CD/DVD Rom playback problem

[mcubed1220]

Hi all,

I'm relatively inexperienced with hardware/internal issues on my computer and have a problem that I can't fix:

I am running Windows XP Home. I keep upto date with patches, etc and my computer runs fine except for when I have a CD or DVD in my drive. when ever I am playing from the disc (or reading it or burning to it) my audio and video becomes garbled, jittery, like it reads a bit, then stops, reads some more, then stops. I just replaced the drive yesterday and the problem still persists. If I am listening to music or watching any video file (ether from my Ipod or a file on the hard drive), and try to read the disc in the player (such as from explorer), this happens. If I try to play an audio or video file from the disc, it happens. THis leads me to think it is not a hardware problem (at last not with the player).

THis morning, I removed any program that would have anything to do with my drive-itunes, real, rhapsody, cd ripping program, etc and the problem still remained when I tried to play an audio CD. Any suggestions?

Here is my system info:

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Name GIANTROBOT

System Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation

System Model Dimension 4600i

System Type X86-based PC

Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~2660 Mhz

BIOS Version/Date Dell Computer Corporation A10, 5/17/2004

SMBIOS Version 2.3

Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS

System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32

Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2

Locale United States

Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"

User Name GIANTROBOT\Michael Williams

Time Zone Eastern Standard Time

Total Physical Memory 768.00 MB

Available Physical Memory 76.45 MB

Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB

Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB

Page File Space 1.08 GB

Page File C:\pagefile.sys