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PC slowdown when burning CD's 4

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jomtones2

Technical User
Jan 17, 2005
63
GB
Thought this slowdown was normal (ie. PC runs slowly whilst burning a CD - slow to open windows etc) ... till I used my rubbish PC at work to burn a CD and experienced no slowdown at all!

My system is OK - 1GB RAM, 1.66Ghz Athlon, 2 yr old 48X CD-RW, but everything kind of g r i n d s to a halt when burning a CD.

Anything can be done about this?

Cheers

Bill.

 
It may not be this but it is worth mentioning this anonymous quote.

"Your new CD writer probably is twice as fast. But one mistake that practically everybody makes is not upgrading the CD media—the CDs themselves. Writable CDs are manufactured to function at specific speeds; if you have a 12X writer, you need CDs capable of being written at 12X to utilize the drive fully. Many users take advantage of the excellent prices on large quantities of writable CDs. But these are often rated at a much lower speed (6X, 4X, or even 2X). To get higher recording speeds, go to the store, look at the specifics on the CD cases, and buy the CDs with the ratings closest to the speed of your new writer."


For your specific problem have a look in Task Manager and see if you can see which process is using all the CPU.

How is the machine running apart from burning CD's?

What CD burning software are you using? Does it need updating?

In Device Manager you could try uninstalling the CD drive and reboot and let Windows rediscover it.
 
CD and DVD Burner - Computer running very slow when burning dvds ...Computer running very slow when burning dvds/Sony Dru500a. *plz help* CD and DVD Burner. Visit cdfreaks forum now to discuss Computer running very slow when ...
club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=80188 - 43k - Cached - Similar pages
also trojans, adware, spyware, viruii, many things can cause this... bad media, slow media.. old drivers, wrong drivers, non compatiblely,

My system is OK - 1GB RAM, 1.66Ghz Athlon, 2 yr old 48X CD-RW, but everything kind of g r i n d s to a halt when burning a CD
but you never mentiond
1. what is the BURNER
2. which program your burning with
3. what OS.
4. is the program re encoding the movie or are you just burning Data.

Frank Smith irc.dhcnetwork.com
gunslinger.gif

SomeWhere in Kansas Near Dodge City
 
Another thing to check is that your driver setting is "use dma if available" and not pio. Go to device manager - ide/atapi controllers right click on primary or secondary controller select properties and then the advanced tab.
 
1. burner is an LG DVD - CD-RW from Ebuyer, can't remember the brand.
2. Using latest Nero but problem happens with any burner software.
3. Win XP,
4. burning anything.
 
Did you check to see if DMA was enabled as sekopp suggested?

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
Isn't DMA enabled automatically for DVD or CD-ROM's? Isn't the only adjustment between DMA and PIO for hard drives?

 
No, many CD-ROM and DVD-ROM devices use PIO Mode actually. Regardless, jomtones2 should be able to see the what it's set to (DMA or PIO) by right-clicking the Primary or Secondary IDE Channel listed in Device Manager. It's right there under the "Advanced Settings" tab. He was probably looking under the properties of the Burner, which isn't the right place.

Now Windows XP does try to set this to DMA automatically, but sometimes an incorrect setting in the BIOS or also another drive on the same channel can cause a DMA drive to run in PIO Mode.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
Ok thanks, checked that, it's all set to Ultra DMA.
 
One other thing to check, especially with Nero, is to see if the image mastering api service is running (windows native). Right click on my computer choose "manage" from the drop-down list. Click on "services and applications" and then "services" under that menu. Look for IMAPI CD Burning COM services and disable it, if it's running (even if it's not), by either double-clicking it or by right-clicking it and then choosing properties. Interestingly enough, it's right above the InCD helper service.

Also some ide/atapi chip-sets don't like it if you use an 80-wire connector cable for DVD/CD drives so you might check that.
 
Okay I did that - interestingly, it says "Manages CD recording using Image Mastering Applications Programming Interface (IMAPI). If this service is stopped, this computer will be unable to record CDs. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start."...

But CD burning still seems to work.

I also don't seem to have an InCD helper service, whatever that it.

How can I check if my connector is 80 wire?
 
Have you installed InCD? It's the packet-writing software from Nero that allows you to format DVD-RW (Nero 6) or CD-RW disks for drag and drop writing capability.
 
No I didn't, which would explain why it ain't there. Don't think I need it either- shouldn't affect performance should it?
 
Nope. Shouldn't affect it at all. I hope you solve your problem, I'm out of ideas. These things can be maddening.
 
Thanks sekopp... I think I'll just live with it! Have done for a year or 2 already :)

One day I'll have the $$ for a new box..
 
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