VCDs Won't Play

[beefment@aol.com]

I recently purchased some VCDs from eBay, and I am having difficulty playing them.

First I attempted to view the VCD with Media Player. I got this error:
"MMSYSTEM227 A problem occured in initializing MCI. Try restarting
"Windows.

I restart Windows and still get the same error.

At the advice of the eBay seller I downloaded some VCD players from the internet. None of them worked either. One of them was "RVCD Player" from www.cnet.com/downloads. When I attempted to play the .dat files using this particular player, this is the error message I got:

"There was an error playing the file: E:\MPEGAV\Avseq01.dat
"MS Media Player reported the following error:
" Error Code: -2147220891
" Error Desc: Cannot play back the file. The format is not supported..
"
"Either the file may be corrupt or it may not be a valid media file.
"This might happen with .DAT files which may not be really VCD files.
"
"If you are having problems playing VCD's, you might find some help at
"http://www.vcdhelp.com

I went to www.vcdhelp.com and found this on a troubleshooting page:

"In order to play VideoCD's on a PC (or even copy the dat files from a VideoCD in the CDROM drive to the PC's disk) you have to have the virtual device driver SCSI1HLP.VXD in Window's \SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS directory; otherwise, the file structure will not be recognized by Windows. My file was there but some program had changed it's extension. After renaming and rebooting, my VideoCD's now run without a hitch. Read more here."

The "here" is a link to a now nonexistent forum post.

I found the file "SCSI1HLP.oldvw_" on my computer, but I'm not so sure I should rename its extension without more information on what I'm doing.

(On a side note: my CD players suddenly decided they will not automatically launch anything anymore, so I've been opening everything manually for the past few weeks. This couldn't be causing the problems could it?)

Thanks for your help.

[macleod]

I REALLY wish I could help you because this has got to be the BEST information posting I have ever seen on this forum, mine included. You even filled out the computer detail section. If I remember right, you also just joined! All I can say is DAMN!!!! I sincerely mean this because usually we get the "helppppppppppp. how do you rip a dvd" or something where it is obvious the person has done NO research and wants to be spoon fed. Your post is unbelievable. It even shows that you searched around for information, etc.

At the very lest my comments should bump you up the thread a little to get another look see. I ask ANYONE that knows what this person's issue is to help him out. I wish that I could. Actually, I am going to do so some searching on my own and see if I cant help you out!!!

Again, GOOD JOB on the post

[Bayag]

Hi! Just to verify you purchased a VCD with an actual movie and not just a crap file perhaps you can try to copy the AVSEQ01.dat from the VCD (E:\MPEGAV\Avseq01.dat) onto your HD. (Or use ISOBUSTER from www.isobuster.com)

SImply rename it to MPG and see if it runs.

...OK, I might need some help here because I'm more used to burning that to ripping VCD's but you should be able to run your DAT file through Vcdgear (see thet TOOLS section) if renaming is doesn't work.


That part is for verifying it. If the movie is OK then the problem still is to find a player that can play it.

Anyone, please correct me if I suggested the incorrect tools for any purpouse.

[KingJohn]

SCSI1HLP.VXD inspects CD-ROM I/O requests and compares each request against the manufacturer and model of CD-ROM. It modifies the request if needed, to accommodate special requirements, or correct unusual behavior, of certain CD-ROM devices. In some cases, SCSI1HLP will force SCSI 1 protocol behavior.

SCSI1HLP also "helps" ATAPI CD-ROM devices.

You said it was renamed ? if it was anything except Vxd then it may not be what your looking for.

18.8 (19.270) Scsi1hlp.vxd

[kitty]

You might also attempt to load the latest Windows Media Player and maybe DirectX from the microsoft site - you could have some dll that is corrupt. Maybe you can get the SCSI1HLP.VXD from the Windows install CD?

[beefment@aol.com]

Following one of your suggestions, I attempted to copy the AVSEQ01.dat file from the "VCD" to my hard drive. I got this error message:

"Error Copying File
"
"Cannot copy AVSEQ01: Cannot read from the source file or disk.

Sounds like the VCD is corrupt or something, no? I suspected this before. When it wouldn't play the first time, I tried to open to open the .rtx file on Word (I assumed it was some sort of readme file). That gave me a similar error. It said something about a "serious disk error" and gives you an OK button. Clicking the OK button opens a file with infinite pages of asteriks (**) and the error constantly pops up over and over again.

Any suggestions?

beefment@aol.com

[macleod]

have you tried to play the vcd on an actual standalone dvd player? It really sounds like the vcd is bad (cant read info from). Might want to return it for another one.

[ml28103]

I'm having the same problems. Both WinMed and PowerDVD will only play about 5:45 of video before they freeze up. After kicking the computer around a few times, it finally spits out an error message: The file system mounted on this volume had to be dumped, some data may be lost... ore something like that. It will give other blue screens of death if I let it. I've got scsi1hlp.vxd in the IOSubsys subdirectory. Tried copying the dat file in Nero and that didn't work either. And let me tell you, getting new VCDs is NOT an option... i will cry, seriously. I may have to break down and rent a PS2, but from the posts I've seen about it, I don't trust it. Needless to say, this sucks ass and I need help. If my lazy machine can't recognize CDFS, then how can i con it into doing so?

[Faceman101]

@ml28103 renting a PS2 will not get you anywhere, why would you not trust a PS2? PS2 plays DVDs, not VCD or SVCD.

@beefment sounds like it might be your CD-Rom rather than your machine not playing the file. VCD is just MPG1 and I've never ran into a computer that couldn't play MPG1 right out of the box. Did you try the cds on a standalone DVD player (like someone else mentioned) or brought the VCDs over to a friend's house to try on their comp?

You could also go into DOS and try copying the file there. copy d:\xxx\AVSEQ01.dat c:\moo.dat. Try that, don't use the same file name as the original. I tried that method on a DVD that was giving me major problems in every Windows program. Once I went into DOS and copied it using a different filename for the copied file, it worked.

[Lula1]

Hi,
I have burned my VCD with Nero.

Works perfect on standalone DVD player.
Also on computer running Windows 98 SE.

On notebook running Windows XP it does not work.
I opened Windows Explorer and tried to copy the avseq01.dat file to the hard disk and got the following Error :

Error Copying File or Folder :
Cannot copy AVSEQ01: Invalid MS-DOS function

Can anyone help ?
Thank's

[KingJohn]

Hi,
I have burned my VCD with Nero.
Works perfect on standalone DVD player.
Also on computer running Windows 98 SE.
On notebook running Windows XP it does not work.
I opened Windows Explorer and tried to copy the avseq01.dat file to the hard disk and got the following Error :
Error Copying File or Folder :
Cannot copy AVSEQ01: Invalid MS-DOS function
Can anyone help ?
Thank's

You should start a new thread, this topic is over a month old now !!

If you just want another copy of the VCD, just do a disk to disk copy, if you only have one CDROM then select source and destination to be the same, programs will ask for the blank disk.

If while your copying the file to your hard drive you can an error, then chances are there disk has become corrupt, sometimes playing it will skip past the bad spot, but will stop any copy process.

Also some CDROMS might not be able to read the VCD disk because of the type of mode used when making it.

[Lula1]

Hi,

I am sure the problem has to do with how I burned this VCD using Nero and Windows XP. As I told before it works OK on computers running Windows 98 and also on standalone DVD players.

I took a VCD that was burned by a friend some months ago, and put it on the same computer running Windows XP , and it worked OK.

This confirms that Windows XP has some issues with how you burn your DVD . So , can we go into detail on the right options for burning VCD with Nero ?

Forgot to say, I did another test : I simply burned the AVSEQ01.DAT on another CD . Put this CD on the computer running Win XP . Opened Windows Media Player and chose the DAT file. It plays OK.
So, the problem is on how Nero burns Video-CD .

Any ideas ?

[KingJohn]

Windows XP comes with Roxio Easy Cd creator as standard, there has been several updates available for XP users, have you used any ?

I was thinking that your notebook had an older CD-ROM and could not read the mode 2 disk that was made by Nero. (Error copying file) you were not playing the disk, but trying to copy "data" does not matter what that data was, file, mpeg it failed to read the disk !

How Nero burns the CD, well I don’t use it myself for VCD, but I have done. I don’t see that it can be a problem with the software, more like the writer makes disks that other machines can't read, this useto be a big problem a few years back. But anything is possible, and Nero may be at fault.

However, you could burn at a lower speed, and you could try some other authoring program, then if the problem is still there, you will know its not the program, but the writer.

[Lula1]

Hi,
No, I never used Roxio.
What software do you use for burning VCD ?

Is there a way, using Nero to burn VCD, of not making a Mode 2 ?

I don't think the problem has to do with the cd-writer.
Also, I tried burning other files on the same CD, besides those folder/files that Nero creates for the VCD. And I can read and play those files on the notebook running Windows XP .
Again, I think it is the way that Nero burns this AVSEQ01.DAT ( mode 2 as you say ) that is not accepted by Windows XP ( and 2000 also, as I have read ).
Any suggestions ?
Thank's

PS : There are really many topics on this forum about this problem. IT is somewhat strange that nobody has come with a clear identification / solution to it, up to now.

[KingJohn]

Hi,
No, I never used Roxio.
What software do you use for burning VCD ?

I use Roxio video Pack 5.1 for VCD

PS : There are really many topics on this forum about this problem. IT is somewhat strange that nobody has come with a clear identification / solution to it, up to now.

Could it be that nobody else has this problem
Have replied elsewhere.

[Lula1]

Please take a look at the post SOLUTION FOR PLAYING VCD ON WINDOWS XP , on this forum.