errors on shutdown/programs not opening

Hey everyone. Thanks in advance for the help...

Okay. This computer is ONE month old:

Windows XP Media Center Version 2002/SP2
Dell XPS DXP051
Pentium(R) D
CPU 2.80 GHz
RAM 1.00 GB

I am getting the following errors on shutdown:
1. DLACTRLW.exe not responding
I then must force it to "end now"

2. After about 5 minutes of nothing happening I get this message:
DrgToDsc
When this error goes away, another 5 minutes will go by and then the screen cuts to the blue "Windows is Shutting down..." screen. Then it freezes and the only way I can get the computer to shut off is by unplugging the power strip.

Also, (I can't really pinpoint when this happens but it seems to happen after I shut down any program) I am unable to open programs. At all. I cannot go to the start menu and open my computer, control panel. Nor can I double click on an icon to open a program. I will see an hour glass for about 2 seconds and then it will disappear.

One more thing--since I've had this system (about a month) it has randomly restarted on it's own when I was in the middle of working on it. This has happened 5 times. And when this has happened I've never been using the same program. I've always been doing something different.

I don't really know where to start with this. I've run Trend Micro which came with the system, I ran AVG, AdAware, and Stinger. Nothing.

One last thing. Until yesterday I was also receiving a "Shell Icon Hidden Window" Error on shut down as well. After some research I found out that it may be caused by MusicMatch Jukebox. I uninstalled MusicMatch and that problem seems to be fixed.

Any ideas? Thanks again... Kelly

 

Addendum:

I think I may have come up with something. When I mentioned about being unable to open any programs, it seems that this problem starts when I put a disc in either the dvd drive or the writer drive. Whenever a insert a disc into a drive, there is no autoplay and then when I try to open ANYTHING I am unable to. Maybe this is a clue?

 

Kelly,

Have you got the latest updates for your new computer? Not only XP updates, go to the Dell website and check for updates for the brand system you have. There might be several you need to download, I would especially look for driver/firmware updates that might be available.

It seems that Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator (maybe) could be causing some of the problems, you might check for updates for that also.

Just make sure you are current on all updates and see where you stand.

Let us know.

Steve

 

Hi Steve.

Thanks for responding. I downloaded all of the updates/drivers/etc. that you mentioned. Problem was still present. Then for the hell of it I just uninstalled Roxio Easy Media Creator 8. Every problem I had disappeared upon restarting. So Roxio was the culprit but I'm still not sure why. I also have Nero installed on my computer--maybe there was a conflict?

I guess as long as I keep Roxio off the computer I'm okay, which is fine with me.

Thank you for all of your help. I love these boards and I'm buying a shirt!

Kelly

 

Good deal Kelly, glad everything is OK now.

I agree, keep Nero and leave the Roxio stuff off.

Steve