Rental DVD's WONT play on toshiba laptop*WITH PowerDVD installed

I have read, read, and read, to no avail...Help......I am able to play my backed up DVD's but when I try to play a rental or a store bought (even Disney) DVD, I get NOTHING!!! I have flashed firmware, updated driver, changed DMS settings, installed AnyDVD, installed DVD region+CSS. I am running my DVD's through Power DVD. I keep reading about people having problems getting their burned DVD'd to play, but have not seen anything like my issue. I am relatively ignorant to tech issues so pardon me if I did not describe somthing correctly...

 

Hi mandroid,

Try playing your DVD's on a standalone player. It's almost impossible to believe that a regular DVD won't play on your laptop.

AnyDVD rips a DVD for copy purposes but won't have anything to do with Playing.

Having said that - all backup discs are region free so that would mean you have never set the region on your drive OR that it's set to a region that you don't live in. Set your Drive's region BUT remember, it can only be set 5 times then it's all over - it's a new drive for you SO, if you're in the US, it's region 1, the UK, Europe, Japan, region 2, SE Asia, region 3, Australia, region 4, etc. - Get it right

Cheers,

Pete

Let me know how you make out -

 

Scuba Pete,
You are EXACTLY the man I was hoping to hear from! In regards to the region settings, that was the FIRST thing I checked. they are set to region 1 (U.S.) and have never been changed. That is what I was thinking it had to do with, but I don't know what to think now. ideas? By the way, when I insert a Hard Copy DVD, nothing shows in the drive. ASPI issue? Also, I have not had a problem with the 10 or so rented, owned dvd's in my desktop, and home dvd players. just in the laptop. suggestions?

 

mandroid,

There are some things we should check as they have a direct influence over how our drive behaves -

1. Let's check for up-to-date Firmware for your burner.

"OK, so what is this "Firmware" garbage?" Fair question. Firmware is a "tutor" who's job it is to eliminate any "bugs" found in your drive and to "introduce" your burner to all the different kinds of media to your burner is likely to run into and to tell your burner a little bit about it. What type of media it is and at what speed to burn it. As new media is introduced OR, as the Mfgrs of your burner find new ways to use it, new firmware updates OR "Flash upgrades" come out to "school" your burner, keeping it up-to-date. It's good to keep your burner up-to-date as it "tweaks" your burner and keeps it operating at peak performance.

Of major Importance - When dealing firmware, you must match your burner's exact model with the proper Firmware. Trying to "Flash" your burner with something "Close" won't do it. It must be the exact firmware for your drive. ("Flashing" is what the installation is referred to when you put the firmware into your drive.) Trying to "Flash" your drive with some other drive's firmware can ruin your drive.

At the bottom of the page look for "What's my firmware? - Try this little tool I found," Download this tool and check out your Firmware's health (up-to-date wise). You can probably get a current upgrade there also -

http://flashman.rpc-1.com/

Firmware page -

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_all.php

Always check your burner's Mfgr's "Support" section to see if some newer Firmware is there -

Firmware, You can't burn without it -



Now we need to see if we have a working ASPI Layer.

"Yea right, and ASPI stands for Another Stupid Piece of Insanity, right ?" No, not quite, it stands for "Advanced SCSI Programming Interface". "Well that tells me nothing, what's it do ?" That's a much easier question to answer. It is kind of a "translator" allowing your software to talk your hardware in a manner that your hardware will understand. Let's imagine an Earthman trying to talk to a rock. Now, think of a sledgehammer as being the interface. With the interface in play, the Earthman can tell the rock to disperse into gravel no matter what planet the rock is from, OK ? Good, let's see if we have a sledgehammer -

2. Check for your ASPI Layer. If one isn't present, we'll need to get one and reinstall it, then reboot our PC to allow it to "settle in".

ASPI Checker -
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/su...oduct/EZ-SCSI_5.0&filekey=aspichk.exe&sess=no

Force 1.8 ASPI Layer -

http://forceaspi18.w.interia.pl/

Finally, we need to check your DMA. "Ooohh, no you're not ! Only my husband or my Doctor checks my "D", "M" . . whatever . . ." No, no, it's OK, DMA stands for "Direct Memory Access" transfer mode OR as we say in the computer field, it's a really, fast way to move stuff. Many PC's today are using UDMA or "Ultra Direct Memory Access transfer mode, or as we like to call it, a really super-duper fast way to move stuff as opposed to the PIO mode. The PIO or Programmed I/O mode, is a technique whereby the system CPU and support hardware directly control the transfer of data between the system and the hard disk since shortly after the beginning of PC's up until the mid-1990's. So we want DMA (fast) more than we PIO (slow).

3. Let's check your Drive's transfer mode. It should be DMA-4, not PIO.
Windows XP downgrades the Ultra DMA transfer mode after receiving six CRC errors and drops it down to the much slower PIO mode.

To enable DMA mode using the Device Manager
1. Go to "My Computer, ""System Tools," "View System Information," then System Properties, "Hardware," Then Open Device Manager
2. Double-click IDE ATA//ATAPI Controllers to display the list of controllers and channels.
3. Right-click the icon for the channel to which your burner is connected and select Properties. Now click the Advanced Settings tab.
4. In the Current Transfer Mode drop-down box, select DMA if available if the current setting says, "PIO Only."
If the drop-down box already says, "DMA if Available" but the current transfer mode is PIO, then the user must "toggle" the settings. That is, change the selection from "DMA if available" to PIO only, and click "OK".
Then repeat the steps above to change the selection to "DMA if available".

OPTION: Right-click the burner and select "Uninstall" and then "OK" all prompts until the PC reboots. Upon rebooting, the PC should "find" your burner and reinstall it setting it by "Default" to DMA.

Lastly, when did you last defrag your Hard Drive (HD) ? If you have to stop and think about the last time you did it, then it's way, way overdue. Here we go, (Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. When it opens, choose your HD, analyses it to see where we stand then if you need it (you probably will) choose Defragment.).

After you finish doing it now you might want to think about having "Scheduled Tasks" in your Control Panel do it for you on a daily basis.

A fragmented HD not only drastically slows down your system but it can cause all number of things to happen inside your PC, a messed up burn being one of them.

Once we've done that, our DVD burner should operate at peak efficiency )

Give it a test run and let us know how you make out -

Should you problem continue, your next step is to try it in another PC to see if it will work there - if it doesn't - here's a good suggestion, just checkout the new Pioneer, model 109 slimline for laptops.

http://meritline.com/piodata-dvr-sk12-slim-external-dvd-burner-portable.html

I ordered one yesterday

Cheers,

Pete

 

Thanks Scuba Pete!
I had already found your website to firmware before I posted, and went through all thew steps, to no avail. Last night I was able to open PowerDVD, play a copy of "the Grudge" (my copy). I then stopped it and took it out and inserted a rental movie and amazingly it came on! I played that movie for a few minutes, stopped it, took it out, inserted another movie I own (non burned), and tried playing WITH PowerDVD still open, and it would not recocognize the DVD in the drive at all.... So do you think that is a sign that I need to replace my drive? If so, is the DVD drive you linked to compatible with a Toshiba, or does it matter? Are they all universal?
Thanks in advance, I appreciate your valuable input in this day in age when "nothin's free" not even advice.
Mandroid

 

The drive I linked you too was one for laptops - should fit yours.

Option 2. If you have a 2.0 USB or a firewire (slower than USB) connection then you could think about an external drive. If your drive is bad, it's better to put it in. Before I'd buy a drive, I'd connect that one to a PC to make sure it's broken - you did say it did work - Play a DVD, like you did. If it plays the first but not the second, reboot your PC and try again - it could be a memory problem -

Question -

What OS are you working under ?

 

I had some problems with a desktop and PowerDVD. It would not let me play if the TV out on my video card was enabled. You could try looking at that if your machine has a TV out.

 

OS is: XP

1. How would I connect this drive on my laptop to my desktop and run the dvd player?
2. How would I find out if my laptop has a TV out on my video card?

Sorry for dumb questions, but I am afterall, a "newbie"...I'm sure you've heard it a million times!

 

mandroid,

1. To check out your drive you would physically remove it from your laptop and plug it into your desk top PC.

2. You don't have a TV output card. It is a rare to have a laptop with that card - it's a special add-on and besides - He was refering to you playing something on your TV while you were working on your laptop. I think you would know if you were playing something from your laptop on your TV. (The wire running to your TVv would be a dead give-away.

NOW, since your PC is running XP, go into msconfig, startup tab then click "Disable all" then click "Apply", the , OK, then OK again to reboot your system THEN give it a try. By doing that you're providing 100% of your resources to the job at hand. If all goes well thjen you can go back in and click your VS programs - the only thing you really need to run from your startup when turning on your PC. All else isn't needed. All programs would just love to startup when you boot up - greedy little suckers aren't they ?

Let me know ghow you make out -

Pete

 

Scuba Pete,
I tried that, and it didn't work (go figure)! I'm so frustrated, I have NEVER heard of anyone having this problem but believe me I AM!
I have also removed other media players....still nothing! I guess I should just give it up??? Maybe buy a new drive?

 

http://www.slysoft.com
AnyDVD is a driver, which descrambles DVD-Movies automatically in the background. This DVD appears unprotected and region code free for all applications and the Windows operating system as well. With AnyDVD's help copy tools like CloneDVD, Pinnacle Instant Copy, InterVideo DVD-Copy, etc. are able to copy CSS protected Movies. With the help of AnyDVD you can watch movies with non matching region codes with every DVD Player Software you like! AnyDVD decrypts not just DVDs: AnyDVD allows you also to play, copy and rip protected Audio CDs!

In case anyone is wondering about AnyDVD, it does have something to do with playing DVDs other than just breaking encryption. Other than for region codes not matching, AnyDVD isn't needed for playing DVDs in player software though.

What brand and model is the laptop and what are the specs; i.e. CPU, processor speed, RAM amount, and hard drive size and free space? All that may not be necessary, but it's nice to know what we're talking about.

One of the better players is WinDVD6 from InterVideo. http://www.intervideo.com Make sure you have your serials and then delete the player software you have and use the WinDVD6 trial. That is if your system meets the requirements. Make sure you have the software updates that the program needs. So read the info on the InterVideo site about this program before trying to use it.

 

You say the drive is reading DVD RW type media but not the factory ROM. The ROMs are pressed and the RW is burned. But once the media has the files, the read process is the same with the optical head and the drive spins the same. Other than firmware, the rest of the drive recognition is Software and MOBO related. Which is what makes this problem a weird one. Just repeating the obvious. Most DVD drives that will play are compatible with factory DVD ROMs. Since it plays the recorded DVDs, it doesn't appear the drive is bad, but strange things do happen. It would probably still be a good idea to test the drive.

 

i agree with brobear and would try different playback software

i have had a few movies that powerdvd would not play also

if i remember correctly, the newer versions are picky about playing commercial dvds as noel was saying

it has been awhile since i experienced it because i don't use powerdvd much so i don't remember specifics

 

mandroid,

and then you write,

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand at all -

You have gone from not knowing how to check your drive to disassembling your laptop and hooking your drive up to your desktop - before I mentioned it ? AND you did all that and never mentioned the results before ?

Why then did you ask if you had a TV video card ? Didn't you see it when you had your laptop apart ?

You are a most unusual Newbie


Is there anything else you've done and forgot to mention so we don't have bear, kchev and I going over the same ground ?

 

remove the driver for your dvd drive in control panel.
once remove windowxp will use its own driver.Have the same problem before

 

Scuba Pete,
I am sorry to cause such confusion.......I did not mention what I "did" was to go into msconfig and disable everyhting....that was the LAST thing you sugessted which was the most logical thing for me to try. Obviously I am not able to pull out my drive, plug it in and test it.... If that is my next step, I won't be playing un-burned DVD's.

 

Brobear, Kchev;

I am using a Toshiba Satellite 1805-S204 (manuf. 2002)
XP
Intel Pentium celeron 995mh
18.63 GB HDD
496 mb ram
cd/dvd rom drive (toshiba)
Am I missing something??

I have tried playing the DVD's in Windows Media Player version 10 as well. The disk is not recognized in the drive using that program either. At this point, being that I am so limited in my troubleshooting pc skills, I think that I will seek professional help. I appreciate all your help and sugesstions. If anything ends up working, I will be sure to post as such for any other people out there with this most unusual dilemma.

 

Max,
A very quick question, very important - How much free space do you have on your HD.

If you don't have enough FREE HD space or your PC cannot "move around" and perform your tasks -

Pete

 

Good question Pete, maybe he'll answer with both of us asking for the same info.

 

Try this one..

Try to install DVDDECRYPTER in your LAPTOP after the installation remove any DVD DISC in your drive and restart your computer. Then run DVDDECRYPTER and insert the DVD DICS and play the DVD DISC using POWERDVD. Remember you have to run DVDDECRYPTER first before inserting the DVD DISC.. TRY IT..