Problem Mounting CD Images (Bin/Cue/ISO) - Endless HD Churning

[Hawkk]

Operating System: Windows XP SP2
Burning Software: Nero Burning Rom 6.3.1.20
Anti-virus Software: McAfee VirusScan
DAEMON Tools Version: 3.47

I cannot mount any images in Daemon Tools. Whenever I attempt to mount an image, the hard disk starts to churn horrendously, and the system slows to an absolute crawl, so much so that the only way to recover control is to switch off the power.

After powering back up, everything works normally, and the requested CD appears to be mounted. Attempting to explore the mounted CD, however, causes the same drive churning problem as before.

I run a tight system, pest-free, virus free, with the latest patches, service packs and regular maintenance, defragmentation etc. I cannot understand what is causing this extremely annoying problem, although I note that if I can manage to get Task Manager up, "System Idle Process", whatever that is, shows at 95% CPU usage...

EXACTLY the same problem occurs if I try to use Alcohol to mount an image, too. I would be extremely grateful for any advice. :cry:

[JariK-Tietomedia]

Operating System:
Burning Software:
Anti-virus Software:
DAEMON Tools Version:

"System Idle Process" is the amount of CPU time that is NOT used at all.
Can you post your complete hardware specs?
Also, do you see this problem with any other situation?

[Hawkk]

P4 2.6GHZ
2 x 120GB HD'S (IDE)
Radeon 9700 Pro
ASUS Motherboard

NO other problems whatsoever, except when trying to mount an image. It's totally baffling.

Thanks for the info on "system idle process".

[JariK-Tietomedia]

I suggest you download Filemonitor from

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/filemon.shtml

and use it to see (enable logging to a file for easy postmortem analysis and double-check that all drives are monitored) what exactly happens when the drive flogging starts.

Also, please try mounting after disabling all virus scanners and unnecessary services. Check that the "Event Log" service is running and set to automatic, the solution might hide in the system logs - check all three logs from Event Viewer for any strange entries.

I have heard about your problem once before, I'll try to dig up the story from usenet.

[Hawkk]

Thanks very much for the advice JariK - much appreciated - will try it and report what happens.

If you do manage to dig up any more info that would be great.