# [SOLVED] one specific cd freezes up computer



## Meandr (May 12, 2008)

Hello Everyone,

I have a problem I'm having trouble solving. When I try to rip,or even play, a certain CD(Green River by CCR) on to my hard drive, it freezes up my computer. It freezes with ITunes, Winamp, and Windows Media Player. This cd works fine (ripping and playing) on my wife's laptop and in my home stereo. Other cds are working fine on my computer also. It's just this specific album. I have a Dell Dimension 2400, which is running Windows XP with SP3. One thing that may have happened around the same time I noticed this problem is that when my computer was attempting to dowload and install service pack 3, the installation seemed to stop. I had to manually download the SP3 update from the Microsoft site and install it. I then noticed the icon for my local disk has now changed from what it should be to an unknown blank-page type icon. For a while, when I double-clicked on my local disk or external disk, it did not open, but opened the search option instead. I had to right-click and then open the disk. I seemed to have fixed this (the double-click problem, not the icon having changed) by entering a run command (I can't remember what it was, I should have written it down) from another site. I have Mcafee AV, and have ran Ad-Aware and Spybot SD. I also use CCleaner occasionally(which maybe from reading the sticky, I shouldn't do). I'm sorry for such a long question, but I'm perplexed. Thank you for any help you may give me.


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## johnhook (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: one specific cd freezes up computer*

Meandr,

Usually, when experiencing reading issues with a specific CD (audio, data, etc.) there's some flaw, scratch, etc. on that CD that you particular CD drive is having difficulties reading. Not ALL CD/DVD drives are created equal. A disc that reads fine in one drive might have errors in a different drive. Try cleaning the CD and see if it can read it after this. Did this CD play in your drive on this PC before? Can your CD read other audio/data CDs?

If you were previously able to read this CD - the CD is not damaged or dirty and you can no longer read it on THIS PC or in THIS CD drive - I'm thinking that the SP3 install/upgrade or something else you have recently installed is the culprit.

Is your wife's PC that can read this audio CD running XP SP3 or something else - please reply and let us know.

One other thing - this site has a strict policy against any type of illegal duplication or piracy of copyrighted material - so if your question involves legally questionable duplication of this audio CD - PLEASE seek help elsewhere. If you can't even playback the original CD - then we can help you - but please don't ask for assistance in "ripping" audio or data from original copyrighted materials as this is something we don't support here.

- John


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## Meandr (May 12, 2008)

*Re: one specific cd freezes up computer*

John,

Thank you for your reply. The CD is not damaged in any way and plays fine on other devices. My wife's Dell laptop is less than a year old, and is also running XP SP3. 

I'm not a music pirate in any way. Allow me to explain. I have a vast CD collection (actual albums purchased from my local music stores) and I'm going through my albums alphabetically and putting them on my hard drive so I can listen to them on my iPod at work. It's taken me a couple of years to get to the letter C in my collection (I spend way too much money on music, I know) Last year I "ripped" (is that the right term?) two songs from this album into my iTunes library, so I could put them into a mix I wanted for a road trip. The album played fine and the songs I copied on to my hard drive worked fine. Now, a year later, this same album, on this same computer is causing a total freeze up, no matter which media player I use.

Every other CD I've played since stumbling on to this problem has worked fine. I've tried over a dozen albums. The only reason I made a copy of this album on my wife's computer, was to see if I could "fool" my computer into playing it. The copy made my computer freeze up, just like the original. Somehow the information for this exact album is freezing up my computer. It's very puzzling. I'm curious what would happen if I downloaded the album from iTunes, just to see if it would freeze up my computer, but I don't think it's worth it considering I already own the actual CD.


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## johnhook (Apr 23, 2008)

*Re: one specific cd freezes up computer*

Meandr,

I didn't mean to offend you with the stuff about piracy in my reply. I needed to clarify this as site like this have very strict rules about copyright infringement. Forget about ripping for your iPod or making copies to test with - the fact that you can't even read the ORIGINAL Audio CD that you OWN is really the issue.

I'm thinking that something either with the XP SP3 upgrade or any media player or digital rights management software that were installed with the XP SP3 upgrade are the culprit of this problem. If you were able to play that orignal audio CD PRIOR to installing XP SP3 and/or any related updates/components - then it's fair to assume that such upgrades are the culprit.

On the offending PC - rather than trying to play that original CD in iTunes or Windows Media Player, instead try browsing "My Computer", then locate your CD drive, then open up THAT drive and see if you're able to see the audio Tracks. From there, try copying these tracks to an empty folder on your C: (hard drive). When you insert the audio CD - do NOT allow Windows XP to auto-play this CD - but instead, cancel out of this and try accessing the CD drive through My Computer.

I'm thinking that either something included with XP SP3, its Media Player, a setting related to this, DRM (Digital Rights Management) or some other software you've got installed on your PC is somehow blocking your ability to access/play the tracks on this audio CD.

Make sure you've installed the latest version of Microsoft DirectX and that your sound hardware drivers are compatible with XP SP3 and the latest version of DirectX as well. Check out:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&displaylang=en

Hope this helps.

- John


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## Meandr (May 12, 2008)

*Re: one specific cd freezes up computer*

Hello John,

I did what you said to do regarding copying the tracks to an empty folder and than accessing the CD drive through My Computer. Voila. I can now listen to the whole album, except for the first song. If I open up the first song using iTunes, it freezes up, and I have to shut it down with the Task Manager. If I open up the first song using Windows Media Player, it plays the second song instead. The information for that track must be corrupted on my computer somehow. But if it's a physical problem with the disc, I don't understand why it works on my wife's Dell. I'm just going to download the first track from iTunes and consider this battle mainly won. Thank you for kindly helping me out John. I greatly appreciate it. Take care.


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## Meandr (May 12, 2008)

*Re: one specific cd freezes up computer*

John,

I just purchased track 1 through iTunes. It works fine, but I wish it didn't have to come to that. I don't like losing at anything. Although I don't think of myself as a sore loser, my wife doesn't play me in cribbage any more. Thanks again for your help.


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