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    seemingly erratic DVD playback performance

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by paradoxguy, Dec 31, 2010.

  1. paradoxguy

    paradoxguy Notebook Evangelist

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    Earlier today, I was viewing video programs on a DVD played on my notebook PC's DVD player. The programs are encoded in VOB files contained on several DVDs. When I tried to play the 2nd or 3rd disk, the PC and its DVD player apparently did not recognize the disk and the "My Computer" function indicated an apparently empty DVD player despite the disk sitting in it. I examined the disk carefully and it showed no scratches or other physical damage. After several fruitless rounds of cleaning the disk and reinserting it back into the DVD player, I inserted it into my backup notebook PC, which is the same model as my main PC (Dell M1330) and the PC promptly displayed the files on the disk correctly and played normally. I tried inserting the disk back into my main PC's DVD player but again it apparently did not recognize the disk and indicated no disk inside it. Knowing the disk was not faulty, I rebooted the main PC and afterwards, the PC and its DVD player displayed the correct files on the disk, which played normally. I hadn't rebooted the PC for about 48 hours; the PC was either in use or in hibernation mode during that time.

    I'm frankly :confused2:. Anyone know what caused this temporary malfunction with the DVD? Several times previously with other DVDs, the PC and/or its player did not recognize them and gave me the same "no DVD inside" indication, but after 2-3 rounds of cleaning and reinsertion, the PC and/or the player recognized the DVD and played it normally. Most times, however, DVDs play normally on my PC. Could this herald a pending breakdown of the DVD player? My PC is operating perfectly normally otherwise, at least thus far.

    Thanks for reading and any information/suggestions.
     
    paradoxguy, Dec 31, 2010
    #1
  2. H.A.L. 9000

    H.A.L. 9000 Occam's Chainsaw

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    Are there any firmware updates available for the drive in question?
     
    H.A.L. 9000, Dec 31, 2010
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  3. wave

    wave Notebook Virtuoso

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    Do you put your computer to sleep/stand by? Maybe the drive does not wake up prober after.

    I would not worry about it much. If I reboot fixes then my guess would be that it is software (driver) related or a heat issue. Since I don't think you can have heat issues with a dvd drive I would think software.
     
    wave, Dec 31, 2010
    #3
  4. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    Yeah I would say check for firmware/driver updates for slot loaded drive.

    Sometimes computers just need a restart..
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Dec 31, 2010
    #4