"Trace" wrote in message
...
Hi,
All of a sudden for some reason, none of my dvd's will play in media
player.
I get the message "Windows Media Player cannot play the DVD because a
compatible DVD decoder is not installed on your computer."
Have downloaded the checkup utility, but I'm still getting the same
message.
Can anyone help?
--
T


A DVD decoder is nearly always bundled free with preinstalled XP setup's.
Such as PowerDVD etc.
The decoder is not part of XP, but supplied by the OEM you purchased from.
Some questions have to be asked:
Have you formatted and reinstalled XP?
Have you uninstalled any software?

If the answer to both of the above is No, and you are confident you have
made no changes to your PC between the time you last was able to play
a DVD and discovering you no longer can play them....
Try a system restore point .

If the answer was Yes to a format/reinstall - Then you've lost your decoder
and they ain't free. try VLC media player (google for it yourself)

Or if Yes to uninstalled any software, or made any changes - what?