Member Avatar for tez

Hi Friends
I run the CD ROM and there are 'jumps' and other imperfections in the music, making for an unusable copy. Is this a sign of the lens on the original drive failing? The read-drive is a LITEON LTN485S running at 8.91 average speed , the write-only drive a Phillips CDRW 5224, running at 34 average speed. There have been no problems until now, except for the occassional 'clicks' on a copy of a recording.
The four year old PC is running on XP.
Any help appreciated but I guess installing a new CD ROM drive is the answer. Is this fairly straightforward?
Thanks, Tez

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by goldeagle2005

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Brief summary and troubleshooting plan for 's audio "jumps" (new Lite‑On helped but didn’t eliminate the problem). rightly pointed toward media and flagged the interface—both are plausible. The behaviour described most commonly comes from three areas: the disc itself (or how it was burned), the drive/read path (cable/jumpers/transfer mode/power), or the drive’s optics/firmware. The quickest way to isolate the cause is a short, ordered checklist.

  • Test with known-good pressed audio CDs and with a different burned disc. If pressed CDs play cleanly in both drives while only some burned discs stutter, media or burn settings (speed/jitter) are likely.
  • Swap the suspect drive to a different IDE/ATAPI connector or fit a new 80‑conductor IDE cable; verify power connector seating. Incorrect cabling or a worn 40‑wire cable often produces intermittent reads.
  • Check Windows (Device Manager → IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers): confirm the channel is running in DMA/UDMA, not PIO. Windows falls back to PIO after CRC errors and that causes stutters—removing the channel and rebooting will usually restore DMA if the hardware is healthy.
  • Try a lens-cleaning disc or gently clean discs (radial strokes, lint‑free cloth); avoid opening the drive. If available, test the drive in another PC to separate drive vs. system issues.
  • If steps above fail, consider a firmware update from the drive maker (follow vendor instructions exactly) or replace the drive with a different model/brand—two drives of the same batch can share the same marginal behaviour.

Notes and cautions: check jumpers (master/slave/cable‑select) before swapping drives, power down for hardware changes, and ground against static. Prioritizing cable/DMA checks will usually find the culprit faster than repeated drive replacements.

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Member Avatar for techniner

Could be a bad batch of media. Have you tried different media?

Can you reproduce the error with new media?

If not and its ONLY that drive then I would say she is shot.

Member Avatar for tez

Thanks Techniner - installed a new drive (happened to be the same make - LITE-ON) and think the situation is much better much strangely not completely gone. Have played CDs in the other drive (burner) and the reproduction is terrific. Perhaps I should install a different make? Is there any other possible cause? I am frankly stumped!! Tez

Member Avatar for goldeagle2005

Could be a bad data cable. Try replacing it and make sure all connections are tight

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