CD drive freezes up

Question

Hi, I have a problem with my CD drive on my Dimension 3000 running Windows XP Pro. The CD drive I'm using is a Lite-On LTN486S. On certain CDs, when I try to rip music files, the CD drive will freeze up. Whatever program I was using (usually iTunes, but same results on other programs) will take up all my CPU usage (100% in the Task Manager -> Performance), and won't respond to any commands. I have to cold boot the computer to reset it - a warm boot just puts it in another freeze. This happens with the same CDs every time, but most CDs have no problem ripping/playing etc. I have installed the latest firmware (YDS8) and all the automatic update downloads have been installed. Does anyone know what's going on? Thanks.

osprey4 · Answer

Please check DMA as described in this FAQ. Let me know if that helps. It's always best to check the FAQs before posting. Thanks.

hootenatty · Answer

I went through the steps outlined in that link, for all channels, and the drive still performs as earlier. It does not seem to have fixed the problem I have no idea what DMA is, and I did look through the FAQ before posting, they didn't seem to have an answer to my problem.

hootenatty · Answer

The current transfer mode for the secondary IDE channel is 'PIO Mode.' The only drop-down menu in the Secondary IDE Channel Properties window is for Transfer Mode, and that's set at 'DMA if available.'

osprey4 · Answer

Ok, you didn't need to go through a lot of steps, just check is the drive running in DMA mode. So would you mind checking it again. You need to check the secondary IDE channel and locate the current transfer mode. When you find that, write down what you see and post that here.

osprey4 · Answer

Ok, that's the problem (just as I suspected).   Here's what you need to do: Open device manager and expand CD/DVD drives, select your CD drive and click the Uninstall button (the icon that looks like a little computer with an X in front of it. If you have two drives, uninstall both. Expand IDE controllers, select the secondary IDE channel and uninstall it. Reboot the computer and these devices will be automatically reinstalled. Go back to the secondary IDE channel and check it. If it still says PIO, select 'DMA if available'. Reboot and check again. That should set the transfer mode back to DMA and your ripping will work properly.

hootenatty · Answer

It does seem to have fixed the problem, thank you for your help.

hootenatty · Answer

OK, new twist on this problem: after ripping 6 of the CDs that previously gave me trouble, the 7th one made the drive freeze up again. I went to the device manager and checked the secondary IDE channel, and it's reverted to PIO mode.

Do you know why did it did this? Should I go through the same process to fix it? Is there some other setting to change or steps I can take to keep it from reverting to PIO mode? Thanks.

osprey4 · Answer

Windows will kick the drive into PIO mode if it detects data transfer errors. So there may be a problem with the drive.

Anyway, try this firmware update.

As cheap as a new drive is, it's probably not worth spending a whole lot of time fixing. You can replace it with a DVD burner for under $30.

Storage, Drives & Media

CD drive freezes up

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