I have a DVD in my pc that used to be able to play dvd's on my old Win98 computer but not on the 'new' Win2k box. It functions perfectly well as a
cd rom/audio cd's, but no dvd. Its showing up as hitachi dvd rom gd2000 in device manager. Device manager says its working properly. It also says its
selected on region 1. I tried to change it to region 4 but it wont let me. Says it has to have a region 4 dvd in the drive.
I've tried to install a driver from driverguide.com but that has error mscdex.exe (or similar) cant be found.
When I insert a dvd it just runs and runs for a minute or 2 and then stops. In my computer the properties comes up with nothing other than disk
full.
Any suggestions please?
do you have a program to veiw dvd formats such as arcade or the latest media player?
For the region fix, use DVD Genie, it fools windows into thinking its a region free drive.
You shouldnt need to install a driver, if windows can see the drive, thats enough.
Try Bsplayer or VLC media player for viewing your DVD's. They are both free.
[ Edited on 31-12-2005 by Gibbo ]
yep... I'll vouch for VLC... unbelievably versatile. :thumb
It will play almost any media... DVD included 
It can even play a DVD VIDEO_TS rip!
I've had problems with VLC playing some DVDs. It's a good player but far from perfect when dealing with complex DVD formats. If your drive is only plaing the DVD for a couple of minutes then it seems to me that it is more of a hardware problem rather than a software one. Does it play other discs (audio cd, cd data) properly? Did the drive come with DVD software like windvd or power dvd? If it did try to use them first...
sorry, when I say it runs, it appears as though it is searching the disc for a couple of minutes before it gives up. Any non dvd disc, whether
software, mp3, music CD all work fine.
I've got media player 9 which is supposed to play DVD movie, ive just installed VLC media player and when I try to access the F: drive (the dvd) it
says please insert disk. So the friggin thing just isnt reading DVD. Have just downloaded the manual from hitachi, will see what I come up with.
If it can't read DVDs at all I'd say the laser that reads them is stuffed - there is a separate laser for normal cd reading which may explain why that bit is still working. It could just be a coincidence that it happened when you changed OS. I wouldn't say this is 100% what happened but it sounds likely. If it is still under warranty they should replace it for free.
yeah, return it and see what happens with a new one. cant hurt.
[ Edited on 1-1-2006 by Hertz ]
long out of warranty. Would have been about 1998 when I bought it. A new one is cheap as anyway I guess.
Aldi had samsung dual layer burners the other week for $69. Any idea what they are like?
I have a Samsung dual layer one that I am happy with so far - had it for 6 months or so and no probs.
cool. thanks for that