Problem Reading DVD’s

[Craig Srebnik]

My system:

Dell Desktop: Dimension 9150
Intel Pentium D 830, 3 GHz
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
Windows XP Home Edition
GomPlayer, Media Player 10, Sonic Digital Media LE v7
CCleaner, CWShredder, SpyBot, SpySweeper, Ad-Aware
ZoneLabs Firewall

Problem Reading DVD’s

A friend sent some dvd’s with .avi and mp3 files. In Explore, my computer could read some of the dvd’s, but with some of the dvd’s (which my friend said worked on his computer), the following message comes up:

Windows cannot not read from this disk. The disk might be corrupted, or it could be using a format that is not compatible with Windows.

I tried reinstalling K-lite codec pack 2.77, plus the K-lite update. Two of the dvd’s read afterwards, but the other six still bring up the same message. They are all the same brand.

Any suggestions?

Thank you for your help!

[Chaky]

Windows cannot not read from this disk. The disk might be corrupted, or it could be using a format that is not compatible with Windows.

Don't confuse custom-burned data DVD's with movie DVD's.
If you can't play movie DVD's then it is a missing CODEC or ASPI layer. Files are still accessible.
If your DVD device is having trouble reading from DVD in general(other than scratched surface or poor copy) then the problem is more likely of hardware nature.

First thing to do is get some free tool like http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroInfoTool_403.zip
that would give you some in-depth info about your hardware and software, along with the disc in question.

First thing that comes to my mind to remedy this is firmware upgrade. Almost every optical drive has some flaw which are fixed by upgrading the firmware.
You must know EXACT model of your optical drive and Firmware version. Easiest way to learn this is by that tool above.

In the "drive" tab you will see supported read and write features (and notice the number of different CD/DVD formats!) and in the "general" box at the top right corner you can see firmware version.

Also, insert the DVD in question and click on the "disc" tab to see some details about that disc. "Type" should be DVD-ROM or DVD+ROM.

If you're not confidant with flashing the optical drive, you can always post here drive's specifications (manufacturer, exact model and firmware version) and I'll see if there is anything there can be done.

[Craig Srebnik]

Thank you for your help.

I installed the Nero Info Tool.
Here is the info that I see for my dvd drive and the disc:

HL-DT-ST DVD+RW GWA4164B
Firmware: D108
DVD+-R/RW DL Recorder
Supports all dvd types
The tool recognizes one of the files on the dvd (where none could be read in Explore), the disc is a dvd-r

Let me know if more info is needed and where to look for it.

Thanks again.

[Chaky]

I've looked it up. It is LG product and there's no firmware upgrade available.

I've also learned that... well, read this and you'll be the judge:

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_cdrom&message.id=109223

There is one workaround for unsupported CD/DVD formats.
It requires burning software like Nero 7 and deamontools-like virtual drive.

Basically, you have to copy DVD image with, for example, Alcohol 120% to your HD and mount that image on the virtual drive (also in alcohol 120%). You can download trial version here:

http://trial.alcohol-soft.com/en/

You will have to enable virtual drive in Alcohol settings.