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Help! DVD-Drive problems!

OK, as many of you know, I got a new PC awhile back, one of the components was a DVD drive.

when I first started the PC (Had yet to install drivers for most things) the drive worked PERFECTLY, I could watch DVDs, no problem. I proceeded to install drivers for thins such as the video card (GeForce 3 Ti 200) and the CD-RW, and sound card.

done with that. week or so went by, tried playing a DVD...black screen with garbled sound playing. weird...

updated the drivers for the vid card. no help.

uninstalled and re-installed the DVD drive.

same problem.


music and Data CDs work perfectly, its only DVDs that are not working.

Some specs:
Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1612
Win XP Pro
GeForce 3 Ti 200
AMD Athlon XP 1800+
Not certain what sound card, I think sound blaster. (Avance AC'97 driver, whatever that means)
and 512 megs of DDR ram

Any help would be greadtly appreciated!

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[b]whitestar90: [/b]"it would give the computer a heartattack just looking at it" -
[b]Sanfam: [/b]"And Drazi didn't like it one bit.-
[b]Mr.Bungle: [/b][i]"So that's where the forum went..."[/i]-
---
[b][i]ahhh, the good old days of HTML.[/i][/b]

Comments

  • shadow boxershadow boxer The Finger Painter & Master Ranter
    Buy a mac.. [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    I still suggest the trial-and-error approach.

    Remove all cards and add them one-by-one. See what causes the problem.
  • AnlaShokAnlaShok Democrat From Hell
    When did you update the vid drivers? NVidia just realeased new drivers on the 29th. Also make sure your DirectX is the most current version.

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    AnlaShok, Captain of the Gray Hand of Fate Squadron
    Sidhe-1
    Wielder of the Big Heavy Hammer of Obvious Truth
    "FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!"
  • not sound card and not vid card.

    both uninstalled and reinstalled, neither fixed the problem.

    ------------------
    [b]whitestar90: [/b]"it would give the computer a heartattack just looking at it" -
    [b]Sanfam: [/b]"And Drazi didn't like it one bit.-
    [b]Mr.Bungle: [/b][i]"So that's where the forum went..."[/i]-
    ---
    [b][i]ahhh, the good old days of HTML.[/i][/b]
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I'm actually going for the DVD software here. First, check if you can view the contents of the DVD (as in the files on it). That'll tell you if it's recognising the DVD as actually existing. If you have the harddrive space, you could try copying the data over to see if it can read the whole disc.
    However, my guess is that some driver you installed screwed up your DVD software somehow (probably replaced a driver file it relied on).

    ------------------
    [url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
    "Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
  • shadow boxershadow boxer The Finger Painter & Master Ranter
    Biggles has the right idea... if you cant afford a Mac.. [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]

    :P

    most DVD players on board computers dont have dedicated hardware/firmware players ( more's the pity ), they rely on software players which can be dodgy to say the least.

    even the one onboard the Mac's is software but atleast its pretty much bullet proof...

    failing all this... buy a PS2 and stop moaning.. [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/biggrin.gif[/img]
  • tried a few programs, winDVD, windows media player, MSI DVD, and PCFriendly DVD.

    all have the exact same problem.

    ------------------
    [b]whitestar90: [/b]"it would give the computer a heartattack just looking at it" -
    [b]Sanfam: [/b]"And Drazi didn't like it one bit.-
    [b]Mr.Bungle: [/b][i]"So that's where the forum went..."[/i]-
    ---
    [b][i]ahhh, the good old days of HTML.[/i][/b]
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Are you using software or hardware decoding?
  • OK...how does one tell?
    (Hardware or software decoding)

    ------------------
    [b]whitestar90: [/b]"it would give the computer a heartattack just looking at it" -
    [b]Sanfam: [/b]"And Drazi didn't like it one bit.-
    [b]Mr.Bungle: [/b][i]"So that's where the forum went..."[/i]-
    ---
    [b][i]ahhh, the good old days of HTML.[/i][/b]
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Noone uses hardware these days because processors are fast enough. Unless you mean the Geforce acceleration.

    ------------------
    [url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
    "Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    For hardware decoding (not sure if GF counts): There should be a DVD video configuration utility somewhere, with settings for things like "stability" and "field size." Find it, play with it, problem solved.

    As for the Avance AC `97 codec, that means you don't actually have a sound card; you're using onboard integrated sound. Get a real sound card, you cheap git!

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    We are here to place President Grenewetzki under arrest!
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Ewww AC-97 is horrible!

    ------------------
    [url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
    "Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
  • I've got to admit, I get excellent surround sound from it...


    any idea where this DVD configuration thingy is? can't locate one....

    ------------------
    [b]whitestar90: [/b]"it would give the computer a heartattack just looking at it" -
    [b]Sanfam: [/b]"And Drazi didn't like it one bit.-
    [b]Mr.Bungle: [/b][i]"So that's where the forum went..."[/i]-
    ---
    [b][i]ahhh, the good old days of HTML.[/i][/b]
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    Well, I've got to say that a friend of mine who uses the same mobo and video card plays DVD flawlessly. I didn't realize he had the same one until I asked for his input here. [img]http://216.15.145.59/mainforums/tongue.gif[/img]

    But it's not a bad chip, either. the Integrated audio isn't bad. It's actually rather nice.
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    And you have no problems with CDs playing sound, right?

    And no problems with the video on DVDs right?

    And you already checked that DMA was enabled on the DVD drive (I had him do that on ICQ)...

    Ok, what next...you're probably using software decoding. It could be memory related (ie the sound gets out of sync with the video becuase of not enough memory available) - but thats doubtful.

    Got a couple things for you to try:
    - See if on a completely fresh boot you can play the DVD without a problem. Its probably memory related if you can.
    - Try other programs to decode with...could be a bad decoder. I use CinePlayer if you need it, but I don't know if it works with XP. I have WinDVD on a system at home, but we have never played DVDs on that system.

    I also have a question: Does a DVD need a specific Audio Codec? If so, could it be that your Codec is bad?
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I still think it's a software issue. Somewhere along the line, something that all those software players use to decode DVD has got screwed up.

    ------------------
    [url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
    "Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Thats why I was wondering about the audio codecs, Biggles...
  • no, I get NO video, and the sound breaks up.

    once in awhile I get a menu of the DVD, but even that doesnt work right...

    ------------------
    [b]whitestar90: [/b]"it would give the computer a heartattack just looking at it" -
    [b]Sanfam: [/b]"And Drazi didn't like it one bit.-
    [b]Mr.Bungle: [/b][i]"So that's where the forum went..."[/i]-
    ---
    [b][i]ahhh, the good old days of HTML.[/i][/b]
  • shadow boxershadow boxer The Finger Painter & Master Ranter
    definitely software...

    DVD player software is nasty stuff... I have to reboot into an older system software to play DVD's on my Mac...

    if you can find no other way around it partition your HD (or whack in a little extra one) and boot from it for DVD playback... I cant imagine you are that bigger power user that you'll want to watch DVD's and twirl polys in Max at the same time...
  • BekennBekenn Sinclair's Duck
    Have you tried simply uninstalling and reinstalling the DVD player software?

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    We are here to place President Grenewetzki under arrest!
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    That's what I was about to suggest.

    ------------------
    [url="http://www.minbari.co.uk/log12.2263/"]Never eat anything bigger than your own head.[/url]
    "Nonono...Is not [i]Great[/i] Machine. Is...[i]Not[/i]-so-Great Machine. It make good snow cone though." - Zathras
  • Drazi GuyDrazi Guy Elite Ranger
    If you have tried all those players, make sure they are all removed and then try re-installing one.
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    That is nutty.

    I'd guess either your MPEG decoding codecs are screwed or else your memory DMA access is screwed.

    Also, MAKE SURE you have the Area code on your DVD drive set to your area! That could be your problem. Go into device settings and click properties on your DVD drive. I assume XP is the same as 2k in this. Make sure you are set for Region 1 (thats United States...and some others).

    --RC
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