DVD drive won't playback DVDs

Hi Usignuolo,

Please go to Osprey's toolbox (link below) and get VLC Media Player. You will be able to watch DVDs with that program.

If you would like to order replacement discs, you'll find a link to the form on the main support site to do so.

"If you would like to order replacement discs, you'll find a link to the form on the main support site to do so."  Can you tell me where this link is as I can't find any form to order replacement disks on the Dell Support site. (There is a facility to order replacement disks for Windows 7 users but I can find nothing for XP users like me).

I downloaded VLC and tried that but it crashed out after about three minutes. I then successfully played the DVD all th eway through on my husband's Acer laptop yesterday. He runs Vista. So I know the disk is not damaged.  I can play CDs on my machine too using the same drive.  I just played one on it.

The Dell support section diagnostics  for DVD problems assume, like Dell Tech Support staff, that I must have a non functioning DVD drive. This is not true, the system sees it (as Drive E) and it reads the label on the DVDs I insert.  The problem is with the cineplayer software.  Thanks.:emotion-1:

What error do you get with VLC?

The replacement discs form is for ALL operating systems. Just read through the entire page.

I will try again with VLC and let you know.

I have been reading the Forum entries about Cineplayer and clearly the whole thing was a mess, as I am not the only person who found the patches supplied by Dell were incompatible with their preinstalled version of Cineplayer, (it seems to have been preinstalled in more than one version and I have one of the versions not compatible with the patches). I have just come to it later than most people. I certainly played a DVD last autumn on my PC and it still plays CDs, as I said I usually watch DVDs on the television. 

Meanwhile I think I must be very slow but I cannot find a form option to request a Cineplayer CD in the Support area. The only thing I can find is  a message that says if you need a replacement CD, you need to contact your Dell support advisor.  When I click on that it directs me to Tech Support to send them a message .

Only then I got a response telling me I had  a hardware fault which was out of warranty as I had an OLD machine (just over two years old) and I would need to pay for Technical advice. This was not what I asked for, which was a Cineplayer CD which they never supplied in the first place.  So clearly Tech support do not read the messages or they check the Service tag for the age of your machine first and reject everything not in the warranty period as a hardware fault or it was an auto generated reply.

So can you tell me how to get to the Support screen where I can request they send me a copy of Cineplayer on CD, as I have never had one. Thanks

Sorry, the form is to request a complete set of replacement discs. They do not send certain discs. 

I looked up Cineplayer and see that it's provided by Roxio. If you have a Roxio disc, it may be on there.

I recommend VLC because it includes all required codecs. Sometimes installing VLC will fix codec problems with other players. There are other freeware DVD players, such as some of the ones shown here, if you care to try something else. Media Player Classic is another one that is highly regarded.

I do indeed have a Roxio disk in the software supplied with the PC by Dell. On the label it says it includes Roxio Creator and MyDVD 9.0DE. So I loaded it up. The first error message which appeared said it would not install Roxio Creator but I just selected MyDVD and proceeded and it correctly installed or so it said.

 I then loaded the DVD again and this time got  a small box displaying SONIC Cineplayer then a plain blue opening screen with the name of the DVD just loaded and the options Play Resume and Eject.

I then got a small box saying "Preparing to Install" and then "Please wait while Windows configures Dell CinePlayer" then "Gathering required information".

Next I got an error message saying "The feature you are trying to use is on a CD Rom or other removable disk that is not available. Insert Dell Cineplayer disk and click OK". (Pathway option was blank). I reloaded the Roxio disk and clicked OK. 

This time I got another error message "The path cannot be found. Verify that you have access to this location and try again or try to find the installation package DMX.MSI in a folder from which you can install the Dell Cineplayer." I clicked OK and got an other error message "Set up encountered an error during installation error code 0490".

As I previously said, the DVD drive works ok as it is seen by the OS (Windows XP Pro) as Drive E and plays CDs fine.

I contacted Dell Tech Support to request a replacement disk but got a standard generated message back saying my Service tag showed it was an OLD machine (it is just over 2 years old) and they did not support out of warranty hardware.  I emailed back pointing out it was a software fault and I merely wanted the correct release of the software but they have not replied. (There's a surprise).

I understand that you are recommending I use  free shareware instead.  I think it is a bit much for Dell to sell you a DVD drive with software that does not work and expect you to then use a shareware package to make it do so. At the very least they should hold their hands up and say as much.

Meanwhile could you explain what you think is the underlying cause as I should like to explain it to my son who originally bought the machine for me but now lives overseas. 

Many thanks for your help.

FOOTNOTE You know, reading this back I think I can see what the underlying problem is. I do not have the DMX.MSI environment option needed to support Cineplayer and I am beginning to wonder if I ever had it. Can anyone tell me where or how to install it.

Hi

I have exactly the same problem as you. Does anyone know where we can get DMX.msi from?

BTW, I found that after installing the K-Lite Codec pack from http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_lite_codec_pack.htm I could play DVDs through Media Centre and Windows Media Player.

Also, on your PC at C:\Program Files\Interactual\Interactual player there is an app called iplayer.exe - this will play DVDs as well (as CinePlayer has an InterActual logo on its home page this might be the core application that CinePlayer uses).

I would still like to get CinePlayer running correctly on my son's PC. My other son's PC runs CinePlayer with no problems at all.

PeeBee