Periodic Hangs Running CDROM Apps

[deckard 0]

I have noticed that when running some apps and games they will hang every several mins for about 5 seconds, then resume as normal. 2 immediate examples are watching large movies streamed off the CDROM and playing the game XCOM Enforcer. In each example, every several mins the entire app exhibits the exact symptoms described above. I have 2 CDROM drives and it happens on both. A couple other people have told me they are experiencing this but I cannot find any info on the web about this problem or how to fix it. Has anyone seen it?

 

I have used gpedit.msc to disable autoplay and I have tried the 'Enable digital CD audio' feature in device manager both on and off with no change in the problem. I have all the latest fixes from Windows Update and I have the latest Media Player also.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Relevant System info:

Win2k Pro SP2

Adaptec 2940U2W SCSI

Plextor PX-40TSi CDROM

Plextor PX-R820Ti CDR

[EddiE314 0]

the app/game is hanging because the cdrom has to have time to spin back up to read more data off of it, for watching cdrom streamed videos, go into the video player's options menu and increase the buffer size.

[deckard 0]

Thanks for the suggestion. I can try increasing the buffer (depends on the viewer application I guess) in the case of watching a video streaming off the CDROM but what about the situation with games? I forgot to mention (pretty important point actually) that this has only recently become a problem. I want to say maybe around the time I installed SP2 and the new Media Player but I'm a bit foggy on exactly when. It's not a show-stopper but certainly an annoyance to have things freeze for 5 seconds every several mins.

[HELLBRINGER 0]

I think I have an issue very similar. I have noticed that when my CD-ROM Drive spins up my system periodically hangs and does not respond. Then when it spun up all the way, it works fine. It does not freeze. I figure it is just the IDE channel being accessed and the system (for some reason) cannot spin up the CD-ROM and operate at the same time. I guess...

 

It doesnt affect me to the extent as you, but it is similar.

 

Does anyone know how to stop this annoyance?

[deckard 0]

In fact, that is exactly what happens to me. Nothing crashes or freezes, just hangs for about 5 seconds while the CDROM spins up, then returns to normal operation. So the problem seems not to be related to the data bus, since you have an IDE drive and both of mine are SCSI. So the question is what causes the CDROM to spin down in the first place? My roommate does not see this problem at all and has similar specs, about the only thing I have that he doesn't is SP2. Do you have SP2 installed?

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Is the CD-ROM on its own IDE port? Is it completely by it self? If it isn't try to get it that way. I just did that now and it seems to have fixed the problem... I think.

 

And no I dont have SP2 installed. I did, but it kept phukin up Windows Explorer and making it have errors so I uninstalled it and that fixed it. I think SP2 has more errors than the beta copy of phukin winxp!!!

[deckard 0]

Hmm so it would seem SP2 isn't the cause either. I don't use IDE at all, everything is SCSI. Both my CDROM drives are on the same narrow channel but recently I did indeed take the CDROM offline to test exactly what you said, having only 1 drive (the CDR) on the channel.

The problem did not go away for me after that though, unfortunately. Before I heard that other people were having this problem I just figured my CDROM drive was going bad and ordered a Pioneer DVD drive, which should be here in a couple days. I have no confidence now that this will fix the problem but hey at least I'll be able to watch DVD movies on the PC now wheeeee.

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Well I'm sorry that did not solve your problem. I would suggest talking to some tech people for the CD-ROM or the motherboard. Go to other forums and talk to big tech guys. tweak3d.net has good forums.

 

That's all I can think about now.

 

Sorry I couldnt help me.

 

Good luck.

[deckard 0]

A fine suggestion. I posted this issue over on Tweak3D and someone responded right away and appears to have hit the nail on the head. I still need to test a little more but right now it seems like the problem is burned CD's. After the guy responded I realized that all the recent issues I've had were from apps run off burned media. I dug out my purchased copy of Half-Life, which streams redbook audio off the CD while you play (just like XCOM Enforcer), and sure enough played for over an hour with no freezes. I'm wondering if my new Pioneer DVDROM will be any better at reading / streaming from burned media. Guess I'll find it later this week when it arrives.

So anyway thanks for your suggestion about Tweak3D.

[HELLBRINGER 0]

Hmmm... Your right. I'll be damned. Well its not a big deal to me anyway.

 

Sure is interesting though. Stupid CD-Rs suck anyway.