More often than not my computer freezes within a few minutes of loading Windows. No error message is displayed, and no blue-screen. I assume the problem is with my burner (BenQ CRW2410A), as the lights often flash, the burner begins burning a CD that doesn’t exist, and the drive opens and closes without warning (sometimes getting stuck halfway). When this begins, the computer dies. However, sometimes after restarting the computer everything runs perfectly, but in these cases the burner is not visible in My Computer nor in the System Device list. I have already reinstalled Windows and tried reloading the CD/RW drivers but this does not fix the problem. Help please! The computer is a P4 1.7 GHz computer running Windows 98.

From your description of the problem, all signs point to a faulty CD burner since it is definitely not normal for a CD drive to randomly open and then freeze in the half shut position. Also, since all is normal when the burner is not present in My Computer (i.e., Windows is not recognising the drive) there seems to be something awry with the drive itself. If you would like to confirm this theory, try disconnecting your CD burner (you can leave it in the computer but just disconnect the IDE and power cables). If everything runs fine after this procedure, I would cut your losses and buy a new CD burner. With the advent of DVD-R drives, the price of CD-RW drivers has drastically reduced so you could get a new drive for between $100 - $150. However, before doing so it may be worthwhile to ensure that the problem is the drive itself, and not something as simple as a faulty IDE cable. To test this, try connecting another IDE device in place of the CD burner (e.g., a CD-ROM drive). If the device works correctly, you have your answer! However, if the problem should re-emerge, contact me again and we will look for ways to narrow down the culprit component.