1. You are viewing our forum as a guest. For full access please Register. WindowsBBS.com is completely free, paid for by advertisers and donations.

Need to stop CD/DVD drive from reading

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by days77, 2008/06/29.

  1. 2008/06/29
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Occassionally I put a disc in the CD/DVD drive and it fails to read correctly. I need to know how to stop the drive from reading. How do I stop the process or eject the disc. Even shutting down the computer fails to stop the drive and the computer will not stop reading therefor the computer fails to shut down and the only way to get control is to reset when the OS as written final files to the hard drive. If this occurs too often I usually do a disc error check on the hard drive as shutting down the OS in this way sometimes causes OS problems. How do I stop the CD?DVD disc process?
     
  2. 2008/06/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

    Joined:
    2002/05/10
    Messages:
    28,889
    Likes Received:
    386
    days77 - Welcome to the Board :)

    Several questions arise here ....

    Can you eject the disk using the eject button on the drive?

    Can you eject the disk using the eject command on the drive through Windows Explorer - right click on the drive > Eject?

    Any specific CD/DVD? Have you tested in another computer? The disk may be dirty/damaged.

    Always a CD or a DVD or both ? - CD/DVD drives have 2 read heads, one for CD, the other for DVD.

    Have you checked the cabling to the drive at each end ? - remove & replace.

    Have you tried another ribbon cable?

    Have you removed the drive in Device Manager and rebooted to redetect and install ?
    If all of the above fail to resolve the problem I suspect the drive is failing - may be a dirty laser or something deeper. New drives are so cheap this may be the best route to follow.
     

  3. to hide this advert.

  4. 2008/06/30
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    CD DVD drive accessing fault

    Sorry I should have added all those points in my first post. The disc will work in other machines. Occassionally the discs just keep accessing. The same disc will be ok next time the computer is up and running again after reset. The problem is to find some way to stop computer keep accessing the disc - its trying to read and not completing some task which stops the OS from shutting down. I've tried locating what task the machine is running in task manager to stop the process without success. Eject button doesn't work. Windows explorer - eject button on drive doesn't work. It may be the drivers or something but what I really want to know is how to stop the process or task - The drive will stop after computer is reset and then eject button works but I don't like the OS system not shutting down properly. These are DVD data discs - lots of data and sometimes the computer just foesn't read them and won't stop the process of trying to access the disc

    Cables all seem fine. I use a cleaner and then the drives ok But I'd like to stop the disc accesss when I know its not going to stop reading the disc.
     
  5. 2008/06/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

    Joined:
    2002/05/10
    Messages:
    28,889
    Likes Received:
    386
    I understand what you are seeking to achieve, but, to be honest, do not have an answer beyond what you do now - hit the reset button.

    I can detect no additional process running when a CD/DVD is accessed - if there is one it may well be in an instance of svchost.exe.

    You may get a clue from running Process Explorer
     
  6. 2008/06/30
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    to stop cd/DVD accessing disc.

    Thanks. Thats helpful. I also remember something about changing how long the computer will wait on shutdown to stop processes not responding - possibly changing that to a shorter period of time may help matters and stop accessing the disc.
     
  7. 2008/06/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

    Joined:
    2002/05/10
    Messages:
    28,889
    Likes Received:
    386
  8. 2008/06/30
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Speed up - windows shutdown sequence

    That's it. I wonder if the operating system considers the disc access a non responsive process? Regardless this is helpful in speeding up the shut down process. I'm going to try it and next time the disc plays up Hopefully the computer will kill the disc access and shutdown.
     
  9. 2008/07/01
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

    Joined:
    2002/05/10
    Messages:
    28,889
    Likes Received:
    386
    Please post back on the outcome - good or bad - this is an interesting problem :)
     
  10. 2008/07/01
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    kill disc access

    I will post back the outcome. I plan to do a few DVD Data backups - I do a lot of video editing and backup files on DVD and sometime accessing them I get the problem we discussed. I will be doing the backups over the next day or so, so I should have the problem crop up again. I've edited the registry to shut down faster - I had done this previously but noticed your link suggested even lower periods for timeout and a few more devices/processes. So this should shorten my shutdown even further.

    Something I have noticed which makes disc accessing faster - the computer may remember the disc -windows explorer that is, and if I requested thumbnails on all files - and the disc has lots of video files -this definately slows access up and could be part of the problem.

    eg a list of files instead of icons thumbnails etc speeds up access.

    Drive is about two years old. Maybe newer faster drives can read the entire disc faster 4.7gb

    Anyway I post the result in a day or so.
     
  11. 2008/07/03
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    killing disc access

    Nope! Disc access does not shut down on shutting down windows. This process is not considered a processs that is not responding. I waiting far too long so hit the reset button - only after I was sure all OS files were written to the hard drive otherwise OS problems would result. I wonder if there is anything in the registry that could do something? or running a line of code?

    The above link sure speeds up windows shutting down.
     
  12. 2008/07/03
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

    Joined:
    2002/05/10
    Messages:
    28,889
    Likes Received:
    386
    This is a bit of a mystery :)

    Have you tried disabling thumbnails as a trial ? - W Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View > Do not cache thumbnails.

    I'm asking for an assist on this so watch out for further comments.
     
  13. 2008/07/03
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    blank disc inserted

    I put a blank disc into the drive so that I could burn a Data DVD as a backup of video files - so this time the drive had a blank disc. After reset the same disc worked OK and I burnt the disc. :)

    The drive's driver is upto date. Could be the drive is on its way out - but the trick is to find some way of sending a signal to the drive to stop the accessing. A floppy drive will detect if there is no disc,:confused so a cd drive should somehow detect if its not reading or its taking too long trying to read something.

    Maybe a line of code on the run command?
     
  14. 2008/07/03
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

    Joined:
    2002/06/10
    Messages:
    8,198
    Likes Received:
    63
    Hi,
    Just some questions first. If you have the disk in the drive, but do not access the disk, does it shut down the same way?

    Do you close down all your programs before you shut down? If a program thinks a file from the disk has been changed, it will want to save the changes in the file.

    Try disabling any checking programs like Antivirus or Antispyware before shutting down and see if there is a difference.

    You mention that the disks cannot be read sometimes. Try using a different brand of blank disk. Look for a firmware update for the drive.

    You mentioned the drivers, the drivers involved would be IDE Controller drivers and/or the chipset (motherboard) drivers.

    Do you happen to have Nero, and in particular, InCD installed? That can cause headaches sometimes.

    If you use DVD-R disks, it might prefer DVD+R or visa-versa (check the recommendation for the drive at the manufacturer's website). It might also be a problem if the disk is not "finalised ".

    Look for any "drive" programs that might be installed. Programs for running some flash/micro drives can cause problems.

    Do you have any form of file encryption enabled?

    Mmmm, see what happens by going into Safe Mode and accessing the disk. Is it reliable, etc, there?

    Matt
     
  15. 2008/07/03
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    InCD

    You might have something there. InCD and nero to make Data disks.

    Don't have anything running in the background such as anti-virus. I don't believe in any unneccessary processes - updates spyware etc. I do everything manually. No other programs.

    I try to have a system that doesn't interfere with video as much as possible.

    I kill msmesenger every time I start up - although I have uninstalled the stupid thing.


    So Nero and InCD - if you know anything about those and how to fix it.

    My drive prefers DVD + R and for the majority of the time continues to function all OK but occassionally a disc just keeps on accessing.
     
  16. 2008/07/03
    Rockster2U

    Rockster2U Geek Member

    Joined:
    2002/04/01
    Messages:
    3,181
    Likes Received:
    9
    You mention the drive is about two years old. What versions of InCD and Nero are you using? And, is this a single layer or a dual layer drive? For starters, I'd uninstall InCD and if you use that program occasionally, re-install it. If you don't use it, then leave it on the shelf. I'm not sure this is the cause of your problem but its a good first step.

    ;)
     
  17. 2008/07/03
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    InCD

    I can't even remeber what that is. Is InCD a program? I see it as a process in task manager ? Or is it part of Nero?

    That does sound like a good step to take. It's something to do with disc detection.
     
  18. 2008/07/03
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

    Joined:
    2002/06/10
    Messages:
    8,198
    Likes Received:
    63
    InCd runs a rewritable disk in UDF format. It formats and treats the disk the same way as we used a floppy disk. You can cut, copy and paste onto the disk, delete files, etc.

    The UDF format is "special" and you cannot read a UDF disk without a UDF reader.

    From Rockster's post, look in Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs for the uninstaller for InCD. Uninstall it if you don't use it. If you use it, you will find you need to format rewritable disks in the UDF format, in which case, uninstall InCD, then try reinstalling it again.

    Matt
     
  19. 2008/07/03
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    InCd problem

    Thanks. I found InCd in the add/ remove programs. I also found another little program that I am running called disc detector which detects DVD to start up the power DVD player. I've diabled that for the time being. This fault only occurs occassionally and for the most part the computer works fine.

    A multimedia computer thats asked to do a lot of things. I stick to brands of disks that haven't given me trouble.

    I'll experiment now that I'm onto this InCd possibility.
     
  20. 2008/07/03
    days77

    days77 Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/06/29
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    Windows drag and drop CD

    I've been using nero to make Data DVD's but I believe Windows XP is capable of this drag and drop files to the CD DVD on its own.

    I 've done that on other computers other than mine when the other machine doesn't have NERO or software to create Data CD DVD's.

    Having Nero and this InCD (InCD I think is just part of Nero) on my machine is really a conflict. Although Nero does have a few other features that Windows doesn't have.
     
  21. 2008/07/03
    DaltonWilliams

    DaltonWilliams Inactive

    Joined:
    2008/07/03
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Oops, wrong thread
     
    Last edited: 2008/07/03

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.