Something screwy with my DVD drive?

[MartyMcFly3]

Recently Ive noticed that my DVD drive does not play DVDs anymore. Obviously this defeats the purpose of having a DVD drive so I am frustrated as hell.

I used to be able to run DVD's with Cyberlink PowerDVD 3.0 with no problem in Windows XP Professional. The only thing I remember doing between the time of the last working DVD and the time of this one is updated my video driver.

Things Marty has tried:
Rolled back video driver
Updated video driver again
Uninstalled/Reinstalled Cyberlink PowerDVD 3.0
Tried to run DVD in Windows Media Player -- same problem.

System Specs:
Windows XP Professional
Pentium 4 CPU 1600MHz
1.61 GHz, 1.00 GB of RAM
Radeon 9600 video card
HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4120B Drive

That's all I think is related to the problem at hand.

Basically the DVD will play for a minute or two and then it just craps out as in freezes and locks everything up for a minute. I have no clue what could be the problem. Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

 

[xtknight]

Try installing ffdshow. I know it fixed my friend's problem of having no sound.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

Didnt work

 

[xtknight]

Go in your DVD player software properties and disable hardware acceleration? Does Media Player Classic work? (File-->Open DVD.)

 

[xtknight]

Try selecting a different MPEG-2 decoder using this util: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Windows_XP_Video_Decoder_Checkup_Utility.htm
Also list the names of them.

If you don't have any other MPEG-2 codecs than the currently selected one, you can try downloading NVIDIA's DVD Decoder (still works on ATI) 30-day trial. I'm not saying you should keep it, but it will help track down the problem.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

Originally posted by: xtknight
Go in your DVD player software properties and disable hardware acceleration? Does Media Player Classic work? (File-->Open DVD.)

Neither worked.

This is bugging the crap out of me. :|

 

[xtknight]

Try the MPEG-2 utils I posted. That will take us closer to the problem. If that fails, well, does your PC pass standard stability tests? Prime95, memtest86, and 3DMark05? Your video card (configuration) might also be a culprit. If older drivers worked, try those. Use driver cleaner and then get a fresh old driver install package from ATI.com. Driver cleaner may eliminate a broken DXVA entry that could be a culprit.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

From DECCHECK,,,

CyberLink Video/SP Decoder clvsd.ax Version 3.5.0.824 (not MCE Compatible)
CyberLink Video/SP Decoder clvsd.ax Version 3.5.0.2524 (not MCE Compatible)

 

[xtknight]

In this case, try the NVIDIA DVD decoder first then. Make sure you also select NVIDIA DVD decoder as your preferred. Shouldn't ffdshow be in there as well, or did you already uninstall it? After you set the preferred codec, reboot your PC.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

Originally posted by: xtknight
In this case, try the NVIDIA DVD decoder first then. Make sure you also select NVIDIA DVD decoder as your preferred. Shouldn't ffdshow be in there as well, or did you already uninstall it?

ffdshow is MPEG-4 decoder, the DECCHECK searched for MPEG-2 decoders.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

Ill have to toy around with it later. Dont want to monkey around with it right now. Thanks for the help and Ill let you know how things go.

 

[xtknight]

Actually ffdshow has regular MPEG, MPEG-2, AVI, raw, YUV support and even encoding. Perhaps it's just not registering. I know the NVIDIA decoder should be in there though. OK, I won't be back until tomorrow afternoon.

 

[M0RPH]

You're better off using Media Player Classic than that old version of PowerDVD. I'd recommend uninstalling PowerDVD and installing MPC. MPC uses its own internal MPEG-2 decoder so that may clear up your problem. Also, I assume you've tried more than one DVD right? Cause you might have a bad disc.

 

[dclapps]

Can it read CDs?
Can you boot from the cd drive?

Remove the drive's power connecter and IDE cables, possibly switching them to known working cables if you have extra in your rig.

Make sure no spyware or anything else running in the background that wasn't running before.

If you have video already on your computer, try playing that to rule out a faulty video card.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

Originally posted by: dclapps
Can it read CDs?
Can you boot from the cd drive?

Remove the drive's power connecter and IDE cables, possibly switching them to known working cables if you have extra in your rig.

Make sure no spyware or anything else running in the background that wasn't running before.

If you have video already on your computer, try playing that to rule out a faulty video card.

It reads audio CDs just fine. I can play Counter-Strike Source and all sorts of other games with the drive as well. Saved videos work fine as well. Just seems that whenever I pop in a DVD and watch it, it locks up now which never happened before. Like I said, very confusing/frustrating.