Delay write failure problem

[Mike950]

I have an old computer (P4, 2.4 gig, WinXP current) that is acting up. I
can't write to the DVD/RW drive, I can't transfer data to an external hard
drive, I can't write to an external DVD drive. I keep getting the Delay
Write Failure message. I suspect the computer is getting ready to die and
want to copy my important files to either the external HD or on to DVD's but
can't do either right now because of the delay write failure. Any help will
be appreciated. Thank you. Mike

 

[sandy58]

I have an old computer (P4, 2.4 gig, WinXP current) that is acting up.  I
can't write  to the DVD/RW drive, I can't transfer data to an external hard
drive, I can't write to an external DVD drive.  I keep getting the Delay
Write Failure message.  I suspect the computer is getting ready to die and
want to copy my important files to either the external HD or on to DVD's but
can't do either right now because of the delay write failure.  Any helpwill
be appreciated.  Thank you.  Mike

I bought a USB External Box. I had a few hdds that I Iwanted to check
out & used this box to read/copy what I wanted off them. Not to fast
but did the job. £15. Oh, it has options for SATA & IDE.

 

[Rich Barry]

Mike, take a look here
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/330174

 

[Anteaus]

The DVD drive failure is suspicious.

Our mailserver was giving this message for some time before I decided,
experimentally, to disconnect the optical drive. That cured it. The drive
had evidently failed some time back, but since it was never used, no-one
noticed. It was evidently corrupting data on the disk interface even when not
the target of the write.

The other thing which affects USB drives is BIOS config corruption. It may
be worth resetting to defaults in the startup config, or removing the battery
for a few minutes.