Possible conflict of cdgrab and XP SP3, or Dell Media Direct

[welldonep]

Hello ... I am having an issue with cdgrab crashing and/or 'freezing' on my Dell Inspiron 1520. The issue seems to have started after installing SP3, but I am not certain if it is that, or possibly an issue with Dell's Media Direct. Basically, if I put in a cd, nothing happens. I no longer get the window to select 'what I want to do with the disc', and if I go to My Computer to explore the disc, I simply get an hourglass. I have now formatted my machine a few times, and the issue was/is still present, so I then had Dell replace the drive thinking it was a hardware issue, but the issue is still there after yet another clean installation.

This last time I did a clean install. I did not install dbpoweramp, and decided to simply see if the drive would read cd's with other apps, etc. It worked normally for a couple of weeks, and then created a restore point and installed dvpoweramp, and the issue was immediately there.

I tried to go back to the restore point, and the restore was successful, but the issue is still there. I do not recall having the issue while on XP SP2, but I cannot be certain the SP3 is the issue or not. The only thing that comes to mind, is that I believe that Dell's Media Direct tries to access discs as they are inserted, and there may be a conflict there ... though again, I am not certain.

I'd really like to not have to format my pc again, but it looks like I will either have to go without dbpoweramp or try going back to SP2 and just run all other updates other than SP3, or ... try going without Media Direct. I don't 'have' to have Media Direct, but it's nice when I want to play a DVD on a plane ... it saves some battery time without having to launch Windows.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it. I have tried the suggestions that I found on the forum related to cdgrab crashing, but nothing has worked thus far, so this is why I thought I start my own thread. I emailed support, but never received a response. I am using version r12 btw.

Thanks much to anyone who can offer any suggestions.

Cheers!

Peter

[garym]

Re: Possible conflict of cdgrab and XP SP3, or Dell Media Direct

I use a Dell D620 laptop and recently updated to XP SP3. I've had no problems ripping a disc with dbpoweramp since that time. I'm using Reference 13.1 (beta). I don't have dell media direct (as far as I know). Every machine can have odd interactions, but I can at least confirm that dbpoweramp works fine with my SP3.

[Spoon]

Re: Possible conflict of cdgrab and XP SP3, or Dell Media Direct

and if I go to My Computer to explore the disc, I simply get an hourglass. I have now formatted my machine a few times

That is not a good sign, points to either the cd drive (but you said it has been replaced), or something low level which is even stopping Windows from reading the disc. When this happens dBpowermap CD Ripper is not even running?

[welldonep]

Re: Possible conflict of cdgrab and XP SP3, or Dell Media Direct

Thanks for the replies. Good to know SP3 is likely not an issue.

But yes, this happens when I insert a disc ... whether the ripper is already running/launched or not ... I've tried both ways.

I am suspecting that it is possibly an issue with Media Direct, as I do know that when a disc is inserted, Media Direct does try to access the disc to determine if it is a DVD, etc. This is the only thing I think it can be.

Sadly, I guess I will have to format my laptop once again, and this time not install Media Direct. A little bit of a bummer, but I can live with that where I cannot live with not being able to read cd's.

-p