DVD-ROM Issues

[Jerome Steelsides]

Start things off... I have a Samsung SD-616E running on a Dell with Pentium 4 and 512 megs of RAM, 3 GHz CPU.

My DVD-ROM doesn't work... well, to be specific, it does everything BUT play DVDs. The CD player and CD-ROM portions work fine. This is three seperate DVDs now that it just refuses to play, or even recognize that there is a disk present for that matter. One of which I KNOW works, b/c I watched it on my computer a few months back. Already checked the driver... that's not it, there aren't any new drivers.

Think it could be a video card issue? Or something else? Yeah, worse comes to worse I have a DVD player on my PS2, though I'd rather not do that as my TV is too small.

 

[KenM]

Do you get an error message when you try to play? If so what is it? That happened to me, and it said i needed a DVD codec. I deleted my old one somehow.

 

[Hopping Vampire]

yeah, you need a dvd decoder or codec

 

[Psionicist]

The codec discussion. A touchy subject.

The Only Thing You Should Install To Watch Non-Streaming[1] Movies Is FFDSHOW!

There, I said it. Troubleshooting codec issues because someone has installed spyware ridden "codec packs" is not the least funny. If you have installed such codec packs, you're on your own buddy. I won't help you. The same thing with closed source DVD-programs such as WinDVD, or the DivX codec from divx.com or whatever it is. Don't install. If you have, UNINSTALL, and cross your fingers the codecs haven't screwed up your system beyond repair. I probably sound like a complete ass now, but when my friends friends screw up their computers because they try to install a gazillion codecs on their own, I have to fix it.

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm

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Above is the only thing important. When you have installed FFDSHOW, you are free to install whatever media player you wish. I recommend Media Player Classic, because it don't screw things up, and It Just Works. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84358

Cheers.

[1] with non-streaming I mean formats such as realmedia and quicktime

 

[Jerome Steelsides]

OK, further explanation... I get no error message. I put the DVD in, it whirrs a bit as if it's reading it, then nothing. Normally, it'll automatically launch Dell Media Experience (the prog that came with my computer) but it doesn't. It *does* tell me that it's unable to detect my DVD, if I try to manually go into the DVD playing portion of the program. Looking in what was once called Windows Explorer tells me the same thing, as it doesn't register that there's even a disk loaded into my DVD-ROM drive.

I haven't installed any codecs or anything since I got it (about a year now). It's only within the last few weeks that it's doing this.

 

[WingOver]

I'd run Windows Media Player and see if you can play the DVD. If not, I'd install some kind of DVD player software, like the one mentioned above. Failing that, I'd call Dell customer support and ask them to help. They'll probably ask you to get the Dell media install CD and re-install it.

Good luck.

 

[Rackhir]

Have you re-installed the OS since the last time you played a DVD? Typically it requires some sort of software to decode and play the DVDs. Usually it is also a separate install for the DVD playing software. At least that has been my experience with the Dells. Your Dell Media software is probably one of those octopus programs that try to handle everything, but that doesn't mean that it can decode the DVDs on their own.

Also if these DVDs are not from the region where your computer is, they won't play at least on the standard software. So if you have a region 3 DVD and a region 1 dvd drive/OS, the disk won't be recognized.