DVDs are not working on my computer - any ideas?
There are so many things that can affect a DVD performance in a computer - without more information, I’m going to give you a list of the most obvious possibilities.
DVD-ROM Configuration
It’s possible that your DVD ROM drive is configured for a different region. DVDs come coded for specific regions and if it doesn’t match the region that is on your computer, the movie won’t run. To check this, go to Start and then right click on My Computer. Go to Properties and find the Hardware tab and go to Device Manager. You should see the DVD/CD ROM drive in the list. Right click on it and choose Properties. Find the DVD region tab and make any changes you need. Know that you may only be able to make 5 changes to the region before it is set and you can’t undo it. Look for a comment about how many changes you have left and don’t change the region unless you have to.
DVD Decoders
It’s possible you need a DVD Decoder. You can run the Video Decoder Checkup Utility from Microsoft which will tell you what you have installed on your machine. If you need a decoder in order to watch movies on your machine, two to try are NVIDIA DVD Decoder or the Roxio CinePlayer. Do you have a program installed that will let you watch movies on your computer? One like Windows Media Player or RealPlayer is needed in order to watch DVDs.
Drivers are files that control internal and external devices on a computer. If you need a new driver or something happens to your old driver, you may not be able to play DVDs properly. If you have your original CD, you can go to Device Manager as you did above, uninstall the old driver and reinstall the new one from the CD. If you don’t have the CD, find the manufacturer in Device Manager and go to that website to download the newest drivers. Most manufacturers make it very easy to find the driver download button on their site. You can also get a program such as Driver Detective to do it for you automatically.
Damaged Disc
It’s possible that the disc is damaged, particularly if you can play some DVDs and not others. Computers and stand-alone DVD players read the information differently so even damaged discs that can be played in other DVD players may not work in your computer. The only cure for this is to get a new disc.
Hopefully, one of these will solve your problem. If you need more help, let us know what is happening when you try to play the disc - are you getting any error messages? Does the disc just spin and isn’t recognized? Listing some of the symptoms will help us narrow down the problem.
Kat Delong | July 24th, 2009
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