Computer Restarts/DVD Driver

[DNomados]

Part 1:
Okay for about two weeks now my computer has been restarting everytime I want to burn various files such as mpeg, avi, wmv, flv etc. It works perfectly fine for burning CD's but when it comes to clips or movies or youtube videos it just restarts my computer. Anybody know why?

Part 2:
Why is it my computer which is Vista keeps disconnecting the DVD drive but once every blue moon its connected?

[Krispy Kritter]

part 1: Are you burning them as data or converting them for use in a standalone DVD player? Check Windows Event Viewer and see if it is logging any errors. If you are burning as data, use a different burning program, such as ImgBurn. It's the best and it's free.

part 2: Sounds like you have a hardware issue. A failing controller on the motherboard, a loose cable (data cable or power cable), a bad cable (data cable or power cable), or simply a failing drive. The only way to find out is to start troubleshooting.

[DNomados]

Thanks for replying Krispy. Love you avatar by the way. RE for life.

Anyway, part 1: I'm using DVD flick and it converts from the usual format like WMV, FLV, etc so yes to the question. And yep I'm trying to burn them for standard DVD (I own a Sabre HD DVD player.

Part 2: Best Buy said the same thing which I guess means there is nothing the Geek Squad can do. Any suggestions?

[Nelson37]

If you want some help a little more advanced than what the Geek Squad can do, which is not much, you will have to supply some useful information.

Make, Model, Age of PC? Symptoms or messages at restart? Point in the conversion process at which it restarts? Results when burning an already converted File? Results when burning a simple data DVD?

Would seem like a bad drive, but more testing is needed.

[DNomados]

If you want some help a little more advanced than what the Geek Squad can do, which is not much, you will have to supply some useful information.

Make, Model, Age of PC? Symptoms or messages at restart? Point in the conversion process at which it restarts? Results when burning an already converted File? Results when burning a simple data DVD?

Would seem like a bad drive, but more testing is needed.

See, thats what I did. I told them the best information I could which they didn't even ask to begin with and I guess they didn't want to be bothered or something because they claim I have a hardware issue.

Make: Compaq Presario F700
Model #CNF7497F21 (or do I have to check under the battery because this is from the s/n)
Point: It varies from 15% to 95%
Results when DVD is finished: With Movie Maker it had a watermark as it wasn't the paid version and some files were sped up more than others like one of my videos of the group NewS didn't work and then i had a test video that ran for 65 seconds was sped faster than that and proceeded immediately to the next clip

Age: 2 years

Messages at restart: nothing to serious. just the normal would i like to start it normall cause it hard resets.

Results when burning an already converted file works fine. I don't understand why I'm now having this problem. If it doesn't work after this I just might buy a external dvd writer and hopefully that solves the problem.

[Nelson37]

OK, the quality of the video burned onto the disk is NOT AN ISSUE. You originally stated that the PC restarts "when burning". Burning is only the very last step in a long and multi-step conversion process. It is also the VERY LAST step to be completed.

You seem to be describing poorly converted video. You seem to be describing a burner that is able to burn a disk without rebooting.

Repeat - AT WHAT POINT IN THE CONVERSION PROCESS DOES THE PC REBOOT? If it is BEFORE burning commences, then the burner is not an issue.

Do SEVERAL conversions WITHOUT burning, just save a file. Just convert and nothing else. Report results.

Do SEVERAL burns of BOTH DVD video and simple data files. Just a burn and nothing else. Report results.

Think hard, long, and thoroughly about the following question. WHAT CHANGES WERE MADE TO THE PC APPROXIMATELY TWO WEEKS AGO? New software, new hardware, ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING that changed. Was it moved? Used by a teenage boy while unsupervised? Virus found and removed? Upgrades to ANY software?

My guess at this point would be that the poor quality conversion software is choking on non-standard video, thus causing the reboot. The issue with Vista sometimes failing to recognize the DVD may very well be totally unrelated to the reboots.

As always, more precise and accurate information will lead to a more precise and accurate answer.

[Nelson37]

Just re-read your response a third time.

Do you mean that the PC reboots when the file conversion process is at 15 to 90%? Are you aware that no burn commences until the file is 100% completed?

If this is correct, then no further testing is required, the burner is not involved in any way in the reboot issue, it is most likely purely a software issue.

However, the fact that you have a laptop, and a Compaq Presario at that, make a heat-related reboot a distinct possibility. Encoding heats up a CPU, and laptops tend to overheat easily. Compare total system run time when rebooting versus the percentage completed. Such as - conversion started after first boot of the day either completes or gets very close, conversion started after PC has been on for 8 hours reboots very quickly. Similarly, compare reboot frequency with total conversion time. Such as - a 15 minute conversion is more likely to complete successfully than a 4 hour conversion.

Check the heat output with a digital probe, also known as a finger. Check while running normally, and after encoding for several minutes.

[MOVIEGEEK]

There are several possibilities:
1.The program is set to shutdown the PC when finished.Solution:untick the box.
2.The CPU is overheating from encoding(especially AMD CPU's).Solutionpen up the laptop and clean it out.
3.The writer is failing.Solutionince you have a laptop I would just buy a cheap(~$60USD) external writer.

[DNomados]

Just re-read your response a third time.

Do you mean that the PC reboots when the file conversion process is at 15 to 90%? Are you aware that no burn commences until the file is 100% completed?
If this is correct, then no further testing is required, the burner is not involved in any way in the reboot issue, it is most likely purely a software issue.

However, the fact that you have a laptop, and a Compaq Presario at that, make a heat-related reboot a distinct possibility. Encoding heats up a CPU, and laptops tend to overheat easily. Compare total system run time when rebooting versus the percentage completed. Such as - conversion started after first boot of the day either completes or gets very close, conversion started after PC has been on for 8 hours reboots very quickly. Similarly, compare reboot frequency with total conversion time. Such as - a 15 minute conversion is more likely to complete successfully than a 4 hour conversion.

Check the heat output with a digital probe, also known as a finger. Check while running normally, and after encoding for several minutes.

Yeah it reboots after the burn commences and then before the dvd completes the 100%burning process. I hope that answers the question.

Also thats my main thing as well the computer overheats as well and I probably need a heating fan or whatever but I don't wanna go all into that (like buying a new laptop) as I invested too much time with this computer and other than that runs perfectly fine.

[DNomados]

Think hard, long, and thoroughly about the following question. WHAT CHANGES WERE MADE TO THE PC APPROXIMATELY TWO WEEKS AGO? New software, new hardware, ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING that changed. Was it moved? Used by a teenage boy while unsupervised? Virus found and removed? Upgrades to ANY software?

My guess at this point would be that the poor quality conversion software is choking on non-standard video, thus causing the reboot. The issue with Vista sometimes failing to recognize the DVD may very well be totally unrelated to the reboots.

As always, more precise and accurate information will lead to a more precise and accurate answer.

The only changes that were made was to fix the wireless system as it wasnt picking up belkin. i now have linksys. as for hardware nothing. software, I had different DVD burning software installed like movie maker which i deleted, cheetahburner which i deleted and isoburn which i deleted, super dvd creator which i deleted, express burn which i deleted and i currently have dvd flick, imgburn and amadis on it. as for the virus i had one back in 2007-08 but it was fixed when i deleted a now unwanted mp3.

What else can i provide to you that would be helpful?

Do you think if I get rid of some home videos that I have that have like over 100MB is would free up some space and the hardrive or what have you will be back to normal?

[Nelson37]

Do the "Several" tests mentioned above.

Are you saying that two weeks ago, you were using completely different conversion and burning software, and everything worked OK, and now, with completely different conversion and burning software, it reboots during the burn?

When you say "it overheats", what evidence causes you to reach this conclusion?

[classfour]

When you say you "deleted" programs - did you delete or uninstall them? If you deleted program folders and did not do a proper uninstall - you may have residual files messing windows up. I would recommend downloading and running CCleaner first, then do a full defragment on the hard drive. If you're storing alot of videos, creating DVD folders (especially on a laptop with only a single drive), etc., you're working the hard drive on that Compaq pretty hard. I hardly ever use my Dell for DVD work - just to download video off the TIVO and convert to MPG (to an external hard drive). I would even recommend using an external hard drive to store created DVDs as you create them - then burn from the external to the internal burner ( I use Imgburn for nearly all burning).

Good Luck.

[DNomados]

Do the "Several" tests mentioned above.

Are you saying that two weeks ago, you were using completely different conversion and burning software, and everything worked OK, and now, with completely different conversion and burning software, it reboots during the burn?

When you say "it overheats", what evidence causes you to reach this conclusion?

1)When it immediately shuts down the PC, I check the two sides next to the mouse and its hot but not hot-hot.
2)Yes two weeks ago I was using the regular Divx, downthisvideo and/or WMP 11. Although I can't use WMP for .flv. i haven't tried WinAmp 5.5 though and yeah I really need that external driver it seems but until I get the money I wanted tot ry something different.

3)Exactly how does the External Driver work. All I know about it is it has a USB cord.

[DNomados]

When you say you "deleted" programs - did you delete or uninstall them? If you deleted program folders and did not do a proper uninstall - you may have residual files messing windows up. I would recommend downloading and running CCleaner first, then do a full defragment on the hard drive. If you're storing alot of videos, creating DVD folders (especially on a laptop with only a single drive), etc., you're working the hard drive on that Compaq pretty hard. I hardly ever use my Dell for DVD work - just to download video off the TIVO and convert to MPG (to an external hard drive). I would even recommend using an external hard drive to store created DVDs as you create them - then burn from the external to the internal burner ( I use Imgburn for nearly all burning).

Good Luck.

I've unistalled them as deleting does get rid of the programs, just the icons. Does IMGBurn work for all burning? Because when I used it it didn't have any options that I want to "burn" or "make" options. Just "image" etc. Am I missing something?

And yeah I gotta find a way to use the burner without it disconnecting on me or as Divx puts it "no recorder found"

[LCSHG]

Dnomados


Did this problem just start (everything worked OK before?)

When you try to download these clips, movies, youtube videos is it to the HDD or to the disk?
Some forums of Copy Protection (CP) will allow a copy to the HDD but will stop you from a copy to the disk or from the HDD to a disk
The prevention can vary from a OS and setup ( I do not use Vista) ALSO the computer itself
If your other unit does ok you might check the OS used on both It could be the problem PC unit itself. There has been an effort to not allow a video download to a PC

Just a Thought

[DNomados]

Everything else works ok but I don't think they are copyrighted unless someone went behind me and did so.

When I do download these its to the hard drive yes. C drive to be exact also It let me burn music videos without a problem. For example,

January-April I had no problem then in April my drive first started to experience it disconnecting and I didn't care. Two-three weeks ago now, it just restarts whenever its burning period. I understand if it said "cannot burn, copyright" so and so but it doesn't.

[DNomados]

Okay so I deleted the files that were stored from playlist in the D drive. And it relieved some space but I'm still having the same outcome whenever I burn.

[Nelson37]

Let me see if I understand what you have said. Much is unclear.

Two to three weeks ago, you had different software which could convert and burn without problem. For some unknown reason, this software was removed and new software added which restarts when burning. However, burning an already created file burns successfully.

It would appear that the problem is limited to the new combination of convert and burn software. This would seem to be so glaringly obvious that there must be some additional missing information.

The disconnect issue may or may not be related. Did this happen with the old software combination? If not, it may be that the restart AND disconnect issues are BOTH related to the new software.

Much confusion would be eliminated by performing the specific tests I suggested. Also clear and precise answers are helpful. I have no freaking clue what "Divx downthisvideo" means. "Hot but not hot-hot" is a totally useless description and has NO VALUE WHATSOEVER without the comparison to normal running conditions which I requested. Combined with the additional data, this could become a useful diagnostic tool. Otherwise it's just noise.

The solution to your problem will depend on precise and accurate responses from YOU.