cannot read video DVD's in my NEC DVD-RW 3550A

[biggar]

I cannot get my computer to recognize what is written on a DVD when I insert it into the drive. When I click on the drive in "My Computer" it will not show the files that are on the DVD. Can anyone help me? Thank you. Gary

[zoobie]

check your device manager to see if the drive is recognized

[biggar]

Thanks zoobie. The drive is recognized by the computer and I can see the files on audio CDs but not on DVDs.

[dnix71]

I'm not insulting you, but someone asked for help recently about burning dvds to a drive that would only read dvd's (a 'combo' drive)

What exactly is your drive (cd rom/cd rw/cd-dvd combo/ or cd/dvd burner)? Many new computers don't come with dvd drives unless you pay extra. The advertised price is a come-on. Something worth owning is lots of money extra.

[PGibbons]

I had the same problem with a 3550A a couple of months back. In device manager it showed both of the 3550's as a CD drive only and would not read DVD's. I went crazy trying to figure out the problem until I realized I had just installed XP Smoker Pro and had it run an optimization. I uninstalled XP Smoker and my drives went back to normal. I can't tell you exactly what XP Smoker did but that was my problem. Have you installed any "cleaning" software recently?

[biggar]

Thank you both for the help. My drive is a DVD read and write. The other day it would not read a CD with audio files on it either but I installed a sound card and now it does. Could it be possible that I need a video card in order to read a DVD?

[dnix71]

Your video card shouldn't have anything to do with it. Sounds like a registry problem, or maybe a dirty lens or bad media.

Check the drive for dust. You can get a can of compressed air to blow out the drive for about $5 at office supply stores. Check the discs, too. Fingerprints and scratches will easily make a disc unreadable. Some brands of dvd media are known to cause problems, too.

Store bought dvds are pressed. A home burned disc is different. Any RW cd or dvd that has been rewritten may not be readable except in the drive that wrote to it. CDs do occasionally 'rot' If they are stored an a warm humid place the aluminum data layer can oxidize. It will look like specks of dust under the disc, but they don't wipe off.

Take your problem discs to other computers and see if they read there.

[biggar]

Thanks dnix but it isn't a problem with the disks or with the drive being clean since I can read the contents of music CDs in it. The problem is plain and simple that when I insert a movie DVD into it, it will not show me the contents of the disk.

[dnix71]

There are two lasers in your drive. It is possible that the dvd laser or servo has failed, but the hardware is not reporting an error to your OS. You could try removing the drive from your device manager and reboot to see if something doesn't come back.

Have you checked the status of the drive in Device Manager? Is it still dma mode or pio mode?

Have you tried dvd data discs, instead of commercial dvds? If it can read a dvd data disc but not a commercial one, then it is a registry problem. You may have played something from Sony that has hacked your OS to 'protect' their content.

[biggar]

Have you tried dvd data discs, instead of commercial dvds? If it can read a dvd data disc but not a commercial one, then it is a registry problem. You may have played something from Sony that has hacked your OS to 'protect' their content.

Bingo! I think that you may have hit the nail on the head dnix71. I just tried a DVD-R disk that I copied a music CD to last night and it will not show me the files on that either. I know that they are there because I saw them on it after completing the copies. If it is this registry thing causing all of the trouble is there any way to fix it for someone who is really not all that knowledgeable about these things? Thank you for all the help that you have been! Gary

*edited to add: How do I check for the "mode" in Device Manager? I could not find a mention of "dma" or "pio"?*

[guns1inger]

Right-click on My Computer and choose Manage. Click on Device Manager, then expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers branch. Double-click on Primary IDE Controller, then click on the Advanced tab. Check the mode for both channels. Click OK and repeat for the Secondary controller. If either of them show devices in PIO mode, uninstall the controller and reboot your system.

It might also be worth uninstalling the optical drive while you are in there, and letting windows put it back on the reboot.

[bendixG15]

You can't view DVD files when you click on .. "My Computer"

If you want to view the DVD files, the click on "Windows Explorer"

[guns1inger]

He wants to check if is drive is DMA or PIO mode - nothing to do with looking at files.

[bendixG15]

........ When I click on the drive in "My Computer" it will not show the files that are on the DVD. Can anyone help me? Thank you. Gary

Not asking ffor drive Mode.. asking for files..

[biggar]

guns1inger - I checked the drive and it is in DMA mode and was wondering if maybe because it's the slave drive and the master drive registers as PIO, could that have something to do with it?

bendixG15 - When I use Windows Explorer I still have to access my drives through Control Panel. You are correct though that I am looking for files on the DVD disk since the drive is recognized.

Thank you both for being so much help with trying to get this problem solved for me.

One other thing I noticed this morning is that when I clicked on my other drive(s) without a disk in them I received an "Insert Disk" message. However with this DVD drive I received no such message.

Another thing I was wondering is if I could hook this up as a slave on the same cable as my hard drive, rather than being hooked together with the CD drive? The hard drive is DMA so that would eliminate that problem if it actually is a problem. Thanks again for all you've done! Gary

[biggar]

Problem solved! I downloaded an update of the firmware and there's no more problem reading the disks! Thanks for taking to time to help! Gary