Toshiba X205 HD DVD problem

Yeah I also have a P205 and the Vista Aero thing actually did not work for me. The dvds play fine, just not the hd. They worked the first couple of times, but don't work at all now. I have gone through so many forums looking for the answer and have downloaded every driver update i could find and every update to the HD DVD player as well as downloaded a different software to play my hd dvds, but nothing works. I'm really pissed cause i have spent hours trying to figure it out and i don't want to take it back to the store so soon after i bought it.

Has anyone had success with anything they've done?

 

Are you still using Toshiba drivers, or have you upgraded to different ones (such as from Laptopvideo2go)? The only time I have had any problems was when I changed to non Toshiba signed drivers, but there's a fix for that too.... so, guess my question is, what exactly is your problem? Certain error message? Crashes? What's it do and what driver you doing?

 

I've downloaded the latest updates off of Toshiba.com so i'm not on the laptoptovideotogo ones. When I put the dvd in it spins like 5 times for a long time, makes weird clicking noises, and then gives me the message on the hd dvd player that "This disk could not be played. Please check the disk." It worked a couple of times when i first got it, but other than that it hasn't worked.

 

Yeah, that doesn't sound like a video driver issue at all.... have you tried any other HD discs? I've got one that won't play in any of my players, but all the others play fine.... if it does it with several discs I'd have to assume it's a problem with the drive itself, maybe fixed with a firmware update or simply a mechanical problem.

 

Going back to my post at the end of page 5... I mentioned that turning 'best appearance' and therefore the Aero features on, my HD DVDs would play, anything other than that, "unable to playback" nightmare. I tried everthing from drivers to updates, and I spent plenty of time with Toshiba support to level 3 with no luck until I did a compelte DVD restore of the OS and it worked... then I carefully went through EVERY change/update/install I had done and kept checking... only when I switch the theme down to increase performance did I notice the HD DVD's stop working... so I really think that's the issue... restore drivers to original, and maybe upgrade the Toshiba HD DVD player, then check your Aero/performance settings... it worked for me and it really sounds like the same issue most of you are having.

What a bummer I feel your pain... I bought this laptop soley to play HD DVDs on my tv...

 

Yeah this wouldn't even bother me if I hadn't got 4 hd dvd's with my computer. It looked so damn good when they played though! Yeah none of the four are working. I tried the Aero thing and I actually did a whole restore of my computer so I'm beginning to think it's a hardware issue as well. It did work a couple of times though when I first bought it though. It was actually the first thing i did when I got it out of the box and turned it on. It stopped working even before I did anything to it so that makes me think it's a hardware problem as well. I guess i'll just have to take it back to best buy and have them get me a new dvd drive...thanks for all your help guys

 

I tried the following with the new 169.13 at laptopvideo and couldn't get the driver installed:

Also to clarify "Reinstalled" in the directions mean uninstalling current drivers and running setup? Or doing the "Have Disk" upgrade method specified at laptopvideo? I tried both no luck, went back to the laptopvideo 169.09 drivers without the HDDVD tweak.

EDIT: Note that I updated the DriverVer value to match the new driver:
DriverVer = 11/19/2007, 7.15.11.6913

 

I know how you feel vibhs, I've been going through the same thing. In fact, I'm the unlucky one that started this god-forsaken thread. I have tried everything except for a complete restore. I even went to a service center and got a new HD-DVD drive. It worked for 10 mins then died again, just like the first time. A restore might be my last hope.... :_(

 

Hey Pyx, did you also see that the catalog file has to be changed as well? Also, change the filename to nv_disp.inf instead of nvco.inf

CatalogFile = NV_DISP.CAT

You may have already done this, but wasn't sure from your post

 

Yeah I did a full system restore and it didn't work...i've just given up on it for now. Maybe someday when I don't feel like I need my computer for a few days I will bring it in for a new drive. Oh, and I also tried this lens cleaner...that didn't work either.

 

I don't understand why Toshiba isn't addressing the issue more directly. I mean, either it's a defect with their drives or with the dvd's or a glitch in the software on their computers. Either of those 3 ways proving that hd dvds suck and blu ray will prevail, or computers aren't ready for hd dvd. You would think that this scares them...

 

I know that modding the inf certainly does work for the 169.04 drivers, that's what I have know, may update soon though.

 

Well, from the software and driver side of things, it's copyright and illegal copies their worried about and that creates our driver problems, and the players, once you get them happy with the right driver settings to tell them that it's allowed to play, work awesome... HDDVD's play in glorious beauty using less than a 1/3 of the cpu load, so, computers are obviously ready to handle them. As for the physical drive or discs themselves, that's possibly a manufacturing problem, but by no means a problem with the technology itself.

 

I did this and i'm still having the HD DVD problem.

from

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

to

CatalogFile = NV_DISP.CAT
DriverVer = 12/11/2007, 7.15.11.6925

Does this not work with newer drivers or something?

 

Ron, thanks for this post. A coworker brought me his new Toshiba with the same problem. A quick google search brought me here and a simply switching the themes back to Windows Vista saved me from wasting a day playing with drivers.

 

Every time I try and play a movie I keep getting an error that says "Unable to output the video to an external device. Please switch your display device by pressing Fn + F5 keys after ending the application."

firmware and toshiba's hd dvd player software are up to date, happens regardless of what driver I use even the stock ones.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

*update* hitting Fn + F5 does nothing.

**update** Found solution here:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/...eeihjhcgfkceghdgngdgnn.0&ct=SB&all_docs=false

 

Good to know the solution, thanks for updating your post and letting us know!

 

Not exactly a HD DVD problem, but when I plug in the HDMI cable to the HDTV I get the blue screen of death on the laptop!!
Anyone know what I did wrong? What is the proper procedure to connect it to the HDTV?

 

Thank you guys for the suggestions of using the LaptopVideo2Go drivers. I did the inf mod and everything worked out well. I was also having audio studdering during HD playback and that corrected it, along with doing the audio driver link provided by Racetrack, above.

I did notice a couple of days later that when the laptop is in the Power Saver power plan I got studdering during HD playback, even when plugged into A/C. When I reset the power plan back to High Performance or Balanced the studdering disappears. This is regardless of whether the Aero interface is turned on or not. I did default the different power plans prior to testing this.

I don't know if it helps anyone else I just thought I would throw it out in case it does. Again thanks for posting the suggestions they really helped me figure out the HD DVD playback problems I was having.

 

I was never able to get the modified drivers to work with HDDVD;and I carefully followed the fix described previously. Which version of drivers are you running that seem to work this way? Thanks.

 

I to am having the same problem with the newest forceware.... I replace nv_disp with the original toshiba driver making sure to change to:
CatalogFile = NV_DISP.CAT
DriverVer = 12/18/2007, 7.15.11.6928
but when i try to install i get
"the system cannot find the file specified"

I am assuming that this may be because the 6928 driver is too new.....
If this is the case does anyone know what is the newest version that will work with the modded inf???

 

Hi Guys
I have the X205 for a while ,but never tried to paly HD DVD's before
anyway this is the messsage i am getting :: "Unable to playback. Another applicaion that may be using the PC's Video device" or something.
What's the problem ?

 

For the past week before I re installed XP, I was using the vista 32bit 174.31 whql drivers drom laptopvideo2go.com for Asus, Dell, Compaq and I was able to play my HD DVD's since these drivers are whql certified. The only catch is you have to install the drivers the manual way and tell vista you have the disk and tell it which video card you have, the driver and inf files are there for the 8600M and 8700M GT cards but for some reason the setup program will not detect them automatically, even in XP this is the driver I am using as well and it works very good. Good Luck!!

 

Thanks for the info .
I couldn't make the 174.31 to work but I installed the latest video driver from Toshiba and now i am able to play DVD -s without any problem under Vista and keep the gaming under XP ;-0 so it worked out fine.
thnx again.