Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can help solve an annoying
problem I've been having for a while now. From time
to time, when my CD drive is spinning up, it locks up
and won't respond anymore until I reboot the system.

This never happens when inserting a disc, it only happens
when the disc has spun down after a period of inactivity
and a program suddenly needs to read something on it.
Most of the time there is no problem, but occasionally
(maybe once or twice a day) it will start to spin up, and
then just as it reaches top speed, everything freezes.
It just keeps spinning, won't read the disc, won't eject,
and won't respond to expletives. Windows becomes
very unresponsive as if the CD drive is using up most
of the CPU resources. The only way to restore normality
when this happens is to hit the Reboot button.

The drive is a Ricoh MP9120A ATAPI CD-R/RW
& DVD-ROM running on a dual-boot system with
Windows XP & 98. The problem only seems to occur
with XP, I've never seen it happen under Windows 98.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

TIA

Greetings...

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 02:19:23 +1000, "le ténébreux" <prince.d'(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>Just wondering if anyone can help solve an annoying
>problem I've been having for a while now. From time
>to time, when my CD drive is spinning up, it locks up
>and won't respond anymore until I reboot the system.

The light stays on....

The CDrom is attempting to read the CD and check it's format and the type of disk. It's
not able to mount the disk, and is not giving up and quitting like it's supposed to and
eject the platter...

If this happens on only 1 CD or a couple, it's usually a crack in the plastic that cuts
across the disk ID field.

If it happens on all CD's - your laser emitter assembly is either dirty, or misaligned.
If dirty - blast it GENTLY - with canned pressure - and use a CD lens cleaner.

If that doesn't solve the problem, it's time for a new CDrom - as buying a new one is far
cheaper than repairing an old one...

In fact, if you shop around, you could probably find a used 48X CDrom for a few
pennies less than the cost of a can of air and a cd lens cleaner kit... Really!

I got a used 48X CD for $10 at a local mom and pop shop a couple of years ago - it sat
around for a couple of months while I was building a new system, When I installed it and
opened the tray for the first time - Guess what was inside - A shiny new Windows XP home
edition disk...

ll
Kanda'

<>SPAM-KILLER<>- If you really want to contact me, then -
kandaje<at>bresnan<dot>net

You figure it out...

Kanda' Jalen Eirsie wrote:

> The light stays on....
>
> The CDrom is attempting to read the CD and check it's format and
> the type of disk. It's not able to mount the disk, and is not giving
> up and quitting like it's supposed to and eject the platter...

Actually, the light never comes on at all. It locks up as soon as it
reaches maximum spin speed, but before it begins reading the CD.
Sorry - I neglected to include that fairly important detail.

But as I said, it doesn't do this when inserting the CD, which I
imagine is when the mounting and file system checking would be
done. It's only after a period of inactivity when the otherwise
normally-functioning disc has been spun down.

Thanks very much for your reply. Actually, I think something
in the drive probably IS dirty or misaligned. With certain CDR
discs it has extreme difficulty recognizing the media when inserted
(without locking up, though). But then after repeatedly ejecting
and re-inserting, it suddenly manages to read it perfectly.

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 02:19:23 +1000 Singing Yo-Ho-Ho and a Merry KMA
"le ténébreux" <prince.d'(E-Mail Removed)> wrote :

>Hi all,
>
>Just wondering if anyone can help solve an annoying
>problem I've been having for a while now. From time
>to time, when my CD drive is spinning up, it locks up
>and won't respond anymore until I reboot the system.
>
>This never happens when inserting a disc, it only happens
>when the disc has spun down after a period of inactivity
>and a program suddenly needs to read something on it.
>Most of the time there is no problem, but occasionally
>(maybe once or twice a day) it will start to spin up, and
>then just as it reaches top speed, everything freezes.
>It just keeps spinning, won't read the disc, won't eject,
>and won't respond to expletives. Windows becomes
>very unresponsive as if the CD drive is using up most
>of the CPU resources. The only way to restore normality
>when this happens is to hit the Reboot button.
>
>The drive is a Ricoh MP9120A ATAPI CD-R/RW
>& DVD-ROM running on a dual-boot system with
>Windows XP & 98. The problem only seems to occur
>with XP, I've never seen it happen under Windows 98.
>
>Any ideas greatly appreciated.
>
>TIA
>
>

I had one of those drives.It failed in less than 2 months.Change to
a,"Lite-on" ages ago and never had a problem with it.
my 10 penn'th.



--
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Greetings...

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 18:58:16 +1000, "le ténébreux" <prince.d'(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Actually, the light never comes on at all. It locks up as soon as it
>reaches maximum spin speed, but before it begins reading the CD.
>Sorry - I neglected to include that fairly important detail.
>
>But as I said, it doesn't do this when inserting the CD, which I
>imagine is when the mounting and file system checking would be
>done. It's only after a period of inactivity when the otherwise
>normally-functioning disc has been spun down.
>
>Thanks very much for your reply. Actually, I think something
>in the drive probably IS dirty or misaligned. With certain CDR
>discs it has extreme difficulty recognizing the media when inserted
>(without locking up, though). But then after repeatedly ejecting
>and re-inserting, it suddenly manages to read it perfectly.


Ah! yea.... You might try flashing it's bios. If you can find it... You really don't
have anything to lose I suppose, though that is a rather drastic measure... Like I said
before it's often cheaper to simply upgrade...

But it still sounds like it is dirty. The repeated ejecting and finally it works
detail... If it were misaligned - it would probably never read. unless the laser is loose
or just can't stand the vibrations..

Something else just occurred to me - is the drive mounted securely in the bay with all 4
screws - 2 on each side? Are they tight? The symptoms you describe can also be vibration
problems on some drives that are not mounted securely....


ll
Kanda'

<>SPAM-KILLER<>- If you really want to contact me, then -
kandaje<at>bresnan<dot>net

You figure it out...