ellgee333

___

when shopping around for a laptop about a year ago, i settled on a gateway mx6453. i ended up trying and returning several because there was a problem playing retail dvd's: sometimes a portion of the movie would be skipped. the player and computer would freeze up completely in extreme cases.

the fourth one i tried did not have this issue. so i kept it. slowly but surely, however, i began to experience this same anomaly. intermittent yes, and not with all dvd's. but an annoyance nonetheless.

the more serious matter has evolved into this: when i have files to write to a cd-rw, whether the cd-rw is memorex, jensen or tdk branded, the disc is not usually recognized. a window appears proclaiming "there is no disc in the drive. please insert a writable cd." this very same disc IS recognized and writable in another laptop i have.

sometimes if i re-boot the gateway, then insert this disc, it will be written to. other times not.

i went to the 'my computer'/'view system information'/'hardware'/'device manager'/ and attempted a driver re-install. no go.

i did not proceed with the 'uninstall' feature because of the message "warning: you are about to uninstall this device from your system."

a short time ago, in the process of installing an anti-virus program, that program generated this message: "installer has detected that there is an outdated version of the program 'roxio easy cd & dvd creator' which contains a bug that (among others) can cause problems with avg 7.5."

i assume this roxio program is 'hidden' as it doesn't show up under 'programs' or 'add or remove programs'. the roxio website makes no mention of issues with, or of updating said item.

to gateway tech support i sent an e-mail describing the situation. the response was useless and had nothing to do with my query. which leads me to believe that the gateway employee responding does not understand english, is foolish, stupid, that the company refuses to admit the problem, or a combination thereof.

a just recent development---using dvd shrink to copy a dvd movie to my hard drive moves along like this---shrink does an analysis on the dvd, then a deep analysis. both these steps run without a hitch. now i continue to the last phase 'backup'.

when i click on 'backup' either the system hangs completely and i lose my cursor, or the program attempts to read (the dvd?), the drive goes into a back and forth search loop and is unable to proceed.

my operating system is windows xp media center edition 2002, service pack 2. firefox 2.0.0.13 is my browser. the dvd-cd drive is a philips dvd+rw sdvd8820. the driver is designated thusly: provider-microsoft/date-7-1-2001/version-5.1.2535.0/file details: provider-roxio/version-7.1.0.188.

does someone at the forum know what is going on and how to correct this behavior?

thanks!

ellgee333
___

dai

the driver is part of windows
uninstall the device from the device manager and reboot and windows will reinstall
roxio causes problems
what do you use it for
try uninstalling the upper and lower filters
scroll down to how here
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=k...060&x=12&y=13#

ellgee333

___

hello dai and i thank you for the suggestion; i followed it: uninstalled the driver and rebooted, at which time i got this message-'found new hardware'.

so far so good, no? but good things sometimes come to an abrupt end.
as soon as i put a cd-rw in the drive and tried to add a file, once more i was informed "there is no disc in the drive. please insert a writable cd."
yikes!

if that cryptic thingee "roxio causes problems
what do you use it for" is your way of asking have i a roxio program and how do i use it, then thus is my answer: i do not know if i have a roxio program or not, no such item shows up, as i mentioned before, either in 'add/remove' programs or my 'start/all programs' listing.

as to uninstalling upper and lower filters, i've not yet worked up my courage for that.

by the way, do you know what 'p.c.' stands for?

ellgee333
___

dai

pc personal computer
do the filters

ellgee333

___

again hello dai,

well i took a look at the microsoft exposition of the why's and how's of uninstalling the upper and lower filters. (although we're talking computers, doesn't this remind you of vehicles and engine oil? sure does me.)

anyway, i've not gone in there and messed around with the registry as instructed, since the symptoms given by the gates factory don't precisely match up with what i've encountered.

spring, however, has arrived in my part of the country and the warm sunny days, combined with the annual sense of renewal, might be all that's needed to infuse me with a specious sense of bravado.

so don't be surprised to see me, very soon, dressed up in my overalls, wrench in hand, and having a go at those doggone filters!

but let's get back to another matter of importance, the meaning of the phrase 'p.c': many people would agree with you that these two letters are an acronym for 'personal computer'.

this is a myth.

perhaps one started by bill gates himself; no one really knows.

it's very similar, by the way, to another great fiction: that americans are not people, just simply consumers.

some say that the term 'p.c.' was coined by steve jobs when asked what he thought of the computer operating system being peddled by a rival.

"piece of c**p," he replied.

(i figured i'd go with the asterisks to maintain a pg-13 rating.)

ellgee333
___

dai

quite often the first part is not a discription to match the problem only use it to show the filters removal method
that's why i said to scroll down to it

ellgee333

___

dai hello again,

i enjoyed your 4-18-'08 post: you've a great sense of humor and, i bet, a shirt to match.

well, my overalls are back from the cleaners, the birds are singing, and i'm about ready to tackle those filters.

ellgee333

___