Can't play DVDs properly!!!

Hi, I'm getting upset with my computer.:mad: I've been having problems doing what used to be so simple. Most DVDs play fine... until I try to fast-forward or rewind. Then most of my players will freeze. This has happened on several players. It's not 100% reproduceable, however. I noticed this error with Potplayer, first. However, after trying Windows Media Player, MPC-HC, and KMPlayer, I know something weird's up. I just now tried VLC, and it worked fine for ten minutes. Then the video froze (although the audio seemed fine). I pressed the stop button, and the player shut itself down, no errors or anything.

I'm currently running Windows XP, home edition, but I've also noticed the same issue on Vista (same computer, though). I've tried using both the DVD drive that came with my computer (ATAPI DVD A DH16A6L-C), and the secondary one I bought later (ATAPI IHAS324 B). Just for kicks I also tried turning on DVD Fab Passkey (freeware/unpaid), in hopes that a decrypted disk would work, but that seemed to have no effect at all.

As a last resort, I hacked my registry to make my computer think its running DirectX 8. Then, I downloaded the latest redistributable version of DirectX, overwriting my old DX files. No dice.

Am I stuck? Any advice.

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Is it just with dvds?
Have you tried copy a dvd to your hdd and play from it? Copy the VIDEO_TS folder with dvdfab decrypter and play it with VLC.

Sounds to me like your DVD laser is going bad on your DVD drives. It happens. To confirm this you need to rip a DVD to your hard drive and then play it with one of your software players and try to fast forward and rewind and see what happens on a disk copy. If fast forward and rewind work fine on the ripped copy then your DVD drives need to be replaced.

Thanks for the advice, but I don't think that's it. Like I said, I have two drives, and both failed. Also, I just tried testing XBMC, just to see if it fails like the other players. Then something strange happened... I was working fine, until, like VLC, the audio continued while the video froze. However, what was odd about this was the fact that it froze right as I was connecting my PMP. I know my computer shouldn't have even "noticed" the device because I was running Rockbox, and holding a button preventing the player from doing anything with the computer but charge. I'll bet I'd plugged my PMP in while using VLC, as well (Although I can't say for sure, will experiment more).

I can also decrypt pretty much any DVD with good speed. In fact, I've just started watching a decrypted Iso using Potplayer (and Winarchiver Virtual CD Drive), of Howard the Duck, and once again Potplayer froze after seeking.

Boy, this is getting interesting. I can play the same DVDs on Windows 7 just fine. After more experimentation, I found this problem only seems to affect Madshi's Video Renderer. Strange that this only affects XP, though. Haali's seems to work just fine, as does EVR. So, I guess this is a bug in Madshi's?

My computer won't boot if my cell phone is plugged into this one USB port (I keep my cell phone plugged in a lot so it stays charged). However if my cell phone is plugged into any other USB port BUT that one then the computer boots fine.

Computers are weird like that and when you mentioned your PMP being plugged in seemed to have an affect, well hence sharing my story.

Maybe try a different USB port *shrugs*