Music Cds Won't Play Properly

[prehberg]

Recently I've been having a lot of problems burning music CDs. When the CD is completed, the program always says that the burn was successful, however, when I try to play it in my home stereo or car stereo, it will play to the end of the first track and then go back and repeat about the last 10 or 15 seconds of that track. I have to manually advance it to the next track. Then it does the same thing with every track up until about track 10 (out of about 20 tracks) where it stops dead still. At that point it won't even let me advance it manually to the next track. I can make it play on the computer, but there are some strange little noises and skips on every song.

I've done a lot of troubleshooting, and I've determined that the problem has to be with my computer. I'm running Windows XP Home Edition with SP2, and I always turn off the screensaver, firewall and antivirus program before starting to record, and the mp3 files I'm using are ones that I have burned to CDs before. I know there's nothing wrong with them.

It matters not which CD burning program I use. I've tried Roxio 5, Roxio 7 (that I just got with my new DVD/CD burner), Nero, and Windows Media Player. I also have a second CD burner on the same computer, and I've tried burning with that one, too. The results are always the same. It also cannot be the blank CD-R's I'm using, because I have recorded many CDs of the same brand from the same package, and they all play beautifully.

I really need some help. I've yet to try burning a DVD since I got the new burner for fear that it won't work right either. I've made about 10 CD coasters now, and this wastefulness is starting to get expensive. I'd appreciate any suggestions any of you might have, but please explain in layman's terms. Thanks in advance!

[d_deweywright]

I forgot to mention that I have 512K ram, but when I check it, I never seem to have more than about 300k available even if I close programs running in the background.

More than likely, your system's graphics are built into the motherboard, rather than having a separate card installed? If so, that's where you memory is going, to your graphics. It's called, "shared memory", which means that your main system memory is shared with the graphics hardware and isn't available to Windows. You can either add more RAM, or a separate video card to disable the on-board graphics and free up that RAM.

 

Let us know if that's so.

[prehberg]

More than likely, your system's graphics are built into the motherboard, rather than having a separate card installed? If so, that's where you memory is going, to your graphics. It's called, "shared memory", which means that your main system memory is shared with the graphics hardware and isn't available to Windows. You can either add more RAM, or a separate video card to disable the on-board graphics and free up that RAM.

 

Let us know if that's so.

 

 

I'm such a technically challenged person. I couldn't begin to tell you anything about graphics, video cards, or anything of the sort. I can, however, contact the man who built this computer and find out. Thanks for the help. You've given me a good starting place, and I'll eventually get to the bottom of this. I'll also save those three or four old Memorex CDs for burning documents and pictures, certainly not for music again. I'll post back when I find out more about the setup of this computer. I really appreciate the help from all of you. Thanks a million, Pam

[d_deweywright]

I'm such a technically challenged person. I couldn't begin to tell you anything about graphics, video cards, or anything of the sort. I can, however, contact the man who built this computer and find out. Thanks for the help. You've given me a good starting place, and I'll eventually get to the bottom of this. I'll also save those three or four old Memorex CDs for burning documents and pictures, certainly not for music again. I'll post back when I find out more about the setup of this computer. I really appreciate the help from all of you. Thanks a million, Pam

You should be able to tell fairly easily about the graphics. If the cable going to your monitor comes from a connector that is coming off the motherboard, rather than one of the expansion slots, then the graphics are on the motherboard. The expansion slots will be fairly obvious when you look at the back of your PC.

 

Good luck!

[prehberg]

In addition to what Dave said, make sure you have rid your computer of spyware/malware and you have updated the firmware for your burners.

 

 

Hi -

I never used this forum before, so I hope I'm replying the right way. My computer has an AMD Athlon 64 processor. The speed is 2000MHz. I've been using Memorex blanks that were purchased a little over two years ago. I'm not sure about the speed of the burn. I just always select "Smart Burn". I think perhaps it's about 16X.

 

I have another question, too. The software that came with my Maddog DVD burner included Roxio 7 with the Sonic Cineplayer. I can't get the Cineplayer to work. It keeps telling me to enter an activation code. No such code came with the CD, and it's not in the user's manual, nor is it stamped on the box. What should I do? Thanks again, Pam

 

Hi -

I never used this forum before, so I hope I'm replying the right way. My computer has an AMD Athlon 64 processor. The speed is 2000MHz. I've been using Memorex blanks that were purchased a little over two years ago. I'm not sure about the speed of the burn. I just always select "Smart Burn". I think perhaps it's about 16X.

 

I have another question, too. The software that came with my Maddog DVD burner included Roxio 7 with the Sonic Cineplayer. I can't get the Cineplayer to work. It keeps telling me to enter an activation code. No such code came with the CD, and it's not in the user's manual, nor is it stamped on the box. What should I do? Thanks again, Pam

 

I forgot to mention that I have 512K ram, but when I check it, I never seem to have more than about 300k available even if I close programs running in the background.

 

In addition to what Dave said, make sure you have rid your computer of spyware/malware and you have updated the firmware for your burners.

 

 

Hi -

I have Lavasoft Adaware and Microsoft Antispyware, and I've run both of them recently. I think I'm free of spyware and adware.

[d_deweywright]

Recently I've been having a lot of problems burning music CDs. When the CD is completed, the program always says that the burn was successful, however, when I try to play it in my home stereo or car stereo, it will play to the end of the first track and then go back and repeat about the last 10 or 15 seconds of that track. I have to manually advance it to the next track. Then it does the same thing with every track up until about track 10 (out of about 20 tracks) where it stops dead still. At that point it won't even let me advance it manually to the next track. I can make it play on the computer, but there are some strange little noises and skips on every song.

I've done a lot of troubleshooting, and I've determined that the problem has to be with my computer. I'm running Windows XP Home Edition with SP2, and I always turn off the screensaver, firewall and antivirus program before starting to record, and the mp3 files I'm using are ones that I have burned to CDs before. I know there's nothing wrong with them.

It matters not which CD burning program I use. I've tried Roxio 5, Roxio 7 (that I just got with my new DVD/CD burner), Nero, and Windows Media Player. I also have a second CD burner on the same computer, and I've tried burning with that one, too. The results are always the same. It also cannot be the blank CD-R's I'm using, because I have recorded many CDs of the same brand from the same package, and they all play beautifully.

I really need some help. I've yet to try burning a DVD since I got the new burner for fear that it won't work right either. I've made about 10 CD coasters now, and this wastefulness is starting to get expensive. I'd appreciate any suggestions any of you might have, but please explain in layman's terms. Thanks in advance!

At this point I still wouldn't discount the blanks you're using. It won't cost much to go buy a few discs of a different brand to try and see if it makes any difference. The problems you're experiencing all sound like a problem with the discs, or the disc and writer combination. Out of curiousity, what brand of disc are you using, and how long have you had them? Also, what speed(s) are you burning at? How fast is your computer? How much memory does your PC have? If you're getting some "strange little noises and skips on every song", even when played on your PC, then it sound like there is a problem with what is on the disc. And that could be caused by many things. The easiest to change at this point, is the disc, even if they've worked okay in the past.

 

Let us know what happens!

[grandpabruce]

In addition to what Dave said, make sure you have rid your computer of spyware/malware and you have updated the firmware for your burners.

[lynn98109]

Just for starters - there are more problems with Memorex than with all other brands combined. Yes, they cost less per disc, but it may be an expensive form of economy. So definitly try some other brands.

 

Second, as discs age, they become less willing to be burned. So 2 years old + Memorex discs may be a very bad combination.

 

Also, per a specifications list I found via google on shopping.com, EMC 7 wants 256MB of RAM, so having only 300MB free after other things (like the Operating System, etc.), is calling it pretty close.

 

Lynn