Dimension 5150 not reading DVD's - MORE HELP PLEASE ........!!

Run the Dell Diagnostics on the drive if it is on your hard drive.
Press F12 at startup while the blue Dell shows on the screen.  This
will enter the boot menu.  Choose Utility Partition or Diagnostics.
Run the Custom Test on the drive and have a data DVD (not movie DVD)
ready for the test.

Skybird

Thank you for your suggestion.   I ran the test as you suggested and it worked okay with the data DVD.   However any Movie DVD and the Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator installation DVD are not recognized.      Anything further you can suggest or does it seem that I will need some technical intervention or perhaps a new drive?

Best regards

If you ran the Diagnostics and it read a data DVD, the drive is good.
You stated "any Movie DVD and the Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator installation
DVD are not recognized".  Not recognized by the Diagnostics or by your
system?  The Diagnostics will not recognize a movie DVD. 

On your system, do you have a DVD Decoder (WinDVD, Cineplayer, etc.) installed?

If you insert the Dazzle DVD in the drive, then in My Computer if you right-click
the drive and select Explore, can you see the contents of the disc?

Skybird

Windows Media Player and Quicktime are the only media players I have but not sure if they decode DVD's.    The system was sold pre-loaded with all the necessary software so I just presumed as it has a DVD RW capability that it also had the requisite firmware / software to run the hardware.

The diagnostics stated the DVD was not a data DVD and asked me to load a data DVD, which I did, and it recognized and tested it successfully.    If I insert a DVD Movie or the DVD Installation disc then through my computer I cannot see a disc name or view the contents.    Ostensibly the drive whirs and looks at it then nothing.

Thank you again

B

Are you getting some kind of error (e.g."format not supported")  when trying to open the DVD using media player?

If you do, then it's just a decoder problem.

But if the drive cannot read any type of DVD media (movie or data) then it could still be a software or drive problem.

Try to boot from the OS cd that came with your system. If you have Windows XP MCE installed, then its a DVD installation disc. If you can boot from the DVD, the drive is ok. If not, then the drive is failing.

If in case you were able to boot sucessfully using the OS installation disc, visit this link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

You can either run the FIX IT to automatically change the registry or do it manually at your own risk which the steps are also given on that site. But whatever you choose to do, make sure that you create a back up of your registry or simply create a restore point.

To play a DVD movie, a DVD Decoder is required.  Try
VLC Media Player (free) here ............

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

The installation disc you are problems with should be
a data disc.  Can you see the contents of the data DVD
you used for the Diagnostics test that test good?

Skybird

Please excuse my ignorance - I visited the videolan site and the VCL Media Player for windows page offers three different versions, which should I use? :-

Windows Self-Extracting Package (17.7MB)

Windows 7zip (no installer needed) (14.9MB)

Windows zip packages (no installer needed) (32.1MB)

Also do I just select Random Mirror or do I select UK from the full mirror list?

Regards

B

They are all the same; just different packaging.  Select
the Windows Self-Extracting Package.  It may be easier
to handle.  You can download it from any mirror site you
desire.

Skybird

Last time I shall bother you - the VCL software cannot see anything on the D drive either.     Any last thoughts before I throw in the towel and take it to a shop?

Regards

B

Scotland

Puzzling.  I should have asked earilier.  What is the brand annd model
of the drive?  You can find this in the Device Manager .......

Start | Control Panel | System in classic view | Hardware tab | Device Manager

Click on the (+) next to DVD/CD-ROM drives.  Post the brand and model of the drive.

Skybird

Sorry - no help - device type listed as 'DVD/CD-ROM drives' and manufacturer simply listed as 'Standard CD-ROM drives'

B
Scotland

It appears the system does not recognize the drive as
a DVD drive, but in your first post, you were able to
set the DVD region to 2.  Also, the Device Manager only
sees the drive as a CD-ROM drive.  It should indicate the
brand and model of the drive.  I am puzzled and do not
what to do next.

In the Device Manager, right-click the drive and select
Uinstall, then restart the system.  This will reinstall
the driver.  I doubt this will help, but it should be tried. 

Skybird

I tried the uninstall but to no avail.     I will contact Dell Support UK tomorrow to see if they have had a similar problem in the past.   I expect this problem has existed since I purchased the PC but unfortunately didn't find out until it was too late.    I am out of warranty by 4 months and they won't be keen to speak to me without holding me to ransom over an extended maintenance contract.

Thank you so much for all of your help (and patience) it has been much appreciated. 

Bill
Scotland

Bill.. . .

Just read your problem discussion of back in 2009....of course we are now in 2016 and, since I am having exactly the same problem only 7 years later, your conclusion would be of great interest.

Like you, I never used the CD / DVD player for DVD's until a few days ago only to find it would not recognize store-purchased movie DVD's nor music DVD's. Data and music CD's are OK.  Purchase of the Dimension 5150 computer was back in 2005. Windows Media Player is what I normally use successfully for audio CD's

I also tried VLC Media Player  and RealPlayer to no avail.

 My investigations have ended up finally finding a Microsoft utility called  "Microsoft WindowsXP Video Decoder Checkup Utility" that concluded that I had no video MPG-3 Decoder (necessary for viewing a DVD).

 However, in a folder for a program called CYBERLINK that came with the computer I just found a MPG2 decoder file .....PdcMPG2V.dll ...and am awaiting a reply from Cyberlink on what to do next....will let you know what happens.

Regards,

Jim

(Canada)