[DJShadow]

So I've had this notebook (HP nc8430) for about 8 months but I think the DVD drive has got messed up or something. My problem is whenever I insert a DVD video or music CD the computer seems to 'hang' when I open a media program (Windows Media Player, SonicStage, WinDVD etc)-switching to the program results in a perpetual sand-timer cursor which goes away instantly when minimising/switching to a different task. I notice no lag or excessive memory usage when such programs hang, in fact I'm typing this right now and WMP has stayed a white screen since I started it. To stop this, I merely have to eject the CD/DVD and WMP returns to normal service instantaneously.

I used to have no problems reading CDs although I did have somewhat crappy DVD playback. But the strange thing is I've never had trouble burning and ripping data. These optical drive hiccups only seem to occur with music CDs (redbooks only; not data discs with music on them as I have no trouble with these) and DVD videos (again if the movie is in data/file format theres not a problem).

This is very frustrating and I would really appreciate any help

 

[infinitesymphony]

Check the task manager to make sure you aren't running any unnecessary or conflicting programs / drivers, etc. on startup. If you've never gone through your Processes list, you're almost guaranteed to be running things that aren't essential and will only bog down your computer.

But, your symptoms are indicative of a hardware issue. You say that you're only able to read discs that don't require accurate streaming from the disc, so perhaps the drive itself is giving out.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

This kind of things happens when the laser loses it's accuracy, and the reader can't track the ridges anymore, so it's busy all the time because it keeps trying to read data off the disc surface but can't.

 

[DanT]

Check in the Device manager ( Right Click on My computer->properties->hardware->device manager)

Check the IDE primary and secondary channel Advance setting if they didn't revert to PIO

That a great "Feature"

of microsoft. Each time there is too much read error for whatever reason windows disable DMA and switch to the outdated super slow PIO mode then lock it there. If it's in PIO try to select DMA then close the device manager then go back to see it it has change.

if it's in lock in PIO Do the following

First method. Registry editor
go to

Run REGEDIT.

You need to delete the key

MasterIdDataChecksum

It under the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318\0001}

The easiest way is to go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\

then use the search to find MasterIdDataChecksum (be sure to check all the type of search in the search form)

There is also the SlaveIdDataCheckSum

There is 2 of each for each IDE channel the primary and the secondary

Delete both MasterIdDataChecksum and SlaveIdDataCheckSum on both channel

Or you can only delete the one that cause problem if you know which one to delete. The one your DVD is connected to. Otherwise delete them all (MasterIdDataChecksum and SlaveIdDataCheckSum in 0001 and 0002) *it may not be there is you don't have a drive connected to the IDE so delete every one you see.

Go back to the device manager and select DMA mode click ok close the manager then go back to see if it changed. If not you might need to reboot.



Alternative method

You can uninstall the primary and secondary IDE channel then reboot it will be autodetect and reinstall on reboot.

However if you have a virtual drive like alcohol 120 it may interfere with the reinstall of the channel so you'll have to uninstall alcohol 120 if it give you error when you try to reinstall the IDE channel.

That why I prefer to use the first method and just delete the checksum

*In fact I believe you don't need to reboot you can just uninstall the channel then press scan for hardware change and it's going to reinstall it.



Only do this if you find that windows has lock you in PIO mode. If everything is in DMA your problem is elsewhere

 

[DJShadow]

Thanks for the replies guys. I feared the drive would need replacing

. I've already tried uninstalling/reinstalling the primary IDE channel and its in multi-word DMA mode 2, not PIO thankfully. Should I also try with the secondary channel, and do the registry edit?

And what sort of optical drive should I be after?