Hello, and thanks for reading my plea for help. Alright, my computer info: I have a DELL XPS 400 with Windows XP, Media Center Edition. A Pentium D processor, 2 GB of RAM, and most important about this: One DVD Drive (D:) and one DVD-RW Drive (E:). The (E:) drive is the one I have my problem with. Any how, my driver was working just lovely, but last week, I was burning an ProShow Gold Movie for my mother’s class reunion. (If you don’t know what ProShow Gold is, it’s a program you use to create and burn either a CD or a DVD movie of pictures and music you put together.) I live in the desert, and it was 102 degrees that day and didn’t have any air conditioning that day, (we had to buy a new one only yesterday) and while I was trying to burn the DVD, it burned it fine, but when it was in the Disk Closing/Finishing part of the burn, the drive would spin and whirl so fast that it made the computer shake, then just as fast, would slow to a halt. It did this in a loop for two minutes until I tried to stop the burn, but the program acted as if it was frozen so I did a ‘end now’ command. The program exited fine, but the drive continued it’s slowing/speeding actions. I tried to eject the disk but the driver was unresponsive. I tried the manual ejection and the icon ejection, but to no avail. I tried to turn off the computer, but the computer wouldn’t respond to the command, but the computer was not frozen. So I did a ‘force turn off’ by pushing the on button until it turned off. I gave the computer a day off to cool off, thinking it was just over heated. But the next day when the house was cool, I decided to try again. (I was able to eject the disk after starting up the computer again, so I could see the disk, it had burned information on it, but it can’t be read in any drive or DVD player) I set the burn speed to it’s slowest, just to be safe, thinking the high burn speed was part of the problem. Again, it got to the finishing disk faze when it started it’s speed up/slow down, non-responsive thing again. I had to repeat the ‘hard’ turn off to turn off the computer. After a moment I turned the computer back on and ejected the disk and it was scalding hot. So I assumed that the laser was the culprit. I checked the driver specks, and it said that the driver was working properly. I tried to burn just a regular music CD, it worked and the CD plays fine, but it took so long to burn and the CD was so hot, I don’t dare to burn another CD of any kind. It can also read CDs; they don’t get hot. But it WILL NOT burn DVDs or read DVD movies, when I put a movie in to see if it could, the driver will slowly spin then stop, and I can’t view anything of said movie from any programs, and again...have to do a ‘hard’ turn off. The driver knows it has disks in it, but it’s only DVD’s that it has it’s conniption fits. I tried to un-install the driver and re-install it, that didn’t work. I’ve ran diagnostics and it always saying that the driver is fine and dandy. So my computer-savvy readers, what do you think the problem is? Is it a simple fix, or is it time I dig into my purse and buy a new driver and bury my old sad little driver? Thanks again at looking at my problem, and sorry that it’s such a long winded one. When it comes to computers, they look down at me a laugh their butts off.

No simple fix will FIX that problem (no pun intended). However a new DVD writer is not that expensive. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... An LG 18X DVDWriter. 28 bucks @ newegg. Just order it online. its as simple as that. Yes, yes, you can dig deeper and try to pay someone to take a look at your computer, but in the end it will cost more than a new DVD writer, so I would recommend buying a new one. It's very strange, but somehow the extreme heat must have damaged your DVD writer. Wierd!? www.mrharlequinsucks.com "As hard as a rock, as fat as a cock".

If you can find a lense cleaning kit for optical drives that might help. I wouldn't spend too much cash on the cleaning kit though. Does sound like the drive may be shot. I have read negative things about the LG brand. Others may have different opinions. I just ordered TWO LiteON 20x burners that come with both black and white bezels. The white is getting hard to find these days. below is a link to the drive. Comes with Nero 7 Essentials. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

Is that drive in a very 'closed in' space where there is no airflow?

No, it is in a well ventilated area. When it comes to computers, they look down at me a laugh their butts off.

Just to be sure! I meant the 'DVD drive' inside the box, not the computer. What I'm thinking is that if it's at the top of the box with no air space above it and another drive right below it, there might not be anywhere for the hot air to disperse.

The first problem is CLEARLY cheap media being used. You said the machine would start to shake as the drive speeds up (when the speed increases it's doing what is called lead out). The shaking is due to a badly out of balance disk. It's clear that you are using no-name disks that you buy for $10per100 lot. The second problem (the speed up/slow down) is the machine trying to read/analyze the media in the drive... obviously it can't.... so is it the machine or the cheap media. Try burning with a GOOD quality disk and see what happens.