Windows XP SP2 Autoplay and the new DVD-CD drives

[DSG]

Windows XP Pro SP2 (ver. 2002)
Plextor PX-716A atapi
DVD+R DL (double layer), DVD±R/RW, CD-R/RW

I have plenty of memory and all settings everywhere seem to be okay, but I'm
having a bit of trouble with this new CD/DVD drive. I will be doing the
diagnostics test tomorrow which gets sent to the company to see if the drive
is okay or not.

It plays and/or reads CDs and DVDs if and when it wants to. The drive never
disappears from My Computer, but many of my CDs hardly ever work - or just
might, out of the blue.

Windows XP SP2 Question: Does anyone know if this has anything to do with
the new "autoplay" feature where you select what you want Windows to do with
the content on the CD? Is there any way to turn off that "feature"?

 

[Guest]

You can change the way Windows responds to the insertion of particular kinds
of disks in your CD or DVD drive. Follow these steps:

Open My Computer.
Right-click the icon for your CD or DVD drive, choose Properties, and then
click the AutoPlay tab.
In the list at the top of the dialog box, select a disk type. Other options
include Pictures, Video Files, Mixed Content, Music CD, and DVD Movie.
In the Actions section of the dialog box, select the action that you want
Windows to take when you insert a disk of the selected content type. If you
don’t want it to do the same thing every time, select Prompt Me Each Time To
Choose An Action.
Click OK.

Or take no action...

Update drivers for software that came with the drive and see site for
firmware update if available, see below:
http://www.plextor.com/english/support/support_downloads.html

j;-)

 

[DSG]

Thanks for posting that, Jaymon. I am well acquainted with the feature, but
think they didn't finish it, or are pretty sure people only listen/watch
(to) music, videos or pictures. For instance, for straight data CDs, there
is no choice for "data only" CDs, so our choice is 'mixed content.' I have
all those settings made, but wonder if the feature sometimes doesn't
initialize the CD because it doesn't recognize straight text as opposed to
movies, music, etc. I know I'm sounding obnoxious - but am really
frustrated. The first thing I did this spring after installing the drive
was to get the most recent firmware and flash the channels.

Last night I went to Microsoft.com and actually found numerous articles on
the AutoPlay feature. What it looks like is that it was not really made for
looking at straight text data - its buzz word is really 'multimedia', as in
"entertainment-type events."

I'm working through one of the long "fixit" articles and hope for some
success, since I'm a researcher with about $3000 worth of CDs containing
history, which, beginning with this new CD-DVD drive leaves me without
access to my work. It seems to just "accidentally" work once in awhile,
which doesn't provide a workflow. It was interesting to find out that the
feature can also be turned off, which I will no doubt try. Again, thanks.

 

[Guest]

What burning software do you use? You might try going to the drive icon in my
computer and right click on properties, then to the recording tab and
un-check the box or check it if your burning software works better that way.
Keep in mind if you check it you will need to point it to a partition/drive
with plenty of space available. Some third party burning software, mine is
Nero InCd, works better with the box unchecked, keeping XP out of the
equation altogether..

j;-)

 

[DSG]

Of course, my burning software cannot even be considered here. For now, all
I want to do is to have all my CDs initialized so I can read what's on them,
and that should be done by the Plextor drive itself. "Accidentally" it did
initialize one of the data disks last night, but when the index pointed to a
companion CD, Plextor can't see the next CD. There is no use in keeping this
drive if it can't do the simplest task, such as reading data disks. I did
record some small pieces of music the other day via Windows Media Player and
that worked just fine. But Windows Media Player is not a choice for viewing
the data on a data CD. I did find out last night on Microsoft.com, that this
Plextor drive has not appeared on either Windows 2000 or XP's hardware
compatibility list. So I will go down the list of fixes and see how I make
out. Or return it and settle for a plain CD drive. Thank you Jaymon.
dsg

 

[Guest]

Can you remember the burning software you used or was used on your collection
of cd's?

I also am wondering did you install all the Roxio® Easy Media Creator™ 7
software for the PX-716A? Have you tried to reinstall the software or update
it on the Roxio® web site?
See link below:
http://www.roxio.com/en/index.jhtml;jsessionid=EFQG2FCDZWNWNLAQAMFR3KVMCABQWIV0?_requestid=3608197

You might try un-installing the Plextor tools, if you did install them, just
install the Roxio® Easy Media Creator™ 7 software and disable XP's recording
feature in the drives properties, recording tab.
The Plextor web site says the burning software is not needed for XP and that
is not entirely correct. It's installation and update may aid you in seeing
your collection.

j;-)

 

[Guest]

Here is the low down and an interesting read on XP and CD burning..

http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpcd.php

Hope all goes well.
j;-)