CD Creator 5 Platinum Tangles With Windows 2000

Roxio's popular CD Creator 5 Platinum and Windows 2000 Professional don't always play well together--leaving a small percentage of users with frustrating PC problems, including long boot times and even the dreaded blue screen of death.

The company has already issued patch 5.01 to deal with the problem of the blue screen, says Samir Patel, vice president of engineering at Roxio. Current owners of the software can also obtain the patch by clicking the Web Checkup button in CD Creator 5 Platinum, to automatically download and install the fix.

The company is currently working on a patch to resolve the slow boot issue, Patel says. That patch should be ready by June. Users interested in receiving news of that fix as soon as it is available can subscribe to the company's newsletter.

Editors' Note: On May 9, Roxio posted a fix on its site.

Limited Impact, So Far

Only a small percentage of CD Creator 5 Platinum users have run into problems, Patel says. The $100 product shipped in March to critical raves, including a favorable review from PCWorld.com. So far the company has sold upward of 50,000 units, and of that number only a handful of people has contacted technical support to report the Windows 2000 problems, he says. It's unclear why some Windows 2000 users are affected while others are not.

Both the slow boot and the crashes relate to low-level interactions between Windows 2000 and CD Creator 5 Platinum, Patel says. Windows 2000 is like a traffic cop trying to keep things moving smoothly in the system, he says. The interaction between the operating system, CD Creator 5 Platinum, and some types of hardware seems to cause the traffic cop to hiccup. Chaos ensues, he says.

Take Two Takedown

Roxio has traced the problem to a specific segment within the CD Creator program called Take Two. The application lets users back up data from a hard drive by copying the entire contents onto multiple compact discs.

It sounds handy, but for now, Windows 2000 users must pass up this option in order to avoid the possibility of problems. The company is advising Windows 2000 users not to install the Take Two portion of the software.

That means Windows 2000 users who have yet to install the software should opt for a custom install instead of a full installation. The custom install option lets you de-select the Take Two option. Windows 2000 systems running CD Creator 5 Platinum without Take Two are apparently running fine.

Too Late, Now What?

If you've already fully installed CD Creator 5 Platinum on a Windows 2000 machine--and are encountering difficulties--the company offers several tips on resolving the problem.

Patel says that machines affected by the slow boot will eventually finish booting. Then you should do a custom reinstall, avoiding the Take Two software.

The Roxio Web site, however, suggests that some machines may not complete the boot up process. If your machine won't boot properly, the company offers several suggestions to get past the problem so you can uninstall the software. The first suggestion is to disconnect the cable to any Zip drives, or at least to keep a Zip disk in the drive when you power on the system.

If your PC still won't boot, Roxio suggests temporarily disconnecting the IDE cables to your CDR or CDRW drive. The final suggestion is to disconnect all USB devices attached to the PC. Additional information is available on Roxio's Web site.

For users with more specific questions about their Easy CD Creator 5 platinum software, Patel suggests contacting Roxio's technical support.