You didn't list your system specs, but I can say that even with the fairly modern (speedy) system I have, the 1 time I ever got a buffer underrun error was when my hard drive was quite fragmented. It seems that other than overall system speed (cpu), the hard drive is the number one cause of such buffer underrun problems. First defragment to ensure reading of the files to burn does not cause excessive hard drive seeking. Then check to be sure all your drives are running there best mode (a DMA mode), and not PIO mode (you can see in Device Manager properties) -- Note using DMA mode may require a driver update depending on how your particular motherboard's chipset and/or hard drive is supported by Windows. Other than that stuff, make sure nothing in the background is using excessive cpu time, such as services or even the explorer.exe process.

I have a P3 933. 256MB memory. Could it have anything to do with the files that I'm burning? I say this because the error doesn't occur all the time. For example, I burned the Coldplay CD onto my hard drive. I lost the CD and tried to make it again from the WMA files. Each time I try this, I get the underrun error on the same song. But then it will work many times when I try to make a different CD. When it happens once, it always happens again at the same place. It's predictable in that way. I've tried to defragment and minimize all background applications. I'm really stumped on this.

Go into device manager, into the IDE controllers properties and make sure they are both set to "DMA if Availible".

Also make sure the HDD you are burning from and the CDWriter are on seperate cables (ide channels) an IDE channel can only be used by once device at a time, and if they're on the same one it will have to keep pausing to switch devices, greatly increasing the chances of an underrun.

hey guys I appreciate everyone helping me out. of course, now I can't get my machine to recognize my CD drives so I'm gonna go try to figure that one out. maybe that has something to do with my problem in the first place. Thanks again.

hey just thought of a realy weird way of stopping it from happening!

I know that its the expensive option but why dont u buy a new cd/rw... there dirt cheap and they come with buffer underrun protection... problem solved... minus about fifty quid out o ya pocket.

just an idea :D

I am running Win 2K Pro and I have Easy CD Creator version 4.02. My burner is 8x max and often times when I try to burn a CD, I get a buffer underrun error. Can anyone help me? I would appreciate it very much.

PS.....I get the error whether I am copying on the fly or if I copy to the hard drive first.

Ultimately the problem is your CD burner not supporting any buffer underrun protection like the new and faster models do.

You should check if:
your blank media is rated for 8x.
you are not running any applications in the background
you are not running any unnecessary services in the background
your disk is defragmented.
the cd-burner (target) is on another IRQ than your source (i.e. stick your HD and CD-ROM on your primary IDE and put the burner on your secondary IDE)
you should also consider using Nero or something that isn't bloatware.
don't use an 80pin cable on older burners like this unless you KNOW it supports ATA/66 or ATA/100 (unlikely)
look into firmware patches for the burner

Ideally your should be able to burn from hard disk to a CDR at 8x on your system IF IT WAS CLEAN. If you have a lot of crap running in the background or if you are trying to use the computer while it burns a CDR then you could be looking at a few new coasters.

Personally, I'd just use the thingy at 4x unless you want to buy a new burner with burn proof or buffer underrun protection (or whatever the brand likes to call it).

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I ultimately solved this problem by using Nero instead of Adaptec.