I just built my own PC and everything is fine except when I tried to burn some cds with Nero 6 (updated on line), it worked for a while, two cds burnt and then hangs - pc went dead. Since then the whole system refused to work whenever a blank recordable disk is put in the drive. I tried using Easy CD/DVD Creator with the same result. Nothing worked even when I removed and reinstalled software. I even had WinXP clean reinstalled. Does anyone have a clue to what is wrong? I am using Asus P5WD2 Premium motherboard Plextor PX716A DVD writer

Make sure the BIOS and OS is set for UDMA for the CD burner drive. I had the same problem and somehow the BIOS reverted back to the factory setting. Once I made the change, everything burned fine. Also try not to install multiple burning applications as they sometimes have conflicting dll's and it is a complete pain to uninstall and unregister them. Hope this helps. Chris Neutson

Plextor 716A... a damn nice burner; I use the same one here. I always get flawless burns and remarkable results when I do the Plextools scan tests. Definitelt do as Chris mentioned above... only use one burning application as Nero will definitely conflict with Roxio Easy CD/DVD Creator. I am using the same Roxio as you, and it is working great here for me. I really don't know too much about DMA mode, but I do know that it is important to ensure you have that set correctly....so check into that as Chris mentioned. Mine is set here to "Ultra DMA", but like I said I don't really understand too much more about that; I am new to this burning stuff. Hope this helps a bit; good luck with that Plextor...it is a phenominal burner. ~Tommyo

Thanks for the response and advice, Chris and Tommyo. You are probably right, Chris, though I don't have the PC with me now. The vendor who sold me the parts was willing to check the system for me. Apparently if WindowsXP encountered certain errors during data transfer operations, (if more than six) it would turn off DMA and use only PIO mode for that device. I checked my old computer and the BIOS is set to UDMA2 for the CD writer. Windows is supposed to be able to enable DMA mode as well but somehow my version (WinXP Home SP2) is not. There is no "Advanced Settings" tab in Device Manager\Ide Ata/Atapi Controllers\Properties menu box. Anyway, thanks again and hope your advice works on my PC (though what caused those errors in the first place could be my other problem). T L