi I have just installed a new buslink cdrw (ultraspeed 52x24x52) it works fine for reading and writing cd's.
But with my system setting idle ( all unnecessary programs killed via the control/alt/delete) i can see my processor lite flashing every 3 seconds (aprox), i started system monitor and cpu usage spikes to 80 % each time the light flashes. also my mouse pointer freezes with each flash.
i am running win98 1st edition withservice pack 1, cpu pIII 533b/ 133 fsb/, a-trend mobo with via chipsets 693a/596b, s3 savage vid, maxtor 7200/ata66.
I have tried 3 different cdrw with same results.
I also have swapped out ide cable,installed cdrw on primary ide as slave,changed jumper to csl, updated the via chipset withe 4in 1 update.
if i unplug the power to cdrw system runs fine, or with my old slower (8x4 cdrw).

I am at a loss any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!
sorry for long post just trying to be specific as i can!

[GaryRouth]

Hi papraw

And Welcome to the PC Mechanic forums.

Did you update your version of Nero when you installed the CDRW? If not, you can try updating it to see if that helps. I think Nero installs it's own CD-drive driver that supplants the Win9x driver built into Windows (though my memory on this is a little fuzzy). You can also try either uninstalling or disabling DirectCD for troubleshooting purposes, and see if the drives background activity stops.

When you refer to the "processor light", I'm assuming you mean the light on your CD-RW drive, not your hard drive.

If it's the light on your hard drive that's showing activity, check your background processes (in fact, you can check these anyway - if you are using file-sharing software such as KaZaa, such programs might be searching your drive for sharable files at certain intervals. - I greatly recommend completely removing Kazaa from any and all systems: it just causes trouble & is full of spyware from top to bottom)

You might want to check in on Device Manager - both in normal mode and in Safe Mode, just to see if any devices in your system are flagged with yellow exclamation points or red Xs.

And you can try uninstalling/reinstalling Nero.

And scan for viruses, use AdAware for spyware, try The Cleaner for trojans. . .

Post back if none of this helps: it might not help if it's something unique to that burner, but I couldn't find anything helpful on the BusLink site (not too unusual, since they mainly re-package things made by other manufacturers). If you can find out who actually manufactured the drive & it's model number - we can try the website of the drive's manufacturer (such as Mitsumi, NEC, Wearnes, LiteOn, etc) to see if there's a mechanical/electrical/driver issue with this model. [Manufacturer info might be on a sticker or label on the top/bottom of the drive.]
. . . Gary

[papraw]

thanks for your reply Gary.
I have had both nero, and easy cd platinum on my system but have removed both.
Using close program i have taken the system down to explorer and systray only left running.
The cdr is made by liteon i believe going by the model# ltr52246s.
The lite i am referring to is the hddrive lite on tower.
I have scanned for viruses with mcafee, and a specila dos virus scanner i picked up from a friendly tech.
I am really confused, and find it hard to believe i am the only one that is having this problem.
it is almost like the cdrw is looking for a missing file or link??

[papraw]

i can't find a link to liteon's web site. if you have would you share?? "-)

thanx

[HAL9000]

www.liteonit.com

[GaryRouth]

Dang - I figured when I saw your post Hal, you'd say, "Oh that just happens when . . . & here's how we fix it . . . " Have you seen anything like this before?

papraw - haven't found anything like a "smoking gun" kind of answer for the cause of your system activity. Checked over at LiteOn - that drive is so new there's no firmware upgrades or anything like that going on. A few reviews were favorable, and didn't mention any unusual hard drive activity. Nothing exciting over at Nero, either. The strangest part is that it acts just fine as soon as your older burner is put back in.

Just in case I missed something over at one of the LiteOn forums, you can take another look (maybe someone else will post with a problem like yours):
http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=44

The only post there with your model number that mentions system slowing has to do with slowness while burning - and the only reply to that was to check to make sure DMA was enabled on both the hard drive and the burner. I suppose you could check that too, if you haven't already.

I suppose if the store you bought it at doesn't mind you trying another unit (just in the odd case that it's a buggy unit) you could try another one. Or take your burner to their shop & let them test it to see if it does the same on their system. It rather does sound more like a hardware problem if the same thing keeps happening only with the new LiteOn in the system, and with Nero and all other InCd and DirectCd and whatnot uninstalled, and with everything suddenly getting happy once the old drive is back in the case.

If I see anything worthwhile beyond what little I found so far, I'll let you know.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[papraw]

i have been runing athread on viaarena, so far the only thing they have came up with was to try reverting back to an older version of driver 4.35. Did that still same.
I am about to take this back and exchange it for a high speed instead of an ultra high speed, maybe a 40x16.

I have this gut feeling that although the mfg says it will work the ultra speed is not compatable with older systems.
if i was to upgrade my os, what version have you seen the least problems with and would recommend.

later rich

never give up till the other guy quits.

[reboot]

I don't think this has anything to do with CDRW or Liteon.
Some program you have running is doing this, and it may not show up in the C/A/D list.
Go to Start > Run > and type in: msconfig
Go to the Startup tab, and see the real list of what's running.
Take the tick marks out of everything (you can put them back later if you need to), and restart.
Add things back, one at a time, starting with the stuff you know.
One of them will be the culprit causing the HD to be accessed.

[mike breck]

Try unticking Auto-insert notification for your optical devices in their listing in Device Manager. Also make sure that DMA is ticked.

Does the HD LED still blink?

[papraw]

hi reboot
I have a soft ware routine called enditall which will kill anything in the system, i have ran it and took the system down to only what i considered to be absolutely necessary.
One other thing i might add, if i reboot in safe mode the problem is not there, i am assuming this is due to safe mode not loading cd.
I am going to do as you suggested with start menu just to be sure i am not missing anything!!

thanx rich

[papraw]

hey Mike
I hadn't thought of that, it could be testing looking for a disc to be inserted huh, kind of a far reach maybe but i will try it.

thanx rich

[papraw]

hey Mike
I unchecked the auto insert. It did change the situation, know i get 1 large spike (80%) every 4 to 5 seconds, but it is for a longer duration! hum

Reboot
I went through the start menu and eliminated all but the following,

taskmon,scanreg,systray,powerprofile,still image monitor,cd interceptor,winmodem.
the following i left but don't know what they are for sure

tbtray,sxtgbar,powerreg scheduler.

didn't elimilate the blasted lite!!!!!!

[GaryRouth]

papraw - try eliminating the "cd interceptor" item. Can't see why that would need to run in the background. The webpage "Startup List" shows that process as being part of a program that tests CD speeds. Maybe that's polling & testing your drive continuously.

Though why it's running only with the new burner and not with the old is a good question.

. . . Gary

[here's their info: "CDInterceptor - cdi.exe - CD indexer for measuring the speed of CD players" And if you want to check to see what any of the other background processes are, here's the link to that page: http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup...artup_full.htm ]

[Cricket]

What is CDInterceptor?

I would diable everything but ScanReg and SysTray and see if the problem goes away. If it does, enable the applications one at a time to see which one is causing those spikes.

Cricket

[papraw]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hot dam i win again !!!!!!!!!1

Thanks to Gary for the link that gave me the info i needed to eliminate the nasty cdi run in my startup.
As a guess to answer your ? i think the cdi routine is not current and can't handle the newer cdrw! Don't care it is gone

thanks to REBOOT for his thought on eliminating runs through startup!

Last i want to thank everybody else that added there thoughts and input.
Getting all these different ideas from so many minds is what makes these forums such a valuable tool!
Thanks again everybody!!
Moderator you can call this a done deal with a fix!

papraw

The Winner