Computer restarting problem

[capricorn]

Alright tech guru's, I'm crying uncle over this. I have an older computer that's running on XP with SP2. I don't know what CPU I have but maybe you don't need to know that quite off the bat yet. Here's the problem- I have a Lite-On DVD writer. Every time (almost every time) I put in a dvd disk in it, the computer restarts. I have no idea what is causing it. I also have a regular dvd drive as well and it doesn't happen with that one. I don't know if its a software or hardware problem. It looks like once it is ready to pop up the explorer window (when I put in the disk) it restarts. Any ideas??

TIA

cap

[Neutrino]

Originally Posted by capricorn

Alright tech guru's, I'm crying uncle over this. I have an older computer that's running on XP with SP2. I don't know what CPU I have but maybe you don't need to know that quite off the bat yet. Here's the problem- I have a Lite-On DVD writer. Every time (almost every time) I put in a dvd disk in it, the computer restarts. I have no idea what is causing it. I also have a regular dvd drive as well and it doesn't happen with that one. I don't know if its a software or hardware problem. It looks like once it is ready to pop up the explorer window (when I put in the disk) it restarts. Any ideas??

TIA

cap

try this:
windows key+pause > hardware > device manager > DVD/CDROM drives

select the liteon > right click > uninstall driver

then restart windows

This will force windows to reinstall the driver for that optical drive

see if this works

[Oz]

To start with, disable automatic restart. Right click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Startup and Recovery settings, untick automatic restart.

Then if you put a CD in hopefully you'll get a blue screen with an error code. If Neutrino's suggestion above doesn't fix it, post the error code here and we can keep troubleshooting for you.

[capricorn]

Originally Posted by Neutrino

try this:
windows key+pause > hardware > device manager > DVD/CDROM drives

select the liteon > right click > uninstall driver

then restart windows

This will force windows to reinstall the driver for that optical drive

see if this works

Thanks for the quick responses. I want to give this a try but one thing... I don't have the drivers for the Liteon drive anymore. If I uninstall the driver and there are no windows drivers compatible with the drive, how screwed am I? I could always try to dig one up on the web before I try this but I don't know the model number of the drive. Is this the safest thing to do at this point without the device driver readily on hand to reinstall?

I'll turn of automatic restart as suggested by Oz and see what happens. I'll keep you guys posted.

cap

[Neutrino]

So far i never had to install proprietary drivers for optical drives Xp handles them quite well on its own and Nero should handle as usual any burning duties regardless of the drive as well.

So you should be fairly safe to uninstall the drivers. If the problem persists follow OZ'z advice and post that BSOD code.

[-Davo]

Originally Posted by Oz

To start with, disable automatic restart. Right click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Startup and Recovery settings, untick automatic restart.

Then if you put a CD in hopefully you'll get a blue screen with an error code. If Neutrino's suggestion above doesn't fix it, post the error code here and we can keep troubleshooting for you.

Thanks Oz My computer restarts sometimes when I'm watching...movies... now I can actually see whats causing it!

[skibum1111]

Are you running any other software besides nero? I had nero and several other burning programs, turns out nero doesn't play well with others, has to be the bully if you will. Once I disabled the other software nero worked fine, didn't have any other issues like yours.

[capricorn]

I'll give it a try when I get home. I also use the writing software that came with the drive and not Nero. Should I uninstall that one too?

cap

[skibum1111]

I had to pick one, so I use nero. No problems since I uninstalled the other software. Good luck, these little bugs can be hard to work out.

[capricorn]

I'm going to take out the automatic restart and wait for it to happen and post the error code. I'm really gun-shy about taking out the driver as I couldn't find my XP cd nor my dvd drive cd. I spent the past night trying to find them with no luck so anything I do from here on out would just suck for me if I can't find those cds!

I'll post error codes once it goofs again. Thanks for helping!

cap

[Oz]

Don't stress about drivers too much, there is an EXCELLENT chance someone could track them down for you - but they probably wo't be needed.

I would uninstall all burning software you have, doing a registry clean and then installing your program of choice.

[capricorn]

So far I haven't used the drive as I'm a bit irritated at the situation. However, I've looked through this thread and the advice echoing from it is to remove the drivers and the burning software.

If I do that, what do I replace it with? I don't have any other buring software on my machine thus how would I be able to burn any cd/dvds? Someone mentioned Nero. I don't know what that is nor how to use it (or even how much it would cost me).

Your input would be greatly appreciated!

cap

[Oz]

You can download a trial version of Nero here: ftp://ftp2.de.nero.com/software/nero..._eng_no_yt.exe or here: http://httpdl1.usw.nero.com/software..._eng_no_yt.exe Their website and/or the software will advise you of the cost to upgrade once the trial runs out. Give it a try and persist with it for a while, it is a user friendly yet powerful burning suite.