laptop problem w/ external cd
 

I had been running hoster flawlessly on my laptop w/ an external hard drive. I decided to get an external cdrw from MTU. I used a 4 port usb 2.0 hub thru my pcmcia slot in the side of the laptop. About 2 hours into the show it quit. Then when I plugged the hard drive into my other usb 1.1 ports it would work, albeit slower than before (because usb 1.1). The cd drive would show up but when i tried to use it with hoster it said cd/ cd rom busy or not ready. So after some discussion with some computer friends of mine I went and bought a new hub that had an external power supply, which worked fine for a couple hours at the show and then again quit...it is weird, nothing will work once plugged into the hub. I didn't have these problems until i tried using the cdrw. Not sure what i need to do but I realy would like to do the shows on laptop instead of dragging my desktop to shows....but have never had a problem with my desktop. I am one of the only folks in my area doing this on a computer, and it was kind of frustrating two weeks in a row having this go down, the place I am at is new for me and several other kj's/dj's have been at the shows looking for the kill...on the bright side, I was able to salvage the "dead time" by having a cd player there with me for some dj music.... anyway, please help.
I am using an HP pavilion ze4415 laptop
amd athlon 2500 I think (somewhere around 1.3Ghz) and have 768mb Ram. running windows xp and hoster 3.0.
Thanks:?

Re: laptop problem w/ external cd
 

why do you need the cd drive other than playing disc's that people bring & music? if music, why dont you have mp3's ?

Re: laptop problem w/ external cd
 

My laptop has a toshiba cd drive that doesn't read cdg's...some people do bring their own at some gigs so I do need it. I use the external for my mp3s and also have my kma files stored there as well.

Please Help!!!
 

I am still having a problem...even went a bought a new card. About half way thru my show all the ports on the card just quit working. Didn't have a problem until I tried using external cd w this. Any advice from anyone?

Re: laptop problem w/ external cd
 

how old is the laptop ?

Re: laptop problem w/ external cd
 

about one year old

Re: laptop problem w/ external cd
 

I would recommend you calling the Laptop manufactuer and also the PCMCIA USB Hum Manufacturer and see if there is a compatibility Issue. We had this happen on some of a very early laptops, when the USB 2.0 first came out.

It should have no problems, but there can be issues at times.