"John D. Penberthy" wrote:
>
> When a burner becomes unreliable there are several steps to take to insure
> that it is the system and not the burner.
>
>     1. Reinstall the software, (it may have become corrupt.)
>
>     2. Reinstall Windows, (it always is corrupt. :-) )
>
>     3. Defragment your hard drive.  Most IDE CD burners copy to the hard
> drive first, then copy to the burner.  If you have a fragmented hard drive
> it may be delaying just enough to throw the burn timing out of sync, and
> therefore fail.
> <snip>

Regarding #1 & #2 above, I would get the utility called Aspichk.exe from
Adaptec's web site (http://www.adaptec.com). This utility checks your
installed ASPI layer and reports its version and whether all of the
files are in place. Known good ASPI versions include 1008 and 1014, but
not 1013. Version 1008 is available as a separate download from
Adaptec's site. Do a search for "aspi.exe." Version 1014 is bundled with
the ECDC 3.5b update. Downloading and installing that update will
automatically update your ASPI layer to version 1014.

Item #3 above is misleading, IMHO. CD burners don't copy data to the
hard drive before a burn - that's strictly a function of the software
you use with your burner. However, if you're burning a data CD on the
fly, (that is, without building an image first), then be aware that
burning directories with thousands of small files can sometimes cause
enough of a delay to allow a buffer underrun. At any rate, Mark is
getting lock ups, rather than buffer underruns, which pretty much
eliminates the "too many files/hard drive fragmented" scenario. I would
look first toward excessive heat buildup in and around the burner,
and/or a worn out burner. Unfortunately, they don't all have the
lifetimes that we've come to expect from most other computer components.

Just my 0.02...

Jeff Delzer

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