Why does this computer start burning CDs late into the first song and get the numbering wrong?

February 28, 2004 12:37 PM

My girlfriend's computer is from the late Jurassic period-- Gateway with an AMD 500-something mhz processor and 64 megs of RAM running 98 SE. It used to burn cd's from her mp3 collection generally flawlessly, but lately any cd made starts late in the first song and the track numbering is off (e.g. the player dosen't change from "2" to "3" until the middle of track 3.)

We switched from Roxio to Nero, tried converting to .wav with Winamp beforehand, but it's still off.

Any idea what the problem might be?
posted by Mayor Curley to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

The CD writer.

If you've switched software and input format, but you're getting the same problem, it's almost certainly a problem with the burner, which is really the only constant. You can check the manufacturer's website for a firmware update, but it'd probably just be easier to toss down a few dollars for a new one. They're dirt cheap, these days.
posted by Jairus at 12:39 PM on February 28, 2004

Seconded. Particularly if the burner has been used as a normal everyday CD-ROM drive as well. The first couple of generations of CD-R drives were prone to shorter lifespans, chiefly due to the heavier head mechanism. It's remarkable the thing works at all at this point.
posted by majick at 2:35 PM on February 28, 2004

Thirded. Your physical hardware is the primary issue. You can spend 30 or 40 bucks on very good CD-Writers nowadays.
posted by Keyser Soze at 8:15 PM on February 28, 2004