DVD-ROM will rip, but won't play DVD's

[bachelor]

I just got a new DVD-ROM (Toshiba SD-M1502), and it works perfectly. It is able to read both CD's and DVD's. However, I am not able to play the DVD's. I have figured out that it is an issue with my graphics card and its drivers (at least that's what I think it is).

I bought my Compaq Presario 5838 with Win98 and a 17 gig HD, but I have since bought 2 new hard drives (no longer using the 17gig), and installed Win2k as my operating system. I also updated DirectX to 8.1.

The computer came with a 3dfx Voodoo3-1000 2X AGP 3D Graphics Card, but since it didn't come with Win2k, it doesn't have the correct drivers. I can play vids no problem. I just can't play DVD's. I always get the error that DirectDraw Overlay is not active, and that I should try reducing my screen resolution or my colors setting.

I went to voodoofiles.com to try to find a driver that would allow Win2k to work with DirectX 8.1, but it seems that they only have drivers for Voodoo3-2000 and up. They may work with my 1000, but I do not want to screw anything up, so I figured I'd ask you guys first.

Just so you know, when I open up "dxdiag", it shows that "DirectDraw Accleration", "Direct3D Accleration", and "AGP Texture Accerlation" are ALL NOT available. I can neither enable them nor disable them.

Here is more info on the graphics info for my computer, however, I am not sure if all are active as I changed the operating system and hard drive:

16 MB SyncGRAM video memory
Laser-sharp MPEG2 video playback
128-bit hardware-accelerated 3D graphics

My processor is the following:

AMD-K7, MMX, 3DNow, 500MHz

Please advise.

Thanx.

[Truman]

Which dvd software player did you try?

[bachelor]

I have tried the following:

PowerDVD
WinDVD (from Compaq; Win2k compatible)

They both gave me the same error message/suggestion:

"DirectDraw Overlay not active"
"Try changing your screen resolution and/or colors settings"

I have tried both suggestions, but to no avail.

[artbatista]

I know this is going to sound nuts, but I had the exact same problem. Calling tech support got me nowhere. One day I installed Adaptec's ASPI layer and everything started working. I can now duplicate the problem on my machine at will. Seems that some ASPI drivers in some products are not very good. I have since found that installing Adaptec's ASPI layer solves my problem everytime.

Some programs will install their own ASPI32.DLL (or some such, I forget the name) if they find none in place, and apparently this file is very important both to CD writers and DVD players. The ASPI files that Nero installs cause this problem for me.

Anyway try that, but your milleage may vary.


Art

I have tried the following:

PowerDVD
WinDVD (from Compaq; Win2k compatible)

They both gave me the same error message/suggestion:

"DirectDraw Overlay not active"
"Try changing your screen resolution and/or colors settings"

I have tried both suggestions, but to no avail.

[bachelor]

I went to Adaptec's website, and found this ASPI Update message:

Do NOT install ASPI32.EXE with Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, Easy CD Creator 4.x, or with Windows Media Player 7.0. If are using either of these Operating Systems or if you have any one of these applications, you should not be installing or using this file.

I am running Win2k, so I guess this will not work.

I am, however, getting closer to the solution to my problem. A reply to my message posted the forum of www.voodoofiles.com stated that I simply need to update the drivers for my Video Card:

http://www.voodoofiles.com/3202

I am now just trying to figure out the version that I am running now first, in case installing the new drivers doesn't work.

[bachelor]

I just tried installing the latest driver for Win2k, and I got the following error message during installation:
--
Error, Subsystem Vendor ID: PCI\VEN_121A&DEV_0005&SUBSYS_1252121A&REV_01 is not listed in C:\Documents and Settings\Bachelor\Local Settings\Temp\Driver2k\Voodoo2.inf Please Update the C:\Documents and Settings\Bachelor\Local Settings\Temp\Driver2k\Voodoo2.inf file so install can procede

--

So, I just modified the .inf file with the code that it was missing (PCI\VEN_121A&DEV_0005&SUBSYS_1252121A&REV_01), and it was able to install. However, when I booted the computer back up, it had changed the settings of my monitor to the lowest resolution (640 X 480) and to the lowest color setting (256 colors). I had to change it back to my normal setting of 1152 X 864 and High Color 16-bit. When I opened "dxdiag" it STILL stated that DirectDraw, Direct3D, and AGP Texture Acceleration were ALL "Not Available."

Don't know where to go from here.

Any help?