CD/DVD Slowdown

[Action925]

I have this awkward problem: Every time I read a CD from either of my CD/DVD drives, it will start to slow down VERY drastically near the end of the CD, regardless of what type/kind of CD it is. I've tried burned and pressed audio and data CDs of all types. I confirmed the slowdown using Nero's CD Speed utility, and it always shows the same patter of dipping slightly (at around 55-65min), recovering for a small portion, then dipping down to 2X speed! I know this is definitely not normal, and I'm really hardpressed to find the cause of the problem.

I've formatted, reinstalled everything (correctly), updated drivers (if/when necessary). I'm running a P3 600 on a 440BX chipset board. I really don't know what to do next. Help, please!

I'm using WinXP Pro.

 

[Chopper]

What drives are they? Most drives use something called PCAV (Partial Constant Angular Velocity) which means the data going past the laser pickup is relatively the same speed. To do that when the laser is near the outer tracks, it slows the spin down. It will also slow the spin down if the cd's vibrate and it can't get a good lock on it.

It could be they're old drives, dirty heads/tray, or dirty cds. I had an old 32x Panasonic that started losing sync on the outer tracks before it finally died