cannot change region code from 1 to 2

[decocal]

lots of research done but no luck so fingers crossed you can help me - I refurbish computers for schools - am based in Ireland - have a laptop compaq nc6220 - formatted drive and reloaded xp pro - set all usual settings but it turns out region is set to 1 (do not know why) when I am in 2 - it will not allow change - says I have 4 more attemts - msg 'make sure the drive contains a region 2 media' - only 1 user setup on laptop - admin - laptop was donated to school so original source unknown - all help welcome thanks.

[jman98]

It was probably told to use a US keyboard during the installation of Windows. You can thank Hollywood for your problem by the way.

Put a region 2 DVD in the drive and you should be prompted to change the region on the drive to 2. It's that easy.

[decocal]

Very much appreciate the promp reply - tried some other dvd's purchased here in Ireland but nothing happens - using VLC to run them by the way - is it looking like a full rebuild?

[jman98]

Do NOT use VLC!!! VLC ignores region codes. That's your problem. You need to use either Windows Media Player or a non-free player like PowerDVD for this.

[jman98]

In fact, VLC should happily work to play region 2 DVDs without doing any checking, so if it won't play anything, something is definitely wrong with this PC.

[decocal]

Have also tried Windows player and same problem - now have 3 pc's with same problem although the lastest desktop is Region 2 - plays an audio cd but not a dvd - maybe it is hardware - I do a lot of refurbs for charity but first time I have had these problems - I must be doing something wrong - thanks again for the help.

[hech54]

Just get the last version of DVDDecrypter. It will show you what region the drive is set for right now and allow you to change the region if you have enough changes remaining.