Another question for the PC experts. (I'm glad I'm not the expert I used to be in old school computers.... I get to ask the questions now.)

I am almost finished ripping all my CDs to FLAC so they sound better via my Squeezebox. There is one last CD that causes my PC to freeze as soon as it gets loaded into the drive. Manually eject the CD and control returns.

I know what you are thinking..... Turn off the auto-load feature for the drive. I can assure you that I have and I have verified it by checking that the "Autorun value" under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Cdrom.
of the registry has been set to "0".

Is there something deeper in the registry I need to adjust so it totally ignores the CD until I open up my ripping software?

I suspect that the drive may not be trying to 'run' anything but it is trying to verify that there is a readable CD in there and finding something it doesn't like. Tricky data, maybe even CD damage? However, even if you throw a damaged CD in there, it doesn't freeze. In fact, I tried throwing in the clear plastic spacer that came with my carousel of blanks and it didn't freeze.

This tells me it is reading some kind of data, real or by accident, that is hosing it.

I also considered the Sony trojan that they were sneaking onto their CDs for a while. However, I have checked that it is not on mys system and it is not a Sony CD in any case.

Also, If you read another recent post, you know I just recently had to reinstall everything over a new Hard Drive after my old crashed. I'm bare bones with with XP, SP2, Vanguard (game), Firefox and Slimserver. It still freezes the PC. I'm turning of my antivirus software as well when I tied it again on the new PC.

Thanks ahead,
Murph

It's like it's wearing a chastity belt.

Have you tried holding down the Shift key when you insert the disc?

http://news.com.com/2100-1025-5087875.html

Stupidest question of the day...

Are you sure it's a CD and not a DVD, DVD-A, etc?

That usually confuses straight CD-ROM drives.

Other than that... the only time I've have a disc hang like that was on a client supplied disc that was scratched/damaged something fierce.

Bren R.

Sounds like there might be some auto load feature and the reader is unable to find the proper files without it. I have taken to just pulling the iso files or wav files off the CD's and then doing what ever I want with them. I have had too many issues with all the DRM stuff, so I just avoid it as much as possible.

Hey, another Squeezebox user! I did the same as far as ripping my collection to .flac.

Have you tried the CD in a different PC?
Do you have another CD reader you can try in your current PC?
What CD is it? Do other people have problems ripping the same CD?

What's your ripping program? If you're not using it, I recommend EAC using secure mode.

Thanks all. To answer some questions....
- I have tried the [shift] key.
- It is a plain old audio CD.
- It played in my old car CD deck that used to have issues with some DRM laced CDs.
- It's 'The Cult -- Pure Cult, the Singles' it was released in 2000 by 'Beggar's Banquet' a label that never used DRM to my knowledge.
- I can't simply remove the wave files because the PC freezes instantly as soon as the drive door closes. No opportunity to work with it in any fashion.

I disabled two other registry keys last night. The next obvious step is, as mentioned, to try it in another PC or drive. I haven't done this yet because It was really bugging me that I couldn't over come the problem. However, if it is damage on the CD that the drive is particularly sensitive too, there is nothing left but to try it in other drives or PC. I have a spare drive and can use my laptop tonight to experiment further.

I'll let you know the final word.

I haven't had this particular issue with a CD, but the reason I mention another drive is I had a DVD that my shiny expensive Plextor drive in my main PC would not recognize. The drive never even reported a disc had been inserted. For whatever reason, the OEM drive in my laptop could handle it no problem.

For clarification, are you experiencing a hard freeze to where you have to manually reset the computer via power button, or are you receiving a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death)?

Quote:

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For clarification, are you experiencing a hard freeze to where you have to manually reset the computer via power button, or are you receiving a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death)?

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Neither actually, I lose keyboard and mouse control but the screen stays as is. I don't have to reboot because once I remove the CD, control returns. Very odd behavior.

Update:
Last night I took home my laptop. It did not freeze and I could play all the tracks. I then installed an old CD only drive. The PC still froze while the disk was inserted.

This leads my to believe that it is probably something within the BIOS of my Dell 4700. Could be the driver, or anything else specific to that box, but in any case...

My curiosity to narrow it down is depleted and I'm just going to rip the tracks on my laptop and copy them to my music library.