Why do modern CD-ROM drives freeze your PC???

[Mini-Me]

Tell me something - Why is it that:

1) When you insert a CD into a modern CD-ROM drive, that it freezes the whole PC until it is able to read something from the disc???
(when reading is established, the PC returns to you, but if not...)

2) Why do modern CD-ROM drives crash the PC so seriously, when, for whatever reason, the drive is not able to log-on to, or read from a certain disc, that you are forced to reboot, cos the whole machine locks up, and you cannot even move your mouse pointer anymore???

This is EXCEPTIONALLY AGGRIVATING for me, and there seems to be no way you can stop this from happening...

I put the same "Troublesome" discs into a PC with a 16x reader, and the disc reads fine, but here with my 52x reader, the drive is trying all the time to log onto the disc, and it freezes the PC while it is trying to do this.

Why can't you have full use of your PC?
Why do CD-ROM drives lock-up a PC like this, while they try to access a disc?

Even if the logon takes a few minutes(worst case), then why can't you do things with your PC while the CD-drive is trying to access the disc???

This total and utter freezing of the PC while the CD-drive tries to read is totally unacceptable, and I am about to loose my mind over this - it is so irritating...


Sometimes the drive access light flashes, other times, it flashes only a couple of times, then goes out(drive is in standby), and the whole PC is frozen, requiring you to press RESET on the PC box itself - this annoys the hell out of me...

It seems ludicrous to me, that you should have to use an older PC, with an older CD-ROM drive, to access discs made in the newer one...


Any thoughts - I am trying to stay calm, but I'm having a hard time...

I'm going now, to drink my way through a keg of beer, as a direct result of the stress this is giving me...

I wonder how many PC tech guys turn out to be raging alcoholics as a direct result of working with Windows woes, and device problems???


MM.

[Budfred]

Have you tried turning off the autoload feature for the drive?? I don't have the kind of problem you are describing with any of my optical drives, but if I did, I would turn off autoload. Also, if I am not mistaken, you can hold down the Shift key when you insert a CD and it will not go into autoload if you want to avoid it only some of the time.

Secondly, I think there may be something wrong with your drive or the drivers......