Re: My DVD drive frequently reboots PC!!

w-tom,

After a brief hiatus I have checked a couple more things with this problem PC.

After uninstalling (from Device manager) the DVD burner drive I could insert and eject a disc without getting any resets.
Even after I rebooted and it found the drive again I was able to insert discs a couple of times but on the third time it reset again.
I have checked the System event log and there is nothing particularly relevant. The nearest is a mention of a problem connected with "InCD"(?)

I haven't found any diagnostics for the drive (NEC NO-3500AG) and the firmware I found needs to be installed with just the NEC drive attached (no hard drives or or other CD's!) so I will hold off doing that.

The error which comes up on the blue screen when it resets, starts with 0x0000008E which I translate as a non specific fault.


I presume that as the drive uninstall seems to stop the resets then I am looking more at some conflict in Windows than a fault in the drive, though the driver could be corrupt.

That drive is as installed new and has been there working fine at least 4 years.

But the symptoms still puzzle me as I will describe again.
If the disc is in the drive when the PC boots it may reset and quite early on (maybe after 20-30 seconds)
If I insert the disc later in the boot process or even once it is fully started (which is well beyond 20-30 seconds after booting) it may reset! So the condition which causes the reset seems to not to be at one point in the boot process, but almost at any time and the delay between inserting the disc and the reset is about the same.

As I may have said before just pushing the empty drive drawer in does not cause a reset.

Nigel


"w_tom" <w_tom1@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:b7e6f2e0-ca23-4f07-a679-fb64a5b48adf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Jan 28, 4:52 pm, "Nigel Andrews" <nandre...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The reset only occurs when a disc (albeit any disc type) is put into the DVD
burner drive. A disc inserted in the reader drive has no adverse effect. The
PC runs normally if no disc is inserted in the burner.
The reset occurs sometime after the draw has closed upto 20 seconds, so the
drawer has closed and the drive light gone out well before.
Sometimes there is no reset.
If the disc is already in the drive (and the drawer closed) when the PC is
booted then it may still reset.

1) Unanswered question is whether that reset is created by hardware
or by software. Again, DVD manufacturer hardware diagnostics would
provide useful facts - executing hardware without the complications of
Windows.

2) If Windows is being reset, then what does the event (system) log
report?

3) If the DVD driver is (for some reason) defective and causing a
reset, then another test may also better identify that defect. Again
- break a problem into parts and test those parts. Go to Device
Manager to remove the DVD player. Now insert a DVD manually. Does
that inserted DVD (that will not trigger any Windows software because
it was removed) create a Windows reset?

Objective of that test: change one and only one thing, then collect
facts. In this case (as I read your posts) a DVD manually inserted
into the burner creates a Windows reset. By only removing DVD's
software driver, does that reset no longer happen? A process of
identifying a problem as a hardware problem or a software (driver)
related problem before fixing (shotgunning) anything.

.

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