Toshiba X205 HD DVD problem

Well, I tried watching several HD DVDs on my brand spankin new X205-S9349 and was not happy with the results. Everytime I put in an HD DVD, the disk drive would spin and churn away and nothing would happen. Next, I opened the HD DVD viewer/player, but all the buttons are greyed out since the DVD is not being recognized. I tried this with two separate disks and the results were the same. HOWEVER, one of the disk was actually recognized once and played for 1 or 2 glorious minutes...then it just stopped. The two DVDs were rented from Blockbuster online. How can I tell if the disks or the disk drive is bad? I didn't see any really bad grooves on the disks themselves. Besides, I was able to play all my old school DVDs just fine. A few more HD DVDs should be coming soon so I can test it again. Just wanted to know if any other X205 owners were having the same issue.

p.s. Too Fast Too Furious Tokyo Drift was the movie that worked for 2 mins. Hahahaha. March of the Penguins didn't work at all. Afro Samurai was a normal DVD from Blockbuster and it worked fine.

 

Try the new firmware hope this helps let me know im getting mine on thurs

thanks

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_modItemList.jsp?moid=1757702&rpn=PSPB9U&ct=DL&BV_SessionID=@@@@1392036012.1187025039@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccaddljkdggjmcgfkceghdgngdgnj.0

 

Thanks for the link. I'll try it again when the new HD DVDs come in the mail. If you get your laptop first, please let me know if your drive works without the new firmware.

 

No problems here... though it seems to churn a bit before it loads... Not sure if that's normal since this is my first HD drive.

I've only got one movie so far... Casablanca

 

Sucks. Just got 3 more HD DVDs from Blockbuster.com... and none of them works. The disk drive would churn and churn while making weird noises, but the DVDs never gets recognized. I was hoping the new firmware would help, guess not. I hate calling tech support.

 

do you have a program that runs hd dvds? i know that gateway and hp offer a program to run them, also if you dont have the codec that would be a problem.

 

I will have to test it out and see. I also want to test out the picture quality of the movie when I play it on the HDTV. I already know games look amazing so I have no doubt that movies will too. Blu Ray movies are just eye popping amazing on my tv so I'm curious about HD DVD.

 

The x205 comes with Toshiba's HD DVD software player. The program doesn't even autostart because the disk is not being recognized. Please keep me posted if you get your players working.

 

Does your drive automatically recognize any other CDs or DVDs?

 

Yesterday was the first time I got to try out my HD DVD drive with a HD DVD in it and it didn't work. Needless to say, I was not happy. I called tech support and the guy on the other end had no clue what he was talking about. I have to call again and hope I can get someone who has at least half a clue about computers.

I could fix this on my own if only Toshiba had some kind of drivers or something on its website for the X205. A lot of people want to rag on Dell and stuff but at least Dell has drivers and other stuff on it's website for it's NBs. What I find on Toshiba's website for the X205 is useless.

Oh well, at least I can watch Purple Rain on Blu-Ray on the XPS.

 

I guess I should go out and rent a copy of 300 or something... DVD Burning and reading has worked fine, but I haven't tested HD-DVD playback.

 

Can someone that can play HD DVDs on their puter tell me what it says when you click on computer in Vista or My computer in XP without anything in the drive. I'm curious cause mine says DVD RW. I'm wondering if it should say HD DVD.

The tech support at Toshiba is just worthless.

 

Regular DVD playback is fine. HD DVD playback is broken. Guess I'm not the only one with this problem. On hold with tech support right now.

 

I have to take my computer to a Toshiba repair center which doen't make all that happy. I was happy with the X205 until this. I'm not in a very happy place right now.

 

Did you reinstall XP over the Vista? If you try factory restore - does it work?

Also there is a new HDDVD firmware at toshiba site
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/...heijefcgfkceghdgngdgnj.0&ct=DL&all_docs=false

 

just so you know as well, i have a hd dvd player for my tv, and it takes probably 50 seconds to a min and a half to load, because the amount of data being read is enormous. now a laptop drive probably has alot less power than a player, and maybe it just takes a really long time to load. Just throwing that out there

 

Same here, gotta take mine to a repair center also. Yes, I used the new firmware. And yes, I let the drive spins until it stops. It makes a lot of weird noises also. The HD DVD disk is just not being recognized.

 

I wish you guys the best of luck whoever sent their to Toshiba's repair center. I sent my P105 to them to fix a blown out speaker and when I recieved it back my glossy cover on the back had a NASTY scratch and my HDD was wiped (lol, dont know why iwhen it was a HARDWARE problem). Anyways, you guys should try the firmware first and if that's not it I wish you guys the best of luck.

 

Yeah, tried the firmware and that didn't fix the problem.

 

Well I guess I'm getting the best case scenario out of a bad situation. I took my Toshiba to the repair place and they opened up a trouble ticket on the NB for me. They said I could take it home and when the drive comes in they'll call me and when I bring it they'll replace right then and there.

So I at least get to keep the NB home where it's safe.

 

This is probably pretty late - But mine says DVD-RW as well. It does play HD-DVD's fine...

 

I was going to mention on this thread that with 163.44 drivers loaded, I couldn't do HD-DVD, it kept saying "Unable to playback. Another applicaion that may be using the PC's Video devie" or something. I could playback though with the stock drivers. Know it's a bit late, but I'm not as worried now. Hot Fuzz is a funny movie.

 

I just recently got the X205-S9359. Straight out of the box I tested two movies, Smokin' Aces and Hot Fuzz. Smokin' Aces played fantastically, and everything looked spectacular! Until I attempted to eject the disc. With other DVD software (WinDVD, PowerDVD, etc) ejecting the disc while the software is open was not an issue.

For me, right out of the box, ejecting while the software was open caused the HD DVD playback software to crash. Not only did it crash, but I was not able to shut it down. Task Manager could not force it to close, and I had to reboot the system.

I attempted it again with Hot Fuzz, and it did the same thing again. o__O So right off the bat, I love my new laptop, but I already loathe the clunky-feeling HD DVD software provided by Toshiba. Not too impressed. The visuals are great, but the stability seems... weird.

I'll probably upgrade to the latest PowerDVD and try it again, see if I have better luck.

 

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...442974&os=2093

this is the firmware, it apparently fixes the stuttering noise you hear when you stick in an hd dvd....best of luck!

 

wtf thats an HP website this is toshiba buddy get with the program lol

 

thats not the point, its firmware, its the same drive, it should work, i found this in the acer forum

 

arrondr,

I had the same issue with the 163.44 drivers and inf from www.laptopvideo2go.com, so I d/l'ed the Toshiba drivers from Toshiba support (don't install them) and copied that inf file (NVCO.inf) over the 163.44 drivers inf file (nv_disp.inf) from www.laptopvideo2go.com. Then I changed the lines in the nv_disp.inf file:

from:
CatalogFile = NVCO.CAT
DriverVer = 06/06/2007, 7.15.11.0138

to:
CatalogFile = NV_DISP.CAT
DriverVer = 08/17/2007, 7.15.11.6344

Reinstalled and everything (including HD-DVD) now works great for me.

Good luck.

 

Thank you!!

I'll try this when I get home. This so needs to be wiki'd. Perhaps I will have to look into hosting a small wiki about the X205. It would be good to find out exactly what in the INF is the problem.

 

I spent two weeks setting up my first x205, only to have it crash when I installed Word Perfect. I had problems with it right away, but I had installed the Toshiba docking bay right away.

I took it back and got #2, the Toshiba x205 9359, and spent another two weeks getting it up and running. By the way, the dyna dock does not work with another sceen/lcd projector. After hours on the phone and checking out the Internet, I know that for a fact. I was concerned about the dyna dock and saved that forlast in my installations, and set a recovery point in case I had problems. I crashed my system again. I restored it and all seemed to be well until the HD DVD problem - it wants to burn disks, ca't beread, etc. Called Toshiba and it seems to be a motherboard problem. Guess Ididn't get a lemon - it seemst be this model. Sad.

 

I find that the "problem" with my dvd spinning and spinning was because I did not press the dvd down enough and leveled right into the bottom (not just middle) of the placeholder...after I press hard and lock the disk way down, it play the dvd no problem.
(Hmm I hope the initial problem of spinning and spinning non-stop with weird sound did not cause any problem to the hardware...
how do you guys ensure placing the dvd in place?)

The second "problem" is region codes or rights protection, the Toshiba player is unable to play if it cannot recognize the disk protection without displaying any error message...
I find the solution is to play with another player like PowerDVD with works perfect!...

I would believe the WinDVD will play well as well - which should be included with the X205 (but I can't find the exe when I look into the pre-installed c:\program files\InterVideo\ folder)

 

Well today my X205 finally got fixed. I think the reason why it took so long to get fixed was because they let me take it home and it was out of sight out of mind. When I called them to check on the part, they was like, "Oh yeah, your part is here."

Well I took it in and they fixed it in 10 mins. and did an ops check and it worked great. So now I'm happy. I hope the OP had just as much success with his repair that I did.

I joked with the techs and told them I hope this was the last time I had to see them. They joked back that they hoped for the same thing.

 

I installed the 163.44 drivers by replacing the nv_disp.cat and nv_disp.inf files from the toshiba drivers and my HD DVD's play better but I still get some lag and stuter. I think my problem is drivers related as my drive recognises all of the HD DVD's that I have.

Update: 09-18-2007,Just triedthe 163.69 drivers and the new HD DVD Player that toshiba released and still having the stuter problem. I guess we will have to wait longer for a fix forthis problem.

 

Could it be the CPU?
Check the cpu cores loads when playing...

 

My movies are playing fine on mine with no stuttering or problems. Hope it stays that way. I am just trying to get some better NVidia drivers for gaming.

 

My problems started when I changed my video card drivers to Nividia's latest betas to improve my gaming performence, so if it is working ok I would suggest leaving your video card drivers alone for now or until we get some solution from Toshiba (I hope they put out a solution anyway(hoping!!). ).

 

Well, last night I installed the nvidia ver. 138 drivers supplied by Toshiba and low and behold my HD DVD's play fine and with zero stutering. All along I knew it was a drivers issue but my dilema is do I watch HD DVD's and leave this driver or do I install the 163.69 driver so I can play Bioshock.

 

Thanks.. I am going to wait until Toshiba releases a bettr driver I think.

 

You may be waiting a long time as they don't update drivers very often.

 

Try upgrading Toshiba HD-DVD player to 4.31.11 from the Toshiba X205-SLI3 downloads page
http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/downloads/app_hd_dvd_player_26525E.exe

I have X205-9359 and had stuttering problem with player 4.20.16 from Toshiba bulletins page with upgraded 156.64 nVidia drivers, but problem went away with this newer version of the HD-DVD player. Don't know why Toshiba didn't post this newer version on the other models' pages.

Overall I'm not that impressed with the 156.64 driver though, I had better performance when I tried 156.65 (4369 vs. 4278 3dmark06, stock clocks), but my config is still a work in progress. I saw the 156.64 drivers on the X205-SLI3 downloads before I saw the DVD player was upgraded and tried the drivers first to fix the stuttereing thinking it would be more compatible with Toshiba player.

 

Yeah, I agree with that statement and that is why I did a clean install of vista and just installed all the drivers and the laptopvideo2go.com Nvidia 163.69 modified drivers and just the appz and games I really need and use, but instead of reinstalling Toshiba's version of WinDVD I bought the retail version of WinDVD and it works fine even with the beta and modified drivers from laptopvideo2go.com. My X205 is much faster and I can play all my games and HD DVD movies with no stutter problems I had with Toshiba's version of WinDVD and the Nvidia 163.69 modified drivers which I use to play Bioshock, but best of all I have zero bloaware on my system.

 

When I try to play HD-DVD movie on my X205-9359, I am getting the following error. I downloaded the latest driver and the player. I am using the laptoptogo video driver that worked with the BioShock demo.

"Unable to playback. Another application that may be using the PC's Video function may be running."

Thanks,

 

If you're getting that error it's because you're not using the official drivers. This is am ongoing problem I've been having with my X205. The only drivers that will allow you to play HD-DVD video are the digitally signed Toshiba drivers from their website. The most up-to-date drivers you can get are from the SLI1 or 3 series.

Otherwise, if you're using the drivers from www.laptopvideo2go.com you'll have to swap back to the defaults to play HD-DVDs. This isn't a Toshiba issue, this is due to the magical copyprotection called HDCP. And boy does it suck.

I actually have to swap the drivers back and forth to be able to watch movies or play games.

 

Will the SLI1 or 3 series video drivers work with X205-9359? Will that play BioShock and other games?

 

Yes. I'm running them on my X205 right now. I don't know if it will run Bioshock, but it handles Oblivion decently enough.

 

There is a way to run the drivers you want by using the .inf from the original Toshiba drivers. Works on most drivers, but not all. You just change the name of the "Toshiba" inf to match the one from your new driver, then change the lines in the "Toshiba" inf to match the driver version and date of your new driver, then just drop it in(copy and paste over the old "new" inf) the new driver folder and then install. Someone else had posted exactly how to do this in here, do a search, but that's how I have mine now and works great... I run the 163.11 drivers without losing the ability to watch hd dvd.

 

Not sure if anyone is checking this thread anymore..

I am now struggling with the HD DVD player as well. I don't have the exact same model (P205-7469) but I am having the same error. "Unable to playback. Another application that may be using the PC's Video function may be running."

Is my only problem that I'm using a video driver other than the one that Toshiba shipped with the computer? The one that Toshiba provides looks worse than one I found while researching how to put XP pro on this machine. The desktop and icons are fuzzy with the OEM driver so I rolled back to the other one that happened to work.

I'm a bit scared of renaming drivers like the last poster mentioned. I was hoping for an easier solution.

BTW, I am running xp pro sp2. Everything else on the computer works (except for the modem) fine. DVD's and CD's play. Mine says DVD-RAM under my comp though. And DVD's aren't full screen even when it says "full screen". I played the DVD in windows media player.

Thanks for any help that anyone can provide.

 

I have the same problem. Seems to have something to do with some software I added to the computer, but I don't know what. Can no longer play movies.

 

I'd suspect it's the driver issue, as I'd get that every time I tried when I was using anything BUT the Toshiba drivers... I'd say try going back to those, and if it works, ya know that you either got to stick with the Toshiba drivers, or modify the .inf file. Me, I just modify the .inf as mentioned in this post and several others, and use the latest Nvidia drivers from laptopvideo2go.com . So far haven't had a single problem with it, but I guess YMMV

 

Try updating your video drivers. I'm using the 169.09 on an X205 SLi3 with no problems. You can find our driver update guide here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64910
And here are the 169.09 drivers:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=187742&highlight=169.09
For people WITHOUT an SLI rig, use the 169.04:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=187219&highlight=169.04

 

Yeah, got me pissed when my P205 gave me that same "unable to playback." error, "another application..."

Went through many levels of tech support, no luck... tried everything...

guess what worked? just enable the Vista Aero theme using Personalize and Themes or whatever... worked like a charm - it appears the HD DVD player requires Aero/DX10 or some crap... I just can't believe Toshiba level 3 tech couldn't get to this answer before me.

Send me your comments, would love to know if this works for others too!!!

peace, and Ron Paul 2008 for goodness sake