DVD burner plays CD but does not play DVD

[Tomal]

Hi, I have got a weird problem. My Acer laptop has a Philips DVD burner. I have been using this for more than a year to play DVD movies, write DVDs, write CD etc. overall it was working fine. All on a sudden I can not plat DVD movies anymore. At the beginning I thought my dvd burner needs to be changed but I tried audio CD and mp3 just to check and they worked fine, then I tried data DVD, that worked perfectly okay as well. I was certain that it’s a software problem. So I tried all sort of things that I possibly could. I removed the hardware and added it back on. It didn’t work. I uninstalled DVD codec and reinstall it. Still didn’t work. I installed one software called regcure, still didn’t work. I tried windows troubleshooter, didn’t get much help. Now im out of ideas. The last thing in my mind is to format the whole system and reinstall windows again which I don’t want to do. If there is any other way to solve the problem, please type it up for me. I would highly appreciate. Thanks in advance

NB: when I try to play a DVD movie, it tries to read it and after a while it shows in my computer that I have inserted a blank disk, files are ready to be written.

 

[captaincranky]

Well, It Could Actually Be.....

The DVD drive still could be bad. I would try to borrow an external DVD drive before you try anything else. If the system picks up the drive and plays though your software, then most likely the drive is bad. I had this happen with a desktop in reverse, (played DVDs, not CDs). I think there are 2 different lasers in a combo drive. It's definitely worth a shot. Is there anything in media player waiting to be written? Unless you have a third party codec properly installed in Windows Media Player, it will pretty much act the way you describe.

 

[Tomal]

thanks, thats a good idea i guess, to check with an external dvd drive. i will do that but my question is if the dvd burner was bad, it would not read data dvd,isnt it?? because its using the 2nd laser to read data dvd according to you. so, i will try with an external drive. thanks a lot. i am trying to get the latest version of power dvd player, in case my power dvd player is corrupt. if i can figure it out, i will let you know. cheers

 

[Tmagic650]

Yes there are 2 lasers in these DVD/CD drives. It is very, very common for laptop DVD/CD drives to fail like this... Replace the drive when you can

 

[belkin]

i had a similar problem, i had to replace the drive.

 

[captaincranky]

Dueling Lasers.......

thanks, thats a good idea i guess, to check with an external dvd drive. i will do that but my question is if the dvd burner was bad, it would not read data dvd,isnt it?? because its using the 2nd laser to read data dvd according to you. so, i will try with an external drive. thanks a lot. i am trying to get the latest version of power dvd player, in case my power dvd player is corrupt. if i can figure it out, i will let you know. cheers

The 2 lasers are (I believe) 1 for DVD and 1 for CD. If you can read and write data, then something is screwy (probably) with the DVD-Video codec. This brings us back to even more of a necessity to try an external burner.
My original problem was the drive failed to recognize a CD. Well 1 out of 10 times it did, but it read and wrote DVD files. I have seen this type of thread continue for quite a while, and that's why it's paramount to use the process of elimination to your best advantage.

 

[zcurry2009]

reverse issue

I have the reverse problem. My compaq 700z plays dvds just fine, but says cds are corrupt when i find them in my computer. store bought and burned disks do the same? Could this be a software problem?

 

[AlbertLionheart]

I regret that I cannot find the thread, but this came up a month or less ago and the fix was a change in the registry. I am sure this involved a laptop.
Sorry I cannot be more helpful!

 

[nismo91]

registry?
is it to reset the whole dvd settings?

for TS, try to look HERE

it's just a simple note i wrote last year..
who knows if a solution might be there....

 

[AlbertLionheart]

registry?
is it to reset the whole dvd settings?

for TS, try to look HERE

it's just a simple note i wrote last year..
who knows if a solution might be there....

Thats the one - worked to fix what would otherwise appear to be a dead optical drive.

 

[Ferrolips]

I have multiple entries of this key {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} in the registry. Could this be what is keeping my DVD burned from readin DVD'S??
And if so, how could I fix this?? Thanks in advance.

 

[raybay]

Not likely that you are seeing a registry error.