DVD-ROM playback problems

Question

My computer is a Dimension 8250 w/ a DVD-ROM and a CD burner drive.  My DVD-ROM used to be able to play DVDs just fine, but now when I try to play one the video speeds up and slows down and the sound sounds like a bad sci-fi movie, with weird noises and nothing distinguishable.  You can see the video, but it fast-forwards for a couple of seconds, then plays normal speed for a few more seconds, then repeats.  Audio CDs play the same way in the DVD-ROM.  Interestingly, audio CDs play just fine when I play them in the CD burner drive.  I installed the latest DirectX and NVIDIA drivers, and went through DVD-ROM troubleshooting, none of which has worked.  Anybody else had this problem?

DELL-Cody · Answer

Also try completely removing and reinstalling your DVD player software.

You may want to try eliminating programs starting up in the background that could be causing problems, especially if the problems began after the installation of a particular software package or hardware peripheral. See the following Dell Knowledge Base article for further information:

What is the Microsoft® System Configuration Utility (MSCONFIG)?

houseofreg · Answer

I don't think my problem is caused by DVD playback software, because the problem occurs when I use Dell PowerDVD, Windows Media player, or Interactual player.  I talked to a friend of mine today who builds computers and he said he had the same thing happen to him, and the problem turned out to be a bad DVD-ROM drive.  I'll try MSCONFIG, though, and see if some other application is causing the problem.

houseofreg · Answer

My DVD-ROM problem is fixed.  Here's how it got fixed: I got on the phone with Dell tech support; He had me set my sound card settings back to default settings, uninstall my DVD-ROM and my CD burner, uninstall Secondary IDE, and remove upper and lower limits from a registry item that concerned my DVD-ROM and CD burner (this was done in registry editor).  I re-booted my computer, windows found my DVD-ROM, CD burner and Secondary IDE as new hardware and installed them.  After that, I could play DVDs and the video and sound were good.

Storage, Drives & Media

DVD-ROM playback problems

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