Laptop/DVD help please
I put XP onto my vista machine a while ago and since then it's refused to play DVDs. I have a hankering to watch some 24 now and cant. Does anyone know how I can get the laptop to recognise dvd's again please?

It also wont burn dvds, but will play cd roms.
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 19:19, 26 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

You probably have no DVD decoder installed.
Try installing Media Player Classic:

www.download.com/Media-Player-Classic/3000-2139_4-10518778.html?tag=mncol

Let me know if that does the trick.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 19:34, Reply)

My computer detected a trojan horse in that
any other suggestions?
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 19:40, Reply)

@Becky
Man the fuck up and put the telly on.
( girlinthehole, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 19:44, Reply)

Are you using AVG?
I trust download.com completely. Never had a problem with their software. I'd be almost sure it's a false positive.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 19:46, Reply)

Nope symantec
There's bugger all on BGB
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 19:51, Reply)

If you've ever had any DVD player software
come with a new computer, install that. PowerDVD etc.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 19:54, Reply)

Does it play CDs ok Becks?
It could just be a driver issue since you reinstalled. Shouldn't be, but could.
(PenguinOfDeath is Scottish, and most likely angry, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 19:55, Reply)

Didn't work
:(
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 19:57, Reply)

downloading power dvd now
as the last one did buggerall.
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 19:58, Reply)

Was the didn't work at me Bex?

(PenguinOfDeath is Scottish, and most likely angry, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 20:00, Reply)

Oh sorry PoD, I meant the media player one didn't work
I have no cds so dont know if they work.
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 20:06, Reply)

MPC should have worked.
I'm posting from my phone so I'm not sure I can really be much more help. Sorry!

PoD's right though... does it do anything when you put any kind of disc in there? And can you see the drive in Explorer? If not, you'll want to check the drive's drivers are installed properly through Device Manager.

If it recognises and reads CD's but won't play DVDs, you'll want to install a DVD decoder, which is essentially what you just did.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 20:12, Reply)

Well unfortunately that was pretty much my only suggestion
Sorry.
(PenguinOfDeath is Scottish, and most likely angry, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 20:14, Reply)

I have exactly the same issue
I rarely play DVDs so I don't know when it happened but I think it might have been when I installed WMP 10.

Or, it's been suggested to me, typically they contain a separate laser for the DVDs as to the CDs and maybe the DVD laser is broke. But maybe that's just bullshit, I dunno.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 20:26, Reply)

I did a search for the exact make and model of my DVD-rom as reported by right-click and Properties
and found someone having similar problems in a forum and they fixed it by updating their firmware (and included a link to the firmware site), so I'm trying that now.

I'll report back when it's done.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 20:35, Reply)

Pish Becky.
Ant and Dec is on tonight.
( girlinthehole, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 20:37, Reply)

I liked Ant and Dec's show last year
Now, it seems there's just too much fucking screaming and clapping and that shit.

Christ, I'm getting old.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 20:47, Reply)

@No3L
I was being sarcastic.
( girlinthehole, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 20:58, Reply)

Tried everything
Updated the firmware, installed media player classic, uninstalled the drive in Device Manager and then did a scan for new hardware.

None of it allowed the computer to see a DVD put in it.

:(
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 21:02, Reply)

bgb
I did not catch that. Natch.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 21:08, Reply)

Do you have
a bootable cd, (windows installation disc will do) that will tell you if it is hardware/vista issue.
(Stringy, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 21:50, Reply)

just
make sure in the bios that it is set to boot from cd before the hdd
(Stringy, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 21:53, Reply)

No I dont
and I have no idea of checking the bios. I'll see if I can get my stand alone player back off my mum as I'm sure she never uses it anymore.
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Sat 28 Feb 2009, 23:25, Reply)

I'd recommend the K-Lite Codec pack
It's a collection of codecs for playing all sorts of things including DVDs (you'd have to select one of the MPEG2 players to play DVDs). The homepage is here. There are several variants to choose from, but if you just want DVD playback, I'd go for the Standard variant. Some of the other variants even add support for playing RealMedia files.

As for Media Player Classic, it's an open-source project, so it's only likely to contain a trojan if you downloaded it from somewhere dodgy. Some of the K-Lite codec packs contain MPC as a component.

EDIT: The K-Lite codec pack has it's own Wikipedia article.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Sun 1 Mar 2009, 14:28, Reply)

I recommend...
VLC Media Player -
www.videolan.org/vlc/

Never had a problem with this little app. It seems to play everything that never works on Media Player.

Give it a go.
(Starvis something for the weekend sir?, Mon 2 Mar 2009, 9:50, Reply)

bexs
PC stands for Plastic Crap

Buy a Mac, you wont look back.

EDIT oh and yes VLC Media Player - Mac version is more stable though - natch
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Mon 2 Mar 2009, 16:01, Reply)