dvd-drive issue...

  • Thread starter Thread starter -- TW
  • Start date Start date
T

-- TW

I have a dvd I made -- plays fine in my dvd player (hooked to my tv).

When I try to play it on my computer's dvd-drive, it doesn't even
recognize that there's a disc in there.

I tried another dvd (one I did not make), it has the same problem.

Is there a chance the drive got disabled somehow? I hear it spinning.


Also, I am using windows ME -- which I know to be shaky, in general.
Please advise.

Thanks!

-- TW
 
The easiest way I can think of to find if your drive is not really working
anymore is to first go into the bios and enable your first boot device to be
the CD-ROM drive. Next place your XP install disk into the drive and restart
the system. If the system boots from the XP disk then the drive is OK.
Undo everything I mentioned changing in the bios and restart Windows and
restart the computer after this test. If the drive worked then now go into
the control panel, then the system folder, then the hardware tab and finally
devices tab. Delete the DVD-ROM drive and OK your way out. Restart the
computer and see if the OS picks up the drive correctly.
Besides opening the box and making sure the cable is tightly connected
to both the mb and the drive there is one additional thing to try and that
would be replacing the data cable on the drive to the mb. If all fails you
might open the DVD drive case itself to see if the infra-red lense is dirty
and try cleaning it. There are cleaning disks out there one can purchase and
simply run on the drive, but with the cost of drives being rather cheap
these days its hardly worth the money to spend when popping the top off the
drive is easy enough and a piece of tissue in denatured alcohol will do the
same thing.
 
One more thing I realized reading your post is that you mention only DVDs.
Does it read a CD-ROM?
I guess you'd find that out anyway if you try the XP boot test.
If it does I would go directly to cleaning the lense and see if it
alleviates the problem.
 
Jan said:
One more thing I realized reading your post is that you mention only DVDs.
Does it read a CD-ROM?
I guess you'd find that out anyway if you try the XP boot test.
If it does I would go directly to cleaning the lense and see if it
alleviates the problem.
Click to expand...

Doesn't a DVD player on a computer need software other than Windows in
order to recognize data on a DVD? As you said, the reading of a CD is
one thing Windows can see, but it takes something like Windows Media
Player or Real Player in order to see data on a DVD. At least I thought
it did?
 
How old is this dvd player? I've yet to have a dvd player last more than a
year. If the player is brand new, its the player thats faulty(it must be an
LG I bet). You can try flashing it and cleaning the eye. Otherwise, try
another brand. I've had the worst luck with LiteOn and LG dvd players. For
now, the only brands I trust are Pioneer and Plextor, though I'm going to
try NEC and maybe BENQ.

--
Love and Teach, Not Yell and Beat
Stop Violence and Child Abuse.
No such thing as Bad Kids. Only Bad Parents.
Friends don't turn friends on to drugs.
The path often thought about and sometimes chosen by abused children as
adults is Suicide. Be a real friend.

A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939,AIW 9800 128mb
MSI 550 Pro, X-Fi, Pioneer 110D, 111D
Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire,2 Gb Dual Channel OCZ
2XSATA 320gb Raid Edition, PATA 120Gb
XP MCE2005, 19in Viewsonic,BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4, winSPWW2, winSPMBT
 
though Plextor can also be real finicky about playing certain dvd
movies(like porn)

--
Love and Teach, Not Yell and Beat
Stop Violence and Child Abuse.
No such thing as Bad Kids. Only Bad Parents.
Friends don't turn friends on to drugs.
The path often thought about and sometimes chosen by abused children as
adults is Suicide. Be a real friend.

A64 3500+, Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939,AIW 9800 128mb
MSI 550 Pro, X-Fi, Pioneer 110D, 111D
Antec 550 watt,Thermaltake Lanfire,2 Gb Dual Channel OCZ
2XSATA 320gb Raid Edition, PATA 120Gb
XP MCE2005, 19in Viewsonic,BenchMark 2001 SE- 19074
Games I'm Playing- Falcon 4, winSPWW2, winSPMBT
 
Doesn't a DVD player on a computer need software other than Windows in
order to recognize data on a DVD?
Click to expand...

No, but certain data formats like a video disc will need an
app that understands them.
As you said, the reading of a CD is
one thing Windows can see, but it takes something like Windows Media
Player or Real Player in order to see data on a DVD. At least I thought
it did?
Click to expand...

No, data in general is readable, same as on a CD, but you
could make a video disc on a CDR and have same issue as a
video DVD.
 
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