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#16
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
Hi,
Thanks. Yes, that has been suggested. I have two DVD drives as is noted in my original post. "One is an older (5 years) Compaq DVD - ROM DV 5700B and the other is a Sony DVD RW DRU-700A (a little more than a year old). Both played DVDs before the system upgrade." The symptoms are identical in both DVD drives. They each play the same DVDs and don't play the same DVDs. Does that sound like a hardware problem? I suppose I could buy another DVD drive so that I could eliminate that from this process, and if it did work I would be amazed. -- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. "John Inzer" wrote: Sounds like your DVD drive needs to be replaced. -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm: ======================================= I spent some time writing a response earlier only to have all the info mysteriously deleted, but my signature posted. Anyway... I apologize for my lack of clarity... just frustrated from spending a lot of time searching and trying different things with no resolution. Originally thought I had a problem with all DVDs because I only tried 4 or 5 and they were all newer. After reading some troubleshooting on different sites I thought I would try more of the DVDs from my collection. It appears that the majority of the ones I am able to play are older, I use the term majority loosely because I can only play a select few. Symptoms: When I insert certain DVDs the drive spins and the little light comes on for about 15 seconds or so, then the drive just stops. Nothing appears on screen, no program attempts load, nothing. When I check the drive properties (while the disk is in the drive) from "my computer" the general information reads as if there is 0 bytes but the disk picture reads as full (all blue). In WMP 10 when I attempt to play it reads as no disk in drive. When I used Nero I would use the infotool and that would also display information as no disk in drive. This happens on both drives. Certain other DVDs work just fine in both drives. Some of the DVDs that do not work in the drives don't have interactual loaded, and like I said, even if it is on the disk I don’t even get the option to load it because nothing happens after the drive stops. I have no way of telling which DVDs will work or not. All the DVDs work in my home DVD player and on my Dell Laptop. Attempted solutions: Fresh install of XP Pro SP2 with all critical updates installed. Upgraded firmware for the Sony DVD RW drive. Tested the Sony drive with their read and write test and the drive passed. Installed and uninstalled Nero 6 from CD and installed Nero 6 upgrades from their website, also tried Nero 7. Removed drives from device manager. Disconnected drives from computer and installed individually. Installed software while only one drive was connected. Completely removed Nero software and attempted to use WMP 10 with only the Nvidia video decoder installed. Checked region code. All with the same results, no change or solution to the problem. Any help, information, or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. |
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#17
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
Sorry, I don't have the answer. Maybe a different
decoder like Power DVD or InterVideo WinDVD Recorder would work but personally, I would try replacing the drive. It will be interesting to see what the fix turns out to be. -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm Hi, Thanks. Yes, that has been suggested. I have two DVD drives as is noted in my original post. "One is an older (5 years) Compaq DVD - ROM DV 5700B and the other is a Sony DVD RW DRU-700A (a little more than a year old). Both played DVDs before the system upgrade." The symptoms are identical in both DVD drives. They each play the same DVDs and don't play the same DVDs. Does that sound like a hardware problem? I suppose I could buy another DVD drive so that I could eliminate that from this process, and if it did work I would be amazed. Sounds like your DVD drive needs to be replaced. -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm: ======================================= I spent some time writing a response earlier only to have all the info mysteriously deleted, but my signature posted. Anyway... I apologize for my lack of clarity... just frustrated from spending a lot of time searching and trying different things with no resolution. Originally thought I had a problem with all DVDs because I only tried 4 or 5 and they were all newer. After reading some troubleshooting on different sites I thought I would try more of the DVDs from my collection. It appears that the majority of the ones I am able to play are older, I use the term majority loosely because I can only play a select few. Symptoms: When I insert certain DVDs the drive spins and the little light comes on for about 15 seconds or so, then the drive just stops. Nothing appears on screen, no program attempts load, nothing. When I check the drive properties (while the disk is in the drive) from "my computer" the general information reads as if there is 0 bytes but the disk picture reads as full (all blue). In WMP 10 when I attempt to play it reads as no disk in drive. When I used Nero I would use the infotool and that would also display information as no disk in drive. This happens on both drives. Certain other DVDs work just fine in both drives. Some of the DVDs that do not work in the drives don't have interactual loaded, and like I said, even if it is on the disk I don’t even get the option to load it because nothing happens after the drive stops. I have no way of telling which DVDs will work or not. All the DVDs work in my home DVD player and on my Dell Laptop. Attempted solutions: Fresh install of XP Pro SP2 with all critical updates installed. Upgraded firmware for the Sony DVD RW drive. Tested the Sony drive with their read and write test and the drive passed. Installed and uninstalled Nero 6 from CD and installed Nero 6 upgrades from their website, also tried Nero 7. Removed drives from device manager. Disconnected drives from computer and installed individually. Installed software while only one drive was connected. Completely removed Nero software and attempted to use WMP 10 with only the Nvidia video decoder installed. Checked region code. All with the same results, no change or solution to the problem. Any help, information, or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. |
#18
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
Hello again,
Well, upon the advice of John (thank you!) I installed Power DVD 7 trial version. I put in another DVD and the Compaq DVD Rom drive acted the same way, but the Sony DVD RW drive actually spun for over 2 minutes, so something was going on with communication, in the end though I received the same result. This time I tried playing “The Last Samurai” and the DVD movie did not work, however on a whim I decided to try the “special features” DVD. It started right up the very first time. I got to the first menu and then clicked on the special features went to that menu and was able to choose and play any of the special features that I clicked on. I restarted the computer and tried again just to see what would happen. The disk with the actual movie on it still would not play but the interactual install program came up when I tried the special features disk and I was asked if I wanted to install the interactual program, I declined because the DVD special features played without it. I am pretty well convinced at this point that there is some type of software or maybe a (root kit) stopping those certain DVDs from playing otherwise why would I be able to view the special features and not the movie. Obviously the drives are able to play DVDs. Anyone got any ideas about this??? Thanks again. -- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. "John Inzer" wrote: Sorry, I don't have the answer. Maybe a different decoder like Power DVD or InterVideo WinDVD Recorder would work but personally, I would try replacing the drive. It will be interesting to see what the fix turns out to be. -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm Hi, Thanks. Yes, that has been suggested. I have two DVD drives as is noted in my original post. "One is an older (5 years) Compaq DVD - ROM DV 5700B and the other is a Sony DVD RW DRU-700A (a little more than a year old). Both played DVDs before the system upgrade." The symptoms are identical in both DVD drives. They each play the same DVDs and don't play the same DVDs. Does that sound like a hardware problem? I suppose I could buy another DVD drive so that I could eliminate that from this process, and if it did work I would be amazed. Sounds like your DVD drive needs to be replaced. -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm: ======================================= I spent some time writing a response earlier only to have all the info mysteriously deleted, but my signature posted. Anyway... I apologize for my lack of clarity... just frustrated from spending a lot of time searching and trying different things with no resolution. Originally thought I had a problem with all DVDs because I only tried 4 or 5 and they were all newer. After reading some troubleshooting on different sites I thought I would try more of the DVDs from my collection. It appears that the majority of the ones I am able to play are older, I use the term majority loosely because I can only play a select few. Symptoms: When I insert certain DVDs the drive spins and the little light comes on for about 15 seconds or so, then the drive just stops. Nothing appears on screen, no program attempts load, nothing. When I check the drive properties (while the disk is in the drive) from "my computer" the general information reads as if there is 0 bytes but the disk picture reads as full (all blue). In WMP 10 when I attempt to play it reads as no disk in drive. When I used Nero I would use the infotool and that would also display information as no disk in drive. This happens on both drives. Certain other DVDs work just fine in both drives. Some of the DVDs that do not work in the drives don't have interactual loaded, and like I said, even if it is on the disk I don’t even get the option to load it because nothing happens after the drive stops. I have no way of telling which DVDs will work or not. All the DVDs work in my home DVD player and on my Dell Laptop. Attempted solutions: Fresh install of XP Pro SP2 with all critical updates installed. Upgraded firmware for the Sony DVD RW drive. Tested the Sony drive with their read and write test and the drive passed. Installed and uninstalled Nero 6 from CD and installed Nero 6 upgrades from their website, also tried Nero 7. Removed drives from device manager. Disconnected drives from computer and installed individually. Installed software while only one drive was connected. Completely removed Nero software and attempted to use WMP 10 with only the Nvidia video decoder installed. Checked region code. All with the same results, no change or solution to the problem. Any help, information, or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. |
#19
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
I had an aggravating issue similar to yours
when my computer was still new...I tried everything I could think of and sometimes my Samsung DVD burner would work sometimes it would not. Finally, I took it to the dealer for warranty service and they replaced the drive...bingo! problem solved. When you find a solution to your dilemma... please share it with this newsgroup. -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm Rob wrote: Hello again, Well, upon the advice of John (thank you!) I installed Power DVD 7 trial version. I put in another DVD and the Compaq DVD Rom drive acted the same way, but the Sony DVD RW drive actually spun for over 2 minutes, so something was going on with communication, in the end though I received the same result. This time I tried playing “The Last Samurai” and the DVD movie did not work, however on a whim I decided to try the “special features” DVD. It started right up the very first time. I got to the first menu and then clicked on the special features went to that menu and was able to choose and play any of the special features that I clicked on. I restarted the computer and tried again just to see what would happen. The disk with the actual movie on it still would not play but the interactual install program came up when I tried the special features disk and I was asked if I wanted to install the interactual program, I declined because the DVD special features played without it. I am pretty well convinced at this point that there is some type of software or maybe a (root kit) stopping those certain DVDs from playing otherwise why would I be able to view the special features and not the movie. Obviously the drives are able to play DVDs. Anyone got any ideas about this??? Thanks again. |
#20
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
OK, OK,
I get the message. I might be a little stubborn. :-) I will order a new drive ASAP and let you know what happens. Thanks John! -- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. "John Inzer" wrote: I had an aggravating issue similar to yours when my computer was still new...I tried everything I could think of and sometimes my Samsung DVD burner would work sometimes it would not. Finally, I took it to the dealer for warranty service and they replaced the drive...bingo! problem solved. When you find a solution to your dilemma... please share it with this newsgroup. -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm Rob wrote: Hello again, Well, upon the advice of John (thank you!) I installed Power DVD 7 trial version. I put in another DVD and the Compaq DVD Rom drive acted the same way, but the Sony DVD RW drive actually spun for over 2 minutes, so something was going on with communication, in the end though I received the same result. This time I tried playing “The Last Samurai” and the DVD movie did not work, however on a whim I decided to try the “special features” DVD. It started right up the very first time. I got to the first menu and then clicked on the special features went to that menu and was able to choose and play any of the special features that I clicked on. I restarted the computer and tried again just to see what would happen. The disk with the actual movie on it still would not play but the interactual install program came up when I tried the special features disk and I was asked if I wanted to install the interactual program, I declined because the DVD special features played without it. I am pretty well convinced at this point that there is some type of software or maybe a (root kit) stopping those certain DVDs from playing otherwise why would I be able to view the special features and not the movie. Obviously the drives are able to play DVDs. Anyone got any ideas about this??? Thanks again. |
#21
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
Rob wrote:
OK, OK, I get the message. I might be a little stubborn. :-) I will order a new drive ASAP and let you know what happens. Thanks John! =========================== It may not be the fix but I think it's certainly worth a try. Good luck... -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm |
#22
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
I know it may not solve the problem. Nothing else has worked so far... and I
believe I have tried almost all things that are out there short of a new drive so if it does not work then that will be eliminated from the possibilities catagory. I will buy one where I can get a 30 day return and may only loose shipping costs. At this point that would be such a small price to pay because I would not want to calculate my hours spent on this problem by my typical hourly rate... it would not be pretty. :-) I appreciate your time. I'll be back! -- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. "John Inzer" wrote: Rob wrote: OK, OK, I get the message. I might be a little stubborn. :-) I will order a new drive ASAP and let you know what happens. Thanks John! =========================== It may not be the fix but I think it's certainly worth a try. Good luck... -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm |
#23
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
If it helps I agree with John 100%
I too have had drives that seemed to be working sporadically so since it worked "sometimes" I didn't think it was the drive but it was. -Wojo "Rob" wrote in message ... I know it may not solve the problem. Nothing else has worked so far... and I believe I have tried almost all things that are out there short of a new drive so if it does not work then that will be eliminated from the possibilities catagory. I will buy one where I can get a 30 day return and may only loose shipping costs. At this point that would be such a small price to pay because I would not want to calculate my hours spent on this problem by my typical hourly rate... it would not be pretty. :-) I appreciate your time. I'll be back! -- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. "John Inzer" wrote: Rob wrote: OK, OK, I get the message. I might be a little stubborn. :-) I will order a new drive ASAP and let you know what happens. Thanks John! =========================== It may not be the fix but I think it's certainly worth a try. Good luck... -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm |
#24
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
Thanks.
I should not have used the word random. The drives to not play randomly, it is the disks that are playable that are random. The same disk will consistantly play in the drive and the ones that do not work, never work. Today, my older Compaq DVD ROM drive works again. I can play DVDs... so far all the DVDs that I have tried work except one, and I think it might be the disk. The only thing that I did recently was to install and run a program call CCleaner. It is freeware that cleans out history and alters and/or deletes registry keys that the program deems as an error. If the drive continues to work my belief will be confirmed that something somewhere on the computer was stopping the drive from working. I still have the original issue with the Sony DVD RW drive, although I can burn DVDs which does not make sense to me. What is different with that drive is that it seems to attempt to access information for about 2 minutes now before it decides there is no disk. I have ordered new DVD drives but now I strongly believe it is something in the OS and software that is the issue. I wonder if the upgraded firmware could be the problem with the Sony drive. Is there a way to clear that new firmware and install an older firmware? Thanks again. -- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. "Wojo [MVP]" wrote: If it helps I agree with John 100% I too have had drives that seemed to be working sporadically so since it worked "sometimes" I didn't think it was the drive but it was. -Wojo "Rob" wrote in message ... I know it may not solve the problem. Nothing else has worked so far... and I believe I have tried almost all things that are out there short of a new drive so if it does not work then that will be eliminated from the possibilities catagory. I will buy one where I can get a 30 day return and may only loose shipping costs. At this point that would be such a small price to pay because I would not want to calculate my hours spent on this problem by my typical hourly rate... it would not be pretty. :-) I appreciate your time. I'll be back! -- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. "John Inzer" wrote: Rob wrote: OK, OK, I get the message. I might be a little stubborn. :-) I will order a new drive ASAP and let you know what happens. Thanks John! =========================== It may not be the fix but I think it's certainly worth a try. Good luck... -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm |
#25
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
At this point it seems clear to me that CCleaner removed something very
important from the Registry. I'd NEVER recommend any Registry cleaners. If you believe the Registry is just too full of unnecessary entries, then I'd really say it was time to clean install and start afresh. So let's totally uninstall ALL your optical drives from the computer and try to get them back correctly. In Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Unistall any and all DVD burning programs you may have installed and any DVD Decoding software you have installed. BEFORE you do this, check you still have the CDs for the reinstall. Reboot the PC. Go into the Device Manager and Uninstall the Optical Drives. Turn OFF the PC. Physically go into the case and REMOVE all optical drives. (You can just disconnect both ribbon and power cables in this case since you know you are going to put them back. While you are there, physically check the jumpers at the rear of the drive(s) Restart the PC... Ensure that My Computer is now showing you have NO optical drives and that Device Manager also confirms no entries. Turn off the PC. Physically reinstall the drive(s)... or reconnect both cables. Turn on the PC. Ensure that XP redetects each drive and installs drivers for it - and assigns a drive letter. Check at this point that XP can read a data DVD. Reinstall your DVD Decoding software. Check that XP can play a video DVD. Reinstall your DVD burning software. Check that it burns. Your next option is the format and clean install. Unfortunately flashing the firmware is always a risk you alone undertake. The manufacturers are never responsible for anything that goes wrong with the drive at that point. Sony may decide to assist... but then again, they are fully within their rights if they decide not to. -- Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging www.coribright.com/Windows "Rob" wrote in message ... Thanks. I should not have used the word random. The drives to not play randomly, it is the disks that are playable that are random. The same disk will consistantly play in the drive and the ones that do not work, never work. Today, my older Compaq DVD ROM drive works again. I can play DVDs... so far all the DVDs that I have tried work except one, and I think it might be the disk. The only thing that I did recently was to install and run a program call CCleaner. It is freeware that cleans out history and alters and/or deletes registry keys that the program deems as an error. If the drive continues to work my belief will be confirmed that something somewhere on the computer was stopping the drive from working. I still have the original issue with the Sony DVD RW drive, although I can burn DVDs which does not make sense to me. What is different with that drive is that it seems to attempt to access information for about 2 minutes now before it decides there is no disk. I have ordered new DVD drives but now I strongly believe it is something in the OS and software that is the issue. I wonder if the upgraded firmware could be the problem with the Sony drive. Is there a way to clear that new firmware and install an older firmware? Thanks again. -- |
#26
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
Hi,
Thanks Cari I appreciate the input, but I am not sure what you mean by “removed something very important”. What it removed made my DVD ROM drive work, how is that a problem? Maybe CCleaner was not a great idea, but, for one of the drives the problem is solved and my computer seems to be working great. Do you know much about that program? I suppose that I was not specific enough when I explained what steps I have taken when I replied to WOJO a few days ago. I have done the very steps you suggest more than once and that did not solve the problems. That is why I was willing to take John's and your advice and purchase a new drive, and why I kept reading and searching. Also, I did a fresh install of XP Pro SP 2 less than 3 weeks ago on brand new hard drives which I believe I stated in my first post. I have no idea of the exact item the CCleaner removed to assist with this issue. I don't know if it had something to do with the Nero software (which I installed and uninstalled 3 different versions several times and used Nero’s cleaner tool as well) or something else. At this point I only have trial versions of Power DVD 7 and NVIDIA’s video decoder installed and I am reluctant to ever install Nero again. I had done a fresh install of XP in April when I upgraded other system components. I rarely used the DVD drives to view DVDs and I have had the system for quite some time. Before April the Sony DVD RW was the last upgrade I made (1 1/2 years ago) and that came with the Nero software. The problem with the DVD drives was actually discovered in early June (I mis-stated that timing in my first post) when I tried to make a DVD from my digital video camera for the first time ever. At that time I was using Panasonic software to download from my video camera and using Nero 6 to burn to DVD. At first I thought it was the Panasonic software so I uninstalled that software and I have not reinstalled it, yet. I could not get the newly burnt DVD to work after trying several different things including setting write speed all the way down to 1X (I made quite a few coasters). After reading too many troubleshooting tips, that is when I put in a DVD movie to see if there was a problem with the drives... and neither would play DVDs, at least the several that I tried at that time. After countless hours of searching, reading, and troubleshooting and basically taking several of the same steps I decided to do another fresh install of XP and I had wanted to upgrade the HDs, so I did that just a few weeks ago. I took my time and installed all the SP 2 updates before installing anything. Then it was one program at a time and then checking for updates until I finally got back to Nero 6 from CD. Then I tried the Nero 6 updates and then trial version of Nero 7, all made no difference. So when I ended up with the same problem again I tried playing more of the DVDs in my library and that is when I discovered that some DVDs actually would work every time I put them in. The DVDs that worked appeared to be older ones and that is what made me think that something I installed knowingly or unknowingly was/is causing this problem. After using the CCleaner tool now when I pop in the Matrix DVD there is a menu that does ask to install PC friendly. Even when I decline I can still play the DVD. This happens in the 6 year old DVD ROM drive. As stated the Sony Drive still will not play. The DVD ROM drive works, there is no way I am uninstalling that drive at this point. Not after so many hours. I would try that with the Sony drive again but as I stated I have done that already. I installed the Sony drive into another machine running Windows ME. I also installed the Nero 6 software (from CD). I witnessed the exact same results. The same DVDs would work and the others would not work. So you see, I believe it is something in Nero or a conflict with Nero that was/is the problem, at least part of the problem. I could be 100% wrong but why would the same condition exist on a completely different machine with a different (older) OS? Currently the same problem exists with the Sony drive, I can play a special features DVD (not the movie) and some older DVDs but most of the DVDs I have will not work in that drive. This is why I think it may be a firmware issue. I have new drive(s) on the way and when I get them we can see where that leads. I would like to solve these issues with accurate knowledge but I have to balance how much time I can really dedicate to that. There may be a log from the CCleaner listing items removed that I can look through, I will check into that. If you were in my shoes, what would you think, or do? I hope this information is helpful in some way and I appreciate the help and information that I have received. Thanks. -- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. "Cari (MS-MVP)" wrote: At this point it seems clear to me that CCleaner removed something very important from the Registry. I'd NEVER recommend any Registry cleaners. If you believe the Registry is just too full of unnecessary entries, then I'd really say it was time to clean install and start afresh. So let's totally uninstall ALL your optical drives from the computer and try to get them back correctly. In Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Unistall any and all DVD burning programs you may have installed and any DVD Decoding software you have installed. BEFORE you do this, check you still have the CDs for the reinstall. Reboot the PC. Go into the Device Manager and Uninstall the Optical Drives. Turn OFF the PC. Physically go into the case and REMOVE all optical drives. (You can just disconnect both ribbon and power cables in this case since you know you are going to put them back. While you are there, physically check the jumpers at the rear of the drive(s) Restart the PC... Ensure that My Computer is now showing you have NO optical drives and that Device Manager also confirms no entries. Turn off the PC. Physically reinstall the drive(s)... or reconnect both cables. Turn on the PC. Ensure that XP redetects each drive and installs drivers for it - and assigns a drive letter. Check at this point that XP can read a data DVD. Reinstall your DVD Decoding software. Check that XP can play a video DVD. Reinstall your DVD burning software. Check that it burns. Your next option is the format and clean install. Unfortunately flashing the firmware is always a risk you alone undertake. The manufacturers are never responsible for anything that goes wrong with the drive at that point. Sony may decide to assist... but then again, they are fully within their rights if they decide not to. -- Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging www.coribright.com/Windows "Rob" wrote in message ... Thanks. I should not have used the word random. The drives to not play randomly, it is the disks that are playable that are random. The same disk will consistantly play in the drive and the ones that do not work, never work. Today, my older Compaq DVD ROM drive works again. I can play DVDs... so far all the DVDs that I have tried work except one, and I think it might be the disk. The only thing that I did recently was to install and run a program call CCleaner. It is freeware that cleans out history and alters and/or deletes registry keys that the program deems as an error. If the drive continues to work my belief will be confirmed that something somewhere on the computer was stopping the drive from working. I still have the original issue with the Sony DVD RW drive, although I can burn DVDs which does not make sense to me. What is different with that drive is that it seems to attempt to access information for about 2 minutes now before it decides there is no disk. I have ordered new DVD drives but now I strongly believe it is something in the OS and software that is the issue. I wonder if the upgraded firmware could be the problem with the Sony drive. Is there a way to clear that new firmware and install an older firmware? Thanks again. -- |
#27
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
FWIW, I use CCleaner daily and it has never
caused any problems. Others may report differing views. When you scan the registry if asks if you want to save a backup which I always do but I've never had the need to restore one. Please understand...this is not tech support. We are simply volunteers who attempt to assist folks who are having problems. What works for us may not work for anyone else... Good luck in solving your problem. -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm Hi, Thanks Cari I appreciate the input, but I am not sure what you mean by “removed something very important”. What it removed made my DVD ROM drive work, how is that a problem? Maybe CCleaner was not a great idea, but, for one of the drives the problem is solved and my computer seems to be working great. Do you know much about that program? I suppose that I was not specific enough when I explained what steps I have taken when I replied to WOJO a few days ago. I have done the very steps you suggest more than once and that did not solve the problems. That is why I was willing to take John's and your advice and purchase a new drive, and why I kept reading and searching. Also, I did a fresh install of XP Pro SP 2 less than 3 weeks ago on brand new hard drives which I believe I stated in my first post. I have no idea of the exact item the CCleaner removed to assist with this issue. I don't know if it had something to do with the Nero software (which I installed and uninstalled 3 different versions several times and used Nero’s cleaner tool as well) or something else. At this point I only have trial versions of Power DVD 7 and NVIDIA’s video decoder installed and I am reluctant to ever install Nero again. I had done a fresh install of XP in April when I upgraded other system components. I rarely used the DVD drives to view DVDs and I have had the system for quite some time. Before April the Sony DVD RW was the last upgrade I made (1 1/2 years ago) and that came with the Nero software. The problem with the DVD drives was actually discovered in early June (I mis-stated that timing in my first post) when I tried to make a DVD from my digital video camera for the first time ever. At that time I was using Panasonic software to download from my video camera and using Nero 6 to burn to DVD. At first I thought it was the Panasonic software so I uninstalled that software and I have not reinstalled it, yet. I could not get the newly burnt DVD to work after trying several different things including setting write speed all the way down to 1X (I made quite a few coasters). After reading too many troubleshooting tips, that is when I put in a DVD movie to see if there was a problem with the drives... and neither would play DVDs, at least the several that I tried at that time. After countless hours of searching, reading, and troubleshooting and basically taking several of the same steps I decided to do another fresh install of XP and I had wanted to upgrade the HDs, so I did that just a few weeks ago. I took my time and installed all the SP 2 updates before installing anything. Then it was one program at a time and then checking for updates until I finally got back to Nero 6 from CD. Then I tried the Nero 6 updates and then trial version of Nero 7, all made no difference. So when I ended up with the same problem again I tried playing more of the DVDs in my library and that is when I discovered that some DVDs actually would work every time I put them in. The DVDs that worked appeared to be older ones and that is what made me think that something I installed knowingly or unknowingly was/is causing this problem. After using the CCleaner tool now when I pop in the Matrix DVD there is a menu that does ask to install PC friendly. Even when I decline I can still play the DVD. This happens in the 6 year old DVD ROM drive. As stated the Sony Drive still will not play. The DVD ROM drive works, there is no way I am uninstalling that drive at this point. Not after so many hours. I would try that with the Sony drive again but as I stated I have done that already. I installed the Sony drive into another machine running Windows ME. I also installed the Nero 6 software (from CD). I witnessed the exact same results. The same DVDs would work and the others would not work. So you see, I believe it is something in Nero or a conflict with Nero that was/is the problem, at least part of the problem. I could be 100% wrong but why would the same condition exist on a completely different machine with a different (older) OS? Currently the same problem exists with the Sony drive, I can play a special features DVD (not the movie) and some older DVDs but most of the DVDs I have will not work in that drive. This is why I think it may be a firmware issue. I have new drive(s) on the way and when I get them we can see where that leads. I would like to solve these issues with accurate knowledge but I have to balance how much time I can really dedicate to that. There may be a log from the CCleaner listing items removed that I can look through, I will check into that. If you were in my shoes, what would you think, or do? I hope this information is helpful in some way and I appreciate the help and information that I have received. Thanks. At this point it seems clear to me that CCleaner removed something very important from the Registry. I'd NEVER recommend any Registry cleaners. If you believe the Registry is just too full of unnecessary entries, then I'd really say it was time to clean install and start afresh. So let's totally uninstall ALL your optical drives from the computer and try to get them back correctly. In Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Unistall any and all DVD burning programs you may have installed and any DVD Decoding software you have installed. BEFORE you do this, check you still have the CDs for the reinstall. Reboot the PC. Go into the Device Manager and Uninstall the Optical Drives. Turn OFF the PC. Physically go into the case and REMOVE all optical drives. (You can just disconnect both ribbon and power cables in this case since you know you are going to put them back. While you are there, physically check the jumpers at the rear of the drive(s) Restart the PC... Ensure that My Computer is now showing you have NO optical drives and that Device Manager also confirms no entries. Turn off the PC. Physically reinstall the drive(s)... or reconnect both cables. Turn on the PC. Ensure that XP redetects each drive and installs drivers for it - and assigns a drive letter. Check at this point that XP can read a data DVD. Reinstall your DVD Decoding software. Check that XP can play a video DVD. Reinstall your DVD burning software. Check that it burns. Your next option is the format and clean install. Unfortunately flashing the firmware is always a risk you alone undertake. The manufacturers are never responsible for anything that goes wrong with the drive at that point. Sony may decide to assist... but then again, they are fully within their rights if they decide not to. -- Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging www.coribright.com/Windows "Rob" wrote in message ... Thanks. I should not have used the word random. The drives to not play randomly, it is the disks that are playable that are random. The same disk will consistantly play in the drive and the ones that do not work, never work. Today, my older Compaq DVD ROM drive works again. I can play DVDs... so far all the DVDs that I have tried work except one, and I think it might be the disk. The only thing that I did recently was to install and run a program call CCleaner. It is freeware that cleans out history and alters and/or deletes registry keys that the program deems as an error. If the drive continues to work my belief will be confirmed that something somewhere on the computer was stopping the drive from working. I still have the original issue with the Sony DVD RW drive, although I can burn DVDs which does not make sense to me. What is different with that drive is that it seems to attempt to access information for about 2 minutes now before it decides there is no disk. I have ordered new DVD drives but now I strongly believe it is something in the OS and software that is the issue. I wonder if the upgraded firmware could be the problem with the Sony drive. Is there a way to clear that new firmware and install an older firmware? Thanks again. -- |
#28
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
I came here for help and information. I like getting different people's
opinions about things. I know this not tech support and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to offer some info... to me or others and whether I use it or not. You know I believe it is a good idea to continue to ask questions. I usually do a pretty good amount of research before trying a new product or even an old one :-). I read things about CCleaner and I basically stumbled across the answer on this problem at least for one of the drives. I will see about the other. It was worth a try, I like the program and it did work for me. I read a few reveiws where people had trouble and maybe they did not back up the registry. I back up the registry on a semi regular basis anyway so it is nice to have that option in CCleaner. Thanks all. -- Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. "John Inzer" wrote: FWIW, I use CCleaner daily and it has never caused any problems. Others may report differing views. When you scan the registry if asks if you want to save a backup which I always do but I've never had the need to restore one. Please understand...this is not tech support. We are simply volunteers who attempt to assist folks who are having problems. What works for us may not work for anyone else... Good luck in solving your problem. -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm Hi, Thanks Cari I appreciate the input, but I am not sure what you mean by “removed something very important”. What it removed made my DVD ROM drive work, how is that a problem? Maybe CCleaner was not a great idea, but, for one of the drives the problem is solved and my computer seems to be working great. Do you know much about that program? I suppose that I was not specific enough when I explained what steps I have taken when I replied to WOJO a few days ago. I have done the very steps you suggest more than once and that did not solve the problems. That is why I was willing to take John's and your advice and purchase a new drive, and why I kept reading and searching. Also, I did a fresh install of XP Pro SP 2 less than 3 weeks ago on brand new hard drives which I believe I stated in my first post. I have no idea of the exact item the CCleaner removed to assist with this issue. I don't know if it had something to do with the Nero software (which I installed and uninstalled 3 different versions several times and used Nero’s cleaner tool as well) or something else. At this point I only have trial versions of Power DVD 7 and NVIDIA’s video decoder installed and I am reluctant to ever install Nero again. I had done a fresh install of XP in April when I upgraded other system components. I rarely used the DVD drives to view DVDs and I have had the system for quite some time. Before April the Sony DVD RW was the last upgrade I made (1 1/2 years ago) and that came with the Nero software. The problem with the DVD drives was actually discovered in early June (I mis-stated that timing in my first post) when I tried to make a DVD from my digital video camera for the first time ever. At that time I was using Panasonic software to download from my video camera and using Nero 6 to burn to DVD. At first I thought it was the Panasonic software so I uninstalled that software and I have not reinstalled it, yet. I could not get the newly burnt DVD to work after trying several different things including setting write speed all the way down to 1X (I made quite a few coasters). After reading too many troubleshooting tips, that is when I put in a DVD movie to see if there was a problem with the drives... and neither would play DVDs, at least the several that I tried at that time. After countless hours of searching, reading, and troubleshooting and basically taking several of the same steps I decided to do another fresh install of XP and I had wanted to upgrade the HDs, so I did that just a few weeks ago. I took my time and installed all the SP 2 updates before installing anything. Then it was one program at a time and then checking for updates until I finally got back to Nero 6 from CD. Then I tried the Nero 6 updates and then trial version of Nero 7, all made no difference. So when I ended up with the same problem again I tried playing more of the DVDs in my library and that is when I discovered that some DVDs actually would work every time I put them in. The DVDs that worked appeared to be older ones and that is what made me think that something I installed knowingly or unknowingly was/is causing this problem. After using the CCleaner tool now when I pop in the Matrix DVD there is a menu that does ask to install PC friendly. Even when I decline I can still play the DVD. This happens in the 6 year old DVD ROM drive. As stated the Sony Drive still will not play. The DVD ROM drive works, there is no way I am uninstalling that drive at this point. Not after so many hours. I would try that with the Sony drive again but as I stated I have done that already. I installed the Sony drive into another machine running Windows ME. I also installed the Nero 6 software (from CD). I witnessed the exact same results. The same DVDs would work and the others would not work. So you see, I believe it is something in Nero or a conflict with Nero that was/is the problem, at least part of the problem. I could be 100% wrong but why would the same condition exist on a completely different machine with a different (older) OS? Currently the same problem exists with the Sony drive, I can play a special features DVD (not the movie) and some older DVDs but most of the DVDs I have will not work in that drive. This is why I think it may be a firmware issue. I have new drive(s) on the way and when I get them we can see where that leads. I would like to solve these issues with accurate knowledge but I have to balance how much time I can really dedicate to that. There may be a log from the CCleaner listing items removed that I can look through, I will check into that. If you were in my shoes, what would you think, or do? I hope this information is helpful in some way and I appreciate the help and information that I have received. Thanks. At this point it seems clear to me that CCleaner removed something very important from the Registry. I'd NEVER recommend any Registry cleaners. If you believe the Registry is just too full of unnecessary entries, then I'd really say it was time to clean install and start afresh. So let's totally uninstall ALL your optical drives from the computer and try to get them back correctly. In Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Unistall any and all DVD burning programs you may have installed and any DVD Decoding software you have installed. BEFORE you do this, check you still have the CDs for the reinstall. Reboot the PC. Go into the Device Manager and Uninstall the Optical Drives. Turn OFF the PC. Physically go into the case and REMOVE all optical drives. (You can just disconnect both ribbon and power cables in this case since you know you are going to put them back. While you are there, physically check the jumpers at the rear of the drive(s) Restart the PC... Ensure that My Computer is now showing you have NO optical drives and that Device Manager also confirms no entries. Turn off the PC. Physically reinstall the drive(s)... or reconnect both cables. Turn on the PC. Ensure that XP redetects each drive and installs drivers for it - and assigns a drive letter. Check at this point that XP can read a data DVD. Reinstall your DVD Decoding software. Check that XP can play a video DVD. Reinstall your DVD burning software. Check that it burns. Your next option is the format and clean install. Unfortunately flashing the firmware is always a risk you alone undertake. The manufacturers are never responsible for anything that goes wrong with the drive at that point. Sony may decide to assist... but then again, they are fully within their rights if they decide not to. -- Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging www.coribright.com/Windows "Rob" wrote in message ... Thanks. I should not have used the word random. The drives to not play randomly, it is the disks that are playable that are random. The same disk will consistantly play in the drive and the ones that do not work, never work. Today, my older Compaq DVD ROM drive works again. I can play DVDs... so far all the DVDs that I have tried work except one, and I think it might be the disk. The only thing that I did recently was to install and run a program call CCleaner. It is freeware that cleans out history and alters and/or deletes registry keys that the program deems as an error. If the drive continues to work my belief will be confirmed that something somewhere on the computer was stopping the drive from working. I still have the original issue with the Sony DVD RW drive, although I can burn DVDs which does not make sense to me. What is different with that drive is that it seems to attempt to access information for about 2 minutes now before it decides there is no disk. I have ordered new DVD drives but now I strongly believe it is something in the OS and software that is the issue. I wonder if the upgraded firmware could be the problem with the Sony drive. Is there a way to clear that new firmware and install an older firmware? Thanks again. -- |
#29
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
John Inzer wrote:
FWIW, I use CCleaner daily and it has never caused any problems. Others may report differing views. When you scan the registry if asks if you want to save a backup which I always do but I've never had the need to restore one. Do you often restore one just to assure yourself that you know how and that it works properly, should the need arise? Please understand...this is not tech support. We are simply volunteers who attempt to assist folks who are having problems. What works for us may not work for anyone else... Good luck in solving your problem. Hi, Thanks Cari I appreciate the input, but I am not sure what you mean by "removed something very important". What it removed made my DVD ROM drive work, how is that a problem? Maybe CCleaner was not a great idea, but, for one of the drives the problem is solved and my computer seems to be working great. Do you know much about that program? I suppose that I was not specific enough when I explained what steps I have taken when I replied to WOJO a few days ago. I have done the very steps you suggest more than once and that did not solve the problems. That is why I was willing to take John's and your advice and purchase a new drive, and why I kept reading and searching. Also, I did a fresh install of XP Pro SP 2 less than 3 weeks ago on brand new hard drives which I believe I stated in my first post. I have no idea of the exact item the CCleaner removed to assist with this issue. I don't know if it had something to do with the Nero software (which I installed and uninstalled 3 different versions several times and used Nero's cleaner tool as well) or something else. At this point I only have trial versions of Power DVD 7 and NVIDIA's video decoder installed and I am reluctant to ever install Nero again. I had done a fresh install of XP in April when I upgraded other system components. I rarely used the DVD drives to view DVDs and I have had the system for quite some time. Before April the Sony DVD RW was the last upgrade I made (1 1/2 years ago) and that came with the Nero software. The problem with the DVD drives was actually discovered in early June (I mis-stated that timing in my first post) when I tried to make a DVD from my digital video camera for the first time ever. At that time I was using Panasonic software to download from my video camera and using Nero 6 to burn to DVD. At first I thought it was the Panasonic software so I uninstalled that software and I have not reinstalled it, yet. I could not get the newly burnt DVD to work after trying several different things including setting write speed all the way down to 1X (I made quite a few coasters). After reading too many troubleshooting tips, that is when I put in a DVD movie to see if there was a problem with the drives... and neither would play DVDs, at least the several that I tried at that time. After countless hours of searching, reading, and troubleshooting and basically taking several of the same steps I decided to do another fresh install of XP and I had wanted to upgrade the HDs, so I did that just a few weeks ago. I took my time and installed all the SP 2 updates before installing anything. Then it was one program at a time and then checking for updates until I finally got back to Nero 6 from CD. Then I tried the Nero 6 updates and then trial version of Nero 7, all made no difference. So when I ended up with the same problem again I tried playing more of the DVDs in my library and that is when I discovered that some DVDs actually would work every time I put them in. The DVDs that worked appeared to be older ones and that is what made me think that something I installed knowingly or unknowingly was/is causing this problem. After using the CCleaner tool now when I pop in the Matrix DVD there is a menu that does ask to install PC friendly. Even when I decline I can still play the DVD. This happens in the 6 year old DVD ROM drive. As stated the Sony Drive still will not play. The DVD ROM drive works, there is no way I am uninstalling that drive at this point. Not after so many hours. I would try that with the Sony drive again but as I stated I have done that already. I installed the Sony drive into another machine running Windows ME. I also installed the Nero 6 software (from CD). I witnessed the exact same results. The same DVDs would work and the others would not work. So you see, I believe it is something in Nero or a conflict with Nero that was/is the problem, at least part of the problem. I could be 100% wrong but why would the same condition exist on a completely different machine with a different (older) OS? Currently the same problem exists with the Sony drive, I can play a special features DVD (not the movie) and some older DVDs but most of the DVDs I have will not work in that drive. This is why I think it may be a firmware issue. I have new drive(s) on the way and when I get them we can see where that leads. I would like to solve these issues with accurate knowledge but I have to balance how much time I can really dedicate to that. There may be a log from the CCleaner listing items removed that I can look through, I will check into that. If you were in my shoes, what would you think, or do? I hope this information is helpful in some way and I appreciate the help and information that I have received. Thanks. At this point it seems clear to me that CCleaner removed something very important from the Registry. I'd NEVER recommend any Registry cleaners. If you believe the Registry is just too full of unnecessary entries, then I'd really say it was time to clean install and start afresh. So let's totally uninstall ALL your optical drives from the computer and try to get them back correctly. In Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, Unistall any and all DVD burning programs you may have installed and any DVD Decoding software you have installed. BEFORE you do this, check you still have the CDs for the reinstall. Reboot the PC. Go into the Device Manager and Uninstall the Optical Drives. Turn OFF the PC. Physically go into the case and REMOVE all optical drives. (You can just disconnect both ribbon and power cables in this case since you know you are going to put them back. While you are there, physically check the jumpers at the rear of the drive(s) Restart the PC... Ensure that My Computer is now showing you have NO optical drives and that Device Manager also confirms no entries. Turn off the PC. Physically reinstall the drive(s)... or reconnect both cables. Turn on the PC. Ensure that XP redetects each drive and installs drivers for it - and assigns a drive letter. Check at this point that XP can read a data DVD. Reinstall your DVD Decoding software. Check that XP can play a video DVD. Reinstall your DVD burning software. Check that it burns. Your next option is the format and clean install. Unfortunately flashing the firmware is always a risk you alone undertake. The manufacturers are never responsible for anything that goes wrong with the drive at that point. Sony may decide to assist... but then again, they are fully within their rights if they decide not to. -- Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging www.coribright.com/Windows "Rob" wrote in message ... Thanks. I should not have used the word random. The drives to not play randomly, it is the disks that are playable that are random. The same disk will consistantly play in the drive and the ones that do not work, never work. Today, my older Compaq DVD ROM drive works again. I can play DVDs... so far all the DVDs that I have tried work except one, and I think it might be the disk. The only thing that I did recently was to install and run a program call CCleaner. It is freeware that cleans out history and alters and/or deletes registry keys that the program deems as an error. If the drive continues to work my belief will be confirmed that something somewhere on the computer was stopping the drive from working. I still have the original issue with the Sony DVD RW drive, although I can burn DVDs which does not make sense to me. What is different with that drive is that it seems to attempt to access information for about 2 minutes now before it decides there is no disk. I have ordered new DVD drives but now I strongly believe it is something in the OS and software that is the issue. I wonder if the upgraded firmware could be the problem with the Sony drive. Is there a way to clear that new firmware and install an older firmware? Thanks again. -- |
#30
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DVDs are not playing or recognized
Bill's News wrote:
Do you often restore one just to assure yourself that you know how and that it works properly, should the need arise? =========================== Restoring the .reg files is very simple..... just right click and choose Merge. The .reg files are stored in..... My Documents / CCleaner Reg. Backup Have you experienced problems in restoring the CCleaner .reg files? -- John Inzer MS Picture It! MVP Please understand...this is not tech support. We are simply volunteers who attempt to assist folks who are having problems. What works for us may not work for anyone else... Good luck in solving your problem. Digital Image Highlights and FAQs http://tinyurl.com/aczzp Making Good Newsgroup Posts http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm |
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