i cant play a dvd on my notebook

the same dvd works fine on my desktop, on my notebook it play for about 5 seconds then locks


they both have XP with Windows Media play 11


any ideas what the problem could be with this

Defective DVD drive, or an error introduced to your BIOS settings.

how can i check the Bios, also if i can read data from my DVD drive does that mean it does work?

If you can regularly read data and continuously read data from your DVD drive (assuming you are reading DVD disks) then it sounds like there could be an error with the codecs that WMP is currently using, rather than a drive or BIOS error. As for a solution, I'm not sure yet. I doubt installing a codec pack would clear up the problem. Have you tried reading a movie DVD using a freeware media program? You can find these all over the place. If that does work, then it is definately something wrong with WMP and/or the codecs it is currently using.

i fixed it by installing intervideo, why that fixed the problem with Windows Media Player i do not know.

What kind of DVD is it? There's more than one type (DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RAM) It could be it's one type that is OK for you other comp but not the right kind for your laptop.

Most likely whatever codec WMP was using, it was either broken, or just just plain screwy, and the Interrvideo WinDVD installation replaced it with another version/better version/fixed version/whatever version. =)

No, yyiiyyii, it means no such thing. Some DVD optical drives have two belts or two rollers, and two or three lasers. You can have one belt or drive broken, or one of three lasers burned out or misaligned, so that some aspects will work, while others will not.