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Resolved Question

DVD ROM's wont play but are shown in system devices?

Jan 14, 2012 8:39PM PST

Just recently my dvd/cd rom stopped working, so i bought a new one and it is doing the same thing.

My original dvd/cd HP (sh-s223f) and the new sony external drives both show as working in device manager and even seem to be looking for a disk at times but give up. Whats funny is that the original one is internal via usual cabeling and the other is usb.

My system is xp pro fully updated, I have tried the regedit of upper and lowerfilters, windows "fixit", uninstall and reinstall of the device(s) and fresh in stall of drivers, firmware updates, recovery to way back before when i last used it. I also deleted the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers and reinstalled. Always using disks i know that worked before as well as changeing them just in case.
My 3 year old uses the computer unatended at times and was thinking that he might have ticked a box and turned something off somewhere but after constant googleing have seen others have a similar problem apart mine being 2 devices (one being usb).

Any ideas would be great, thankyou.

Discussion is locked

sir13 has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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Areas to check
Jan 14, 2012 10:33PM PST

Native support under XP wasn't intended for the DVD world. What it appears you have done is make sure the h/w is capable of supporting the DVD-rom, you need to try the player s/w side. In many ways the use of the VLC player accepts this task well. It provides for it own needs whatever is required. This side-steps all the other media or windows provided players that can cause issues. if it works under VLC then all is well for it. The other players then need to be re-installed or configured again. Google for VLC, install and come back with results. Otherwise, I'm afraid a XP repair of the OS maybe the only option, other than a re-install which removes many unknown setting that may have been touched in some process. Also, check into the install of "codecs" that can be hosed, I use Klite codecs for quick fixes. These either replace or become supplemental to current codecs.

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Sorry
Jan 15, 2012 6:10AM PST

I checked out the VLC idea but before I try it I might have been a bit vague in my original post.

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Testing access
Jan 15, 2012 7:08AM PST

Unless, you have a "bootable CD disc", then enter your bios to verify the CD/DVD drive is the 1st bootable device. if you don't have a bootable disc other than your XP one, make one using the Ubuntu "live version" from the .ISO file. Burn it on another PC. Then place it in drive and reboot. If it won't boot(if burned correctly) then you have some other issue at work here. You can also, boot into "safe mode w/networking" and see if you access the CD drive then. If it accesses the drive then, you have some windoze issue or s/w one under a normal boot. Come back with results...

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Testing
Jan 15, 2012 11:09AM PST

Thanks for the help, I'm at work and have been thinking of what else i could try and that was my next Q?
If i can get it to boot from disk and i use my xp disk, is it advisable to to a windows repair...could that work? I was going to try when i get home. Can a windows repair cause other dramas as i have never used it before?

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No Go
Jan 15, 2012 3:10PM PST

I tried to check the drive in safemode and also tried to boot from the drive as well and both failed.
In safemode it was doing the same as posted above. Sad

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Not right
Jan 15, 2012 11:27PM PST

Since it can't do this in the simplest form, that suggests some weird s/w issue. It shouldn't have happened as s/w issue but it may lean more towards actual h/w fault. Why, it hosed under USB access, is yet troubling. If you can test the USB drive elsewhere, do so. If that fails on another PC, then you had a bad drive to begin with or use a powered USB hub.

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XP OS repair
Jan 15, 2012 11:59PM PST

OK, I find if you can't access the drives, then really I don't how you can do an OS repair. I suggest, if you hadn't ready with power-OFF, reseat and/or replace the cable for int. drive.

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Thanks Willy
Jan 16, 2012 5:36AM PST

Thanks for all your help Willy.
I will double check the sony usb drive on another pc just in case i have tried to replace a damaged internal drive with a defective external one! The external is powered and i have tried other devices through the usb hub so that is not an issue. As it looks like my options are running out my next issue will be doing a o/s reinstall from drives that wont boot or work in safe mode...
Thanks for your time.

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It Makes you want to cry!
Jan 16, 2012 4:19PM PST

After going to the local PC store to do a quick free check for me and to be told I needed to leave the PC there for a few days to be repaired, i decided to bring it home for what I should have done days ago. I dug out an old pc I haven't used for about a year and hooked up the brand new external sony drive to it and presto, its faulty. It was acting exactly as my old one was so I thought I must have had error somewhere..... Cry .
When I took the new external drive back to the pc store where i bought it from and whom did the check they said it wasn't that and took the drive and hooked it up to their pc, a laptop then to another pc. After alot of what I would call stuffing around thying to get it to work they gave me a new one (after pluging it in to see if it worked, lol).
Thanks again for your time Willy.

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Good to hear
Jan 17, 2012 1:43AM PST

Glad it got sorted out. It certainly is maddening to have more than one issue to contend with. adios -----Willy Happy