Question for all you computer geeks

[Narnia]

Hello 'Geek's'. I hope you won't mind my imposing again.I have a problem with my laptop which is only a year old. I discovered it wouldn't play a DVD but did play CD's. After much internet research I tried a couple of things without resolving the problem. I then discovered that it would play some DVD's. Note that the unplayable one's on the laptop were perfectly playable on our normal DVD player.

Does this sound like a problem with the optical drive and if so why would it play some but not others? I spoke with Medion's customer support service whose only suggestion was to see if there were any 'firmware' updates. This I haven't found out how to do yet.

Anyone know what the problem is likely to be please?

[HAL9000]

It could be that you need to install one or more video codecs ? a codec is a program that can read and display video images recorded in a non-standard format - such as xdiv, for example?

[nashoi]

Try using this VLC Media Player

[Narnia]

How would I know if I need to do that HAL9000?

Tried that nashoi but problem still exists.

[EDKiwi]

Are the DVDs from different zones? Some DVD players are locked to one zone, (on laptops I think you can change the zone a few times though). Probably unlikely if the DVDs are all from the UK/EU though (Zone 2).

DVD Region Codes

[nashoi]

The VLC player would most likely have solved the problem had it been a codec issue. Dvd player and graphics card driver updates, via the Medion support website, are the only other thing I would suggest, which might help.

[Narnia]

Thought I'd try you again in case there are any new readers.

Problem: Laptop (not old) doesn't recognise some DVD's

Notes:

It does play ALL CD's

It does play some DVD's but don't know on what grounds it is discriminating against others

It is not a problem with the region code EdKiwi (thanks)

It is not a problem with a DVD being 'dirty' (not the DVD content you'll understand)

Anyone have any other ideas what the cause might be please?

[Netquest]

try changeing the dvd drive and see if a different works in your laptop - most likely your drive is just gone bad...

[Narnia]

FYI and thanks for all the suggestions, I resolved the problem by simply cleaning the lens with a cotton bud and some alcohol. Works fine now.

[Alan Medic]

Oh, this is an old thread! Hope someone out there can help. I've taken out the hard drive from my son's old computer and he would like to access whatever is on it. I want to get an external enclosure and did get one from amazon some time ago but returned it as it wasn't the right size for the hard drive.

I'm confused as to what is the right size for the drive. It came from a Dell computer and is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7. What I previously bought and returned was a Dynamode USB 2.0 Powered External Housing for 3.5 inch IDD HDD.

Can anyone tell me what I should be buying or is more information needed re. the old drive to determine that?

Thanks.

[ianr]

I'd have thought the Dynamode you describe would have been the right one, sizewise and interface (IDE rather than SATA). What was the problem?

Does he want to do a one-off transfer, or have it available permanently? I've the means of doing the former; might even have a spare old 3.5" caddy too, though I can't remember their state.

[Alan Medic]

I can't remember what it was like apart from the drive just not fitting. I figured it could be used as a spare external hard drive though he already has a portable one. His main concern is obtaining whatever is on the old drive so a transfer from it to his PC or his other hard drive would probably satisfy. Is there a suitable cable that would do the trick?

[nashoi]

Open the new PC, pull the power supply cable and the IDE ribbon cable from the back of the DVD player and plug them into the hard drive. When you start the computer the letter in My Computers previously assigned to the DVD player will now be the second hard drive. Just copy the files across.

This is how I've done it in the past, but don't leave it like that, it's a short term solution.

[Undisputedtruth]

http://www.icydock.com/images/201111/1321474151352287580.jpg

http://www.icydock.com/search.php?encode=YTo0OntzOjg6ImtleXdvcmRzIjtzOjM6Ijk4MSI7czoxOiJ4IjtzOjE6IjAiO3M6MToieSI7czoxOiIwIjtzOjE4OiJzZWFyY2hfZW5jb2RlX3RpbWUiO2k6MTMyMjg3OTIyOTt9

The Icydock is possibly a solution for your needs. There are cheaper models from different companies elsewhere.

[Alan Medic]

Hello Geeks.

Your assistance is required please. My laptop has stopped communicating with my wifi printer. I've uninstalled everything and reset the printer to it's original settings and started again. The wifi light is on, on the printer.However when I try to use the software for the Epsom to connect the PC wirelessly, it fails as soon as it starts searching for a wifi device.

The printer works when the cable is connected directly to the PC. I use Windows 7 but never had a problem before. It just suddenly stopped working.

Any ideas?

[the-e-dealer]

They often come preinstalled as a demo version. You can use them 25 times and then you enter a license key.

[Alan Medic]

What does?

[right-clicking]

Have a look in device manager for any yellow flags, you might have a driver gone down, have a look for the wi-fi driver if it's not there then it will be on the installation disk.to get to device manager just hit the orb and start typing "device manger" and you'll get the link. it might be worth doing a disk clean up as you might have some dead installation files cluttering things up,