I have had this problm twice: while playing audio cds my plextor CDR stops, and I am unable to eject the cd. Further, and probably for this reason, the CD drive is not recognized by the system. Both times I have had to pull out the (what's it called, where you put the cd...) manually.
This is my system specs:
ASUS CUV 4X-D
Maxtor 40 GB
2 x Pentium 3 866/133
Hercules 3D Prophet II MX 86 MB (GeForce II)
Originally posted by bureaucrator
[B]I have had this problm twice: while playing audio cds my plextor CDR stops, and I am unable to eject the cd. Further, and probably for this reason, the CD drive is not recognized by the system. Both times I have had to pull out the (what’s it called, where you put the cd…) manually.This is my system specs:
ASUS CUV 4X-D
Maxtor 40 GB
2 x Pentium 3 866/133
Hercules 3D Prophet II MX 86 MB (GeForce II) [/B]
Does this happen when you play specific audio cds or all audio cds? Could be that the audio cd you’re using is protected
BTW it is called tray 
Well, it has only happened twice, and only after having played for some time. Oridinary audio cds. Could it possibly be a overheating problem?
Originally posted by bureaucrator
Well, it has only happened twice, and only after having played for some time. Oridinary audio cds. Could it possibly be a overheating problem?
Not likely … do these cds play on other cdplayers (hi-fi not cdroms)? Have you tied playing them on different drives?
I have played them on hi-fi, but i am not sure whether they have been played on other drives.
However, I seriously doubt that the problem is with the cd themselves. The fact alone that I have never had this sort of problem with other CD drives, and that the I have experienced this with same CD drive twice, and with different CDs, should indicate that the problem is either with the software or the hardware.
But I do not know…
ok … suggestions:
Try playing the cds on other drives (just to be sure)
Try playing music on the same drive with different media - does it do it again?
Insert a data cd in the drive (non protected) and copy paste all cd contents to hdd (do it 1-2 times) - does it stop the transfer at any point?
Check cable config / dma settings
What software do you use?
Hello again, Hemispasm
I did what you proposed, and everything went ok
I had forgotten to set Ultra DMA mode for the drive (perhaps it could be something related to this?)
Software for the drive:
Plextools
Nero
Windows CD Player (that is, the defailt player for audio files)
I DID have this RealOne thing installed, but have taken it away.
There could be something with the Windows CD Player. Some of the functions, such as direct access to it by pressing on the shortcut after inserting a CD, have been disabled (either by uninstaling the RealOne, or after the first crash).
So: maybe DMA or something with the software?
If so, that would be nice…
I did what you proposed, and everything went ok
I don’t understand, was it fixed? Please be a little more specific. Did you transfer the files ok? Did the cds play in other drive?
Well,
I played the cds on another drive
I tried playing music on the same drive with different media.
I inserted a data cd in the drive (non protected) and copy pasted all cd contents to hdd 2 times
I checked the dma settings
(What do you mean by “cable config”? If you mean the physical cables, I have not checked them.)
Maybe I expressed myself a bit unclear, but the problem is not that the Plextor drive is not able to play audio CDs AT ALL, but that it has stopped in the way described twice the last couple or weeks or so. And apart from this, it functions very well.
Still think it was because of the specific audio cds you played on it … could be protection, could be anything.
Drive works properly as you say, if it didnt it would surely give you a hard time copying/pasting 1,5gb on hdd.
Let it go for now but keep your eye for any repetition
PS: For audio players post on audio forum - will get more info there
The best audio player, especially MP3s, is Sonique, next is Winamp, then the rest like RealOne and WMP fall in. As for your problem, I don’t think it was just that PIO/DMA thing. I think it had something to do with your device controllers. Next time, if it happens again and you have a VIA chipset, try uninstalling the VIA Busmaster driver from your device manager and restarting. Also, update to the latest drivers, firmware, and updates. Another thing, make sure you have no programs locking on your CDRW, like Creative’s Disc Detector and etc.
Hope this helps
DFourthHorseman
Yes, these are solutions more in tune with what I expected. Thanks, I’ll have a look on the sonique player…