Problems playing DVDs on Laptop

[NTB]

Earlier this summer I bought a Gateway 450SX laptop equiped with an 8x DVD-ROM drive. The laptop also has TV-out capability through a composite jack on the back. I've tried to hook it up to several different TVs in order to play a movie on a larger screen, and have gotten nothing but slow, jerky playback. Thinking it was something to do with the TV-out, I didn't pay much attention to it. Then yesterday I tried it again, and happened to look at my laptop screen while the movie was playing - and saw the same slow, jerky motion. Anybody have any idea why this would occur? It shouldn't be because the computer isn't fast enough; it's a P4-M @ 1.6GHz, and it is equiped with 256MB DDR-SDRAM and a dedicated ATI Radeon 7000 video card (seperate 32MB DDR frame buffer, no UMA) . I was trying to play the movie with both PowerDVD 4 and windows media player, and got the same results both times. I'm not quite sure if this is a hardware or software problem; that is part of what I was hoping you could help me figure out. If it turns out to be software, I will move this question to the appropriate forum. Thanks.

Nate

PS: for full specs on the laptop, check out the Swordfish-II in the Rigs part of my signature.

 

[apoppin]

It's still under warranty, have you tried Gateway?

I have a much lesser Notebook which plays DVDs using Win DVD perfectly.

 

[bacillus]

is your dvd drive using dma or pio transfers?
sounds like it's using pio transfers!

 

[NTB]

From bad to worse...

I just checked it again, and now I'm getting no picture at all; only sound. WTF is going on here? I tried uninstalling and re-installed Power DVD, but that didn't do any good; still no picture.

Nate

 

[apoppin]

Well, what does Gateway tech support say?

It sounds like a driver issue or an O/S problem. If you're unlucky, it's hardware.
Do you have all the latest drivers from Gateway?
If you don't have tech support, I'd try mucking about in the BIOS and of course try Device Manager to look at your DVD-ROM (I doubt DMA can be changed on most notebooks).
Then I'd go for a brand new install of the O/S and the rest of the programs.

 

[NTB]

A clean re-install is worth a shot I guess. Couldn't hurt. I'll try it and be back later with an update.

Edit: I do have tech support and a 3-year extended warranty, but it's sunday - the gateway store is open but nobody's in the repair shop. I'll try fixing myself with the re-install and anything else I can think of; if that doesn't work I'll take it in this comming week.

Nate

 

[NTB]

It appears that the laser lens on the drive may have just been dirty . I put the XP cd in to start a clean install...and it crashed. So I opened the drive, took the CD out, and brushed the laser lens with a soft cloth. Put the CD back in, rebooted, and the install appears to be going without a hitch. Next thing to test is a movie. Be back as soon as I can do that.

Nate

 

[NTB]

Well, Power DVD works now - as long as I watch the movie on my laptop. Hooking the TV output up gives me the same slow, jerky video, both on the monitor and the TV. Any ideas?

Nate