Techie Question...

[Weapon X]

At home I am running a CTX laptop, AMD K-6, Win 98.
I've got an external CD-Burner (USB), and I'm having trouble successfully burning CDs.
I have only been able to burn one CD so far, and even that one came up with errors, but since it's graphics files, and most of them seemed okay, I've let it slide. But now I need to save some important documents and the process is breaking down.
The error I am getting says that I am either using a CD that is meant to be recorded faster than the CD burner can handle (untrue, I have gone out and bought CD-RWs that are 1x-4x), or that the blank CD is bad (untrue, as I have tried 3 brands and two speeds.)
I have set the burner itself to record no faster than 1x in an attempt to avoid errors, but that has not helped.
In addition, my IT teacher recommended shutting down absolutely ALL non-essential programs through program manager as that should help avoid problems.

My question is:
What are the programs that I should NOT shut down through program manager when shutting down all non-essential progs?
Thanks, all.

 

[WODIN]

Just close down all your apps. Then you should be fine.

Also burn at a rate just under your cd-rw drives stated bit rates. It takes a little longer but it helps avoid stack overflows. Which is probably your main problem.

 

[Weapon X]

Thanks, Wodin. But I am already doing this with all apps closed including even a screensaver!
And I am only attempting to burn at 1x.

 

[Delinquent]

What are your system resources at when you try to burn a cd? If they're too low, you could get those kinds of errors. From my personal experience, if the resources are under 75% wierd things happen. Especially with win9x OS. Try going into msconfig and unchecking a lot of the startup apps. If they're above that, it's not a memory problem. Have you tried using the burner on another computer?? It could be the hardware that's having the problem. Good luck

 

[Weapon X]

Thanks, Delinquent.
1.) How do I check how much of my system resources are being used?
2.) Which of teh startup apps are safe to close down via msconfig while I'm burning.

 

[the nature boy]

Thanks, Delinquent.
1.) How do I check how much of my system resources are being used?
2.) Which of teh startup apps are safe to close down via msconfig while I'm burning.

If I'm not mistaken, hit ctrl-alt-delete and click on taks list (I think) and one of the tabs is labelled performance. There are bar graphs there that represent CPU and memory usage. I use windows 2000 so there may be differences as to how you get to the performance tab in win98, but you should be able to find it.

One thing I've noticed is that certain brands of CD's work better than others. Sometimes CD's with opaque labels burn better than non opaque CD's, there's some technical reason regarding the light going through the CD during the burning process, but I'm not in expert in that field so I'll just give you a recommendation. Good luck.

 

[WODIN]

That's in windows 2000/NT for the task list....if you have 98 its under the accessories tab, system resources.

 

[Pimp C]

I'm used to 2000 but I think I remember how to check resources on 9.x

go to start-settings-control panel- system then performance tab

 

[furious]

Have you tried to update the BIOS for the laptop? your system sounds kinda old..as for as technology goes. Maybe the MB need a BIOS update for USB to work right. Also, what program are you using to burn with? EZ Creator, Roxio, Nero?