Quick rig info:

EVGA 680i mobo
2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM
EVGA 7950 GT KO SOC (512)-SLi
WDC SATA Hard Drive (230GB)

And now the problem:

When I attempt to install new programs, data will transfer fine, until it's time to change disk. At that point, by system stops responding. I've tried different drives, different combination of drives, different programs to install. It all happens the SAME way:

First disk is copied without problem, prompted for second disk. I remove the first disk and insert the second disk, the computer acknowledges the second disk with a little hour glass an CD icon...then, nothing. It sits there and hangs, locks up my system to the point I have to do a manal restart.

Noe this wasn't always the case obviously, as I do have programs on my computer, and most were added by use of my DVD ROMs. I don't know when the comp starting having problems, but any and all help would be appreciated.

The less a man makes declarative statements, the less apt he is to look foolish in retrospect.

Have you added or removed any burning or scanner software recently? How old is your optical drive?

I have not changed out any of the drives, other than for testing.

I purchased the drives (from Newegg) as part of my last build about 14 months ago.

I've tried one drive, swapping out the slave for the master. I even tried a drive from a different comp, my old spare parts comp. I'm starting to think it's a registry issue.

The less a man makes declarative statements, the less apt he is to look foolish in retrospect.

As OtheHill has said, have you added or removed burning software, since the drives last worked properly?
That can often be important as that can often cause problems.
Have you?
.....

Insert a CD and look at it's contents.
Then insert a different CD and look at it's contents, in the same drive, without re-booting.
If you are seeing the contents of the first CD rather than that of the second one, Windows is not recognizing you have changed the CD.
This can be caused by defective switches or sensors in a particular optical drive - they are supposed to sense the CD has been changed and signify that to Windows - but in that case only one particular optical drive is likely to do that.
If Windows does the same thing with more than one optical drive, there is a Windows software problem.
.....

In any case you could try Un-installing all the optical drive models in Device Manager, then re-booting - Windows will auto reload the optical drive drivers while booting. If a corrupted driver related file was causing the problem, that may get rid of the problem.