About the best I can figure is that the LG CD-R/RW GCE-8160B is probably at fault. My reseach has shown that it was designed for Windows 98, which has the first OS on this computer (since Wondows ME was my alternative choice at the time), and has caused a lot of problems with computers which were upgraded to XP.
Here are the driver installation instructions for Computers which are upgraded (ain't dis weird?):
Note: If you have Windows 2000, ME, or XP already installed, you will need to create a bootable disk from another PC that has an earlier operating system like DOS, Win95 or Win98 in order to process this firmware update. Follow the steps below. After the bootable disk is created and the files are extracted to the bootable disk, follow the steps starting at step 9.
1. Place: A blank floppy diskette in your 3.5” disk drive A:
2. Double-Click: My Computer Icon on your desktop
3. Right-Click: The drive letter that is the 3.5” drive.
4. Choose : Format.
5. Choose: Copy System Files Only, Click OK.
Let: The PC Make the disk bootable.
Copy: The GCE8160BfirmXP.EXE file to the floppy boot disk you just created
Click Start, then Run, then type A: GCE8160BfirmXP.exe to extract the files and choose yes to allow for files to be overwritten if you get a message asking if you want to overwrite the files.
Re-Boot your PC with the bootable disk in Drive A: (Note: you may need to change your boot sequence in the CMOS Setup in order to boot to drive A. Please see your motherboard manual for instructions or contact your PC manufacture for instructions on changing the boot sequence.)
The driver should load and the system should recognize your rewriteable
CD-ROM drive.
10. At the A:> prompt type JE1.EXE JE1LG912.HEX then press enter.
The computer will scan your system to detect the drive. You will then be prompted to perform the upgrade. This process takes about 4 minutes. There
Are multiple stages to the upgrade process including checksum verification count to 100%.
IMPORTANT- DO NOT INTERFERE WITH THE DRIVE DURING THIS PROCESS.
11. When the UPGRADE is complete the screen should indicate FIRMWARE UPDATE SUCCESSFUL. Remove the bootable disk and Re-boot your PC.