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My CD writer hangs Windows 98 !

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by kather0525

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I just bought an HP CD writer that says in the specs that it is for 350mhz machines ( 400 is recommended ). My machine is a 266 Pentium(r) II
MXX technology( yawn ).I also have 256 MB of RAM.

Is there a CD writer that matches my CPU speed?

After mounting the writer, WIN 98 ( 2nd release ) has no problem detecting it and the Adaptec ( Roxio ) S/W can be installed. The PC reboots at the end of installation as recommended by the S/W. When my PC comes back up to the desktop, it hangs. The mouse then has a bizarre clicking sound which is made by the PC's own internal speaker when I move it back and forth.

What do I do now? I've just spent $180 on this thing, trusting the technician that this would work on my PC! Is there something that I'm missing or is there a way of fooling the writer into thinking that I have a fast enough machine?

Help !

6 replies

by thechas

For a 266MHz PC, about the fastest writer you can use is a 10X. An 8X may actually work better.
Anything faster, and the PC can't keep up with the demands of the drive.
Also, with an older PC, your HDD transfer speed is likely UDMA 33 or slower.
You can try manually setting the burn speed down to 8X, and see if that works.
Also, shut down all tray and background programs including virus scanners to reduce system load.
(use ctrl-alt-del to bring up a list of background programs, You need only the CD software, and explorer)

Your other options are;
Upgrade to a PC with ATA100 support and at least a 750MHz CPU. If you can install a new Motherboard in your case, figure on $200-300 with careful shopping.

Find an older CD-RW drive, and Adaptec version 4 software.
A good source is www.compgeeks.com

Check if Nero or Cakewalk's Pyro supports your slower CPU, and if they meet your needs.

Chas

by thechas

Re-reading your question, my answer did not address all of your concerns.

The click from the computer speaker is the signal that the keyboard / mouse buffer is full.
As you stated, your computer has locked up.

Attempt to re-boot into safe mode. (Press F8 when the screen flashes the text message that windows is loading.

From safe mode, run msconfig.
From the startup tab, check selective startup, and uncheck all programs for the CD software.

Re-start your system.
You should be ableto boot into normal mode without any problems.

To prevent the boot lockups, you will need to un-install EasyCD Creator.
You can then install an older version of EasyCD Creator, (I believe version 4 will work with your PC) or different CD burningsoftware.

Chas

by macfin88

I had a similar problem with a Sony Spressa USB Plus. It just wouldn't work on my old PII, 300HZ, Windows 98 etc. And it only writes at 4x. I finally built a Thunderbird 850, much better Motherboard, 256M of Ram and Windows 2000 Pro. Now the CD-RW works great. I would either upgrade your computer or buy a new one.

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