DVD Freezes/crashes Computer

[Superstes]

Hi. Whenever I put a DVD into my computer DVD/CD-RW drive, it reads it and then the computer locks up. Sometimes it completely freezes my system, and other times I have to click on the DVD/CD drive in My Computer before it freezes. Once I closed everything but what I needed and I opened Power DVD prior to inserting the DVD, and it froze for about 30 seconds, then played the movie (however, if I opened anything in the first few minutes, it would freeze). Recently I've tried putting in a DVD I got from PC Gamer that supposedly has data on it. This yields the same results. One time I tried putting it in and the computer was fine, but then I realized for some reason the DVD/CD drive had dissappeared from Device Manager. A device scan had it back, then my computer froze when I tried to access the drive from My Computer. My system specs are as follows:

Win XP Home w/ SP2 installed (the problem also occured before SP2, if I recall correctly)
AMD Athlon XP, 2083 MHz (12.5 x 167) 2800+
512 MB RAM
DVD drive w/CDRW (52x24x52) (the exact product is listed as LITE-ON COMBO LTC-48161H)
NVidia Gforce FX5200

All I have for programs (as far as I can tell) that would impact my DVD drive is PowerDVD. All drivers have been updated.
Thanks for the help.

[nspireing]

do two things

hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and goto your proformace tab post back whats it says interms of % of CPU usage.

next just as a thing to do

goto the start menu
choose run
type: msconfig
in the program that pops up you want to choose selective start up and UNCHECK the start up items option restart your computer, there could be something that is conflicting with it. one warning here if you have something that starts with the computer THAT YOU KNOW FOR A FACT YOU HAVE TO HAVE RUNNING post or email me first if not this is rarely an issue 99 times out of 100 its a non issue.

also a third one for your goto google and search out CCLEANER. run the different options its does exactly what its name says Crap Cleaner.

post back what happens afterwards as well as your cpu usage and well see where your at.

[ShaneMcP]

Sounds like the DVD drive may be bad or on the verge of going bad. Check the power and data cables to make sure they are connected all the way. It may be because your CDRW programs try to auto run at the same time your DVD programs start to run. Anyways nspireing seems to know what hes doing :)

Hope this helped

Shane McP

[Superstes]

Thanks for the help and replies. While none of the suggestions worked, I at least am now 90% certain my DVD drive is on the verge of being shot. And I did find another good spyware cleaner :D Thanks for all the help, now I just need to scrape up some cash for another one.

PS-The CPU Usage I had to get by opening Task Manager before inserting the DVD. The CPU usage would spike right when I put in the DVD to anywhere between 60-100%, then a few seconds later my computer would freeze like normal. I'm almost positive its the DVD player.

[chrisbliss18]

Try turning off Auto-play. After you turn it off, see if you can insert a disk and browse its contents. If you can, try running whatever it is you are trying to run. It's possible that you have some badly behaving software that is causing the issue.

[Superstes]

I already tried to turn off Auto-Play. The dvd player works perfectly with CDs, but for some reason has issues with DVDs. As soon as I try to explore the DVD, the computer freezes, and unfreezes when I physically eject the DVD.