HP Pavilion dvd drive does not play dvd's any more?

Arrrrrgh! After having this computer for a couple of years, it now doesn't recognize dvd's when they are installed. It doesn't matter what software I try to run it with. Even in Windows Explorer it says "no disc in drive E:". And yet I can make dvd's, and both make and play cd's. I've even updated the driver. HELP!! Is it software or hardware?

Answer:
If it doesn't play DVD movies, but does read data DVDs, then it could be a driver problem or you could have used DVDs with different region codes too often and locked your DVD drive into the wrong region.
The easiest solution if it's a driver problem is to reinstall windows.
Stand alone DVD players are preset with a region code that does not change, but computer DVD drives are sold across boarders so they usually detect if you play DVDs from different regions and automatically switch the region code they support, usually up to five times, then they lock in to the last region code used, with the reasoning being you are probably trying to illegally view foreign DVDs. If your player has locked into a region it may have a software lock that can be unlocked without ripping the drive apart, if the lock is hardware based it's more difficult, but I think it may be illegal to unlock the drive if this is the problem and you will have to get a new drive.
Go to WWW. HP.com and do a live tech support chat with HP tech, they r very good, does not matter how old ur computer is.

They may even replace ur drive for free.

Good Luck

The answers post by the user, for information only, RunQA.com does not guarantee the right.


More Questions and Answers ...
  • Another computer question... you guys are great help...?
  • How do I connect my CD player to my computer?
  • Caqn you connect two sets of speakers to one computer?
  • How do you install applications on a second harddrive.?
  • Drivers?.. pleasee...?
  • External Hard Drive not working?
  • Which graphics card gives me the best bang for my buck?
  • AGP video card?
  • Is it possible to transfer audio tapes to my cd burner?
  • Could i put this video card in my computer?