Dell Computer will not Recognize DVDs

[w6rlf]

I've spent hours trying to solve this problem: All of a sudden, my computer (Dell, running XP) won't recognize DVDs; even the "My Computer" won't recognize that there is a DVD in the drive. (It does recognize and play CDs.)

I've installed "deccheck" and it finds decoders, and I've picked one that is compatible with Windows MP; I've tried to find out if I have a driver problem (am having trouble doing that). I could go on and on, but can anyone suggest what might be going on and what I can do?

Thanks,

Paul

[Baldrick]

Have you tried with several dvds? And not just home burned dvdrs.

[w6rlf]

Yes, I've tried several, both home-burned and commercial. I've also verified that they run on my other computers.

[Gavino]

This article may be relevant:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/EN-US/

[w6rlf]

Thanks, I had done that one, if found some "fixes" but it didn't solve the problem.

I found an old thread on another board where the final thought was that it was a mechanical problem with the DVD/CD unit; it pointed out that the laser uses two different light frequencies for CDs and DVDs. Given that I've tried everything else (I think), maybe that's the case.

[zdamons]

Replaced the DVD drive. It is defective. I had a friend with the same exact problem. He bought a new drive - problem solved.

[w6rlf]

At this point I'm sure that's the case. I may even have a spare one at home (used to have one); if I didn't lose it, I'll try swapping it in.

Well, at least I learned a lot about some useful utilities (even if they didn't solve this problem)!

Thanks to all of you!

Paul

[w6rlf]

Sometimes I feel kind of dumb...

I realized that I could hook up my external CD/DVD burner (which of course will play DVDs) to my computer to test!

And of course the DVD played perfectly...

So until I find my spare drive, I've borrowed the CD/DVD drive from another Dell computer where we don't need the DVD capability.

Thanks again to all!

Paul