Vista wont read discs

so here i was, after a fresh reformat of vista premium on my 1330, and im bored as hell. so i decide to watch the never old spiderman 2. i pop in my dvd, and what? it cant read my dvd. so i wanna see if the problem is the disc or the laptop. so i pop in a blink 182 cd i had laying around, and, lo and behold, that wont read either. any help? i reinstalled all my drivers using my service tag at dell.com... so... help?

 

What's the model number of your DVD-ROM?

 

It won't read it as in it gives you an error that it can't read the disc? If so, is it possible the laser was touched? I know CD drives always say never to touch the laser, never tried it to see if it actually messes it up, though.

If you aren't getting an error, make sure it's showing up in Device Manager...it could've gotten knocked out of its connection to the motherboard.

 

no like, i put it spiderman 2, right? and it had the titles and everything in the pane to the right of wmp. but it just couldnt play the disc. i dont know why. the model number is 'MAT****A DVD +- RW UJ-857G ATA Device'

 

A possible solution might be to look into the Device Manager and see if your computer is recognizing the optical disc drive. If its not, then you'll see a yellow exclamation mark next to it. If you see that, then you could call Dell for support or quickly search on here for the proper instructions on what to edit in the Registry. I had the small problem where my optical disc drive wasnt detectable and Sony Support told me the same thing that fellow members here posted.

 

yeah, my laptop recognizes my drive. but still, i cant read discs. wtf?

 

What about other types of disks? Can it read a CD or a data DVD?

Gary

 

i tried playing a blink 182 cd, but it couldnt read that either. im hating this right now...

 

i think it could be a lack of codecs. try the k-lite codecs or the (i dont remember the name exactly, but) community combined codecs pack. also try using a different media player, such as vlc.

 

It's not a problem with media files not playing, but the ROM not reading the media.

 

ACTUALLY, there is a problem with the media files too. i tried playing some mp3 songs i had, but it said there was a problem, i forgot what. i am WAY PISSED.

 

What about a DATA cd or DVD??? Can you see the files? Can you read them?

This is sounding more like a Windows Media Player issue. Have you looke at the System and Application error logs?

Gary

 

i tried installing a printer, which didnt work, and copying some files off a dvd disc i made at a day or two before, which worked. it can read files, and display them, but apparently media files cant be played.

 

So this does sound less like a DVD issue and more like a Media Player one, right?

Gary

 

im going with that.

actually i solved the problem with a reformat. i was able to use the drive normally without a hitch. but now, after installing aim, nothing worked. i hate you, aim.