My pc's driving me nuts everytime i attempt burning a cd. I've already tried three programs (iomega hot burn, WMP's Roxio and db powerAMP cd writer). With iomega and powerAMP the pc just freezes while writing the first tracks and with roxio there is some buffer problem which cant allow the writer to write the audio tracks on the cd. Any suggestions?

First off didn't the drive come with any burner software. If you are having buffer problems then the drive isn't equipped with burnproof technology. Buffer underrun is when the burner runs out of data. When the buffer goes empty you end up with a coaster. If this is your situation there are a number of thing you can do. First thing is to make sure all your drives are using DMA. Next thing is to use a slower burn speed. Third thing might be to copy the data to a harddrive that is connected to the opposite IDE channel as the burner and then burn the data from there. Make sure your MBoard chipset drivers are installed. Look in device manager at the harddisk controllers. You should have three listings. Primary, Secondary, and Dual Fifo. The third one should have the chipset makers name as part of the driver name. Last thing is to not use the machine for any other tasks when burning. The drive speed you will need to use is dependent on your system specs. Try 4x at first and work up to whatever works.

Buffer underruns can occur if you have your devices configured wrong...for instance, if you're trying to copy a CD & you have the CD-ROM drive & CD burner on the same channel/cable, your more apt to produce "coasters" than if you had one device on the primary channel & the other on the 2ndary prim master = HDD /OS prim slave = CD-ROM 2nd master = CD burner 2nd slave = 2nd HDD (if you have one)