Can't play vcd's on my Laptop

[krollie]

I have a Toshiba Satellite S3000-514 Laptop and can't get it to play vcd's. It plays dvd's fine though. I read the "play" section on this website and the information about the virtual device driver SCSI1HLP.VXD in Window's \SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS directory. I didn't have that file. Even worse was I didn't have the directory IOSUBSYS in the system folder. Please help anyone!!!!!!!!!

[MaDmiZe]

Since nobody else chimed in....
I'll assume two things:
1. That your DVDrom drive also reads CD, CDR, CDRW and this vcd is on one of the three
2. That you can open the disc under windows explorer(or any other file browser) and read the contents of the disc....

If the answer to #2 above is no....then the disc is probly bad...
If #2 is yes ...Then open Windows media player ...click on open file ...navigate to the vcd disc...go into the "Mpegav" folder and open the dat file there ...It should play the movie. Alt-enter is full screen short cut.

Anyone with a CDrom drive can play VCD's this way....a DVDrom drive is not necessary...I know this does not specificly solve your problem...but u can at least view movie.

[krollie]

thanks for the reply. Answer is yes to both.I tried that but windows media player tells me I have made an invalid instructon. The DAT file is 652 MB's and is in the drawer you specify. Under the VCDhelp "play" page it says I need the before mentioned file. Does anyone know how to install this file onto the laptop. I know the VCD is not bad as i have tried many.

[MaDmiZe]

Then we would have to get a little more technical...
What operating system are you using..and what version of WMP do you have.....I ask because I'm at work and every computer in my office (7)from 95 to 98se has this \SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS folder and they all have that file....If you think that it will help I'll e-mail u the file(19kb) and you can make a directory and stick it there.....but I am curious as to why your computer does not even have the folder.....the pc at my desk has 29 files in that folder and most are vxd files...I'll assume that they are all there for a reason....darn computers.... email me if ya want me to shoot that file to you...include what operating system you have and I will yank it off the appropriate machine...or post info here : )

[^mvp^]

You don't have \SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS folder because you use win2000. I have exactly the same problem with my VCDs. I'm 99% sure that the problem is a virtual device driver like SCSI1HLP.VXD, but I don't know where to copy it or even if this is the write one.
It seems that a lot of people have the same problem. The .dat file will open with PowerDVD but you'll see a green screen. If you try to copy the .dat file on your disk it gets somehow "corrupted" and you can't play it either.
I don't have any solution, yet but if anyone knows who to fix it please tell us.

[krollie]

My O.S. is XP. I have already downloaded the virtual driver file and created the folder to put it in. Still not working. I have a toshiba laptop with dvd/cdr combo drive. I can't even copy the dat file to my hard disk. I get the error message "Invalid ms-dos function".

[^mvp^]

My O.S. is XP. I have already downloaded the virtual driver file and created the folder to put it in. Still not working. I have a toshiba laptop with dvd/cdr combo drive. I can't even copy the dat file to my hard disk. I get the error message "Invalid ms-dos function".

XP, 2000, NT it doesn't make any difference. It won't work if you just create the folder cause it means nothing for your OS. We probably need a different driver in a different folder....but I have no idea which one!
I can copy the .dat on my disk but windows can't see it as a proper mpeg because of that driver. If the CDROM is SCSI it doesn't have any problem but it doesn't work with ATAPI/IDE.

[^mvp^]

IT WORKS FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I downloaded WinDVD 4.0 and it played my VCDs and SVCDs with no problem! Don't ask why, I have no idea! Hope it'll work for you too.

[Danzauker]

yes, it appears to be a problem of win 2000 and family.

I have the same here: VCDs burned on win 2000 mchines are unplayble on other win 2000 machines, and files on the CD cnnnot even be copied to HD.

It seems as the CD itself is in some subtle way "wrong" because even on Linux boxes if you try to copy the files from the CD you get an "input/output error" message. Win 98 does handle the CDs correctly, though.

^mvp^ is right: WinDVD seems to be the only software tht reads those VCDs, but that doesn't solve the problem, because, for starters I don't want to buy or crack a software when I alredy have others that alwys used to work before switching to win 2000.

Secondly, the CDs are uncopiable except on win 98 machines, so they're of little use to me.

I hope someone can point out a method to completely solve this problem...

[offline]

hmm... I use win2k and I have never had this problem although I have
see it once on an earlier ver. VIA chipset m/b.

[MaDmiZe]

Boy am I glad I still run 98se....I looked all over the net including gatesoft site...and couldn't find squat about this problem...or any solution for it.

Seems to be a common problem ...but maybe only for what we do...if enough people noticed it then there would be a patch or solution on some site somewhere...wouldn't there?

[Danzauker]

even other people i know do not have the problem. so i guess that maybe some other software "solves" it before most peope notice it. problem is i have a "clean" installation of win 2000.

all pcs in my office have the problem for example

[krollie]

Downloaded Windvd 4 and has solved all my problems. Plays VCD's every time now. Thanks for all the help guys.

[subslug]

You dont even have to play the file through WinDVD you just have to have it installed on your machine. I found this out awhile back for myself and wondered why it works. In my case it was a file captured for a SVCD (mpeg2) and it would not play under windows, after installing WinDVD it plays perfectly. Maybe it's a certain codec that gets installed..I dunno.

[offline]

Subslug,

all the commercial DVD players install a directshow compatable
mpeg2 and mpeg1 software codec. Directshow is the system used by windows media player.

This does not answer the issue about VCD (mpeg-1)
under windows 2k vanilla, however.. and why for some ppl
the problem returns even after installing a DVD software
player.

[Lula1]

Hi guys,

Same problem here. I burned a VCD using Nero. Plays OK on standalone DVD player and on computer running Windows 98SE.

With Toshiba laptop Satelite 1005 running Windows XP Home Edition, it does not play and I cannot even copy the avseq01.dat file to the hard disk. I get an error message , the same as reported by one of you guys on this topic.

Any help ?
Thank's

[dannee]

I'm not sure if this is what ya'll are talking about, but I am also running WindowsXP-Home and I just put a VCD in that I burned with Nero and it plays in Windows Media Player. I also copied the .dat file and it also played. It asked what I wanted it to open with and I selected Windows Media Player and it played it.

If this is not what ya'll are talking about then disregard this message.

[Lula1]

Hi Dannee,
Could you tell me exactly and in detail, all the options you used for burning with Nero ? Especially ISO, joliet and CD-I compatible options.

Thank's.

[dannee]

Lula1,

Yes, of course I will, but give me a few minutes to get everything together. I think almost everything was already selected. I'll have to go write down everything that is marked and then I'll be back - give me about 30 minutes.

dannee

[dannee]

Lula1,

Under Video CD tab : check - create standard compliant
check - use CD-i application

Menu: nothing marked

ISO: check - ISO level 2 (max of 31 chars)
check - ISO 9960
check - allow path depth of more than 8 directories
check - allow more than 255 characters in path
check - mode 2/XA (already checked & grayed)

Label: ISO9660 checked & grayed out
system identifier CD-RTOS CD-Bridge
application CD1/CD1_VCD.APP;1

PREFERENCES:
General : all boxes checked
status bar yellow marker 74min red marker 80min
horizontal scaling - automatic

Expert Features : only thing checked is: clear archives bits of written
files during ISO refresh

Buffer : automatic configuration

File Browser : everything checked except:
confirm rename file, display files in the tree, &
extension filter

Since I don't really know what you are looking for, I just wrote down everything I could think of that you could possibly want. If there is something else just let me know. Sorry it took me so long.

dannee

[Lula1]

Thank's,
I am going to check against the settings I am using and get back to you.

[Lula1]

Hi Again,

On the ISO tab , is Joliet checked or not ?

[dannee]

Lula1,

No. Joliet is NOT checked.

dannee

[brian911]

Same problem here guys on both my machines - also used Nero to burn a SVCD - WinXP Pro reports a wrong CD size because it has a hard time reporting the size of the mpg (avseq01.mpg).... although when you right click and go to properties, it'll give you the right size after like 20sec lag...

Heard from JasonQG (mod over at Rage3D) whom also had the same problem and posted here earlier on this year, that this is a VIA southbridge problem ... this could be true because both my computers are VIA based (Apollo Pro 133A and KT266A). He said he fixed the problem by hooking up his CD drive to a Promise IDE card.

Anyhow, I'm a little better off than most of you guys because my LiteOn CDRW can copy the mpeg off the SVCD but it takes like 10 times longer than usual and the CDRW drive makes all these weird sounds - but once the mpeg is copied to the HD, it plays in PowerDVD... otherwise, PowerDVD is unable to play it straight off CDRW drive.

Also, the name Nero comes up very often when our problem arises - maybe it's not just VIA but Nero as well???? Anybody tried burning SVCDs using CDRWin or any other cuesheet burning proggie?

HELP! THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS!

BTW, I'll use WinDVD as a last resort..

[Lula1]

Hi,

I am sure this has nothing to do with hardware or so on.

Why do I say this ?
Simply because I took a VCD that was burned some months ago by a friend and placed it on the same computer running Windows XP, and it ran OK .

So, the problem here is the way Nero burns the VideoCD and issues with Windows XP ( remember , my VCD ran OK on Win98 ).

So, let's dig into VideoCD burning options of Nero ( or use other software ? ).

[Lula1]

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