DVD problem is keeping me up nights!

[miguelbgood]

I've stayed up til 4-5am for the past 3 nights trying everything I can think of - every suggestion I can find on the net - to try and make my Hitachi dvd player play dvd's again.

I now suspect that it is a conflict with the Nvidia GeForce MX200 video card, but I'm still not sure and don't know how to go about fixing it, if it is.

OK, here's the story:
I have a Gateway Performance 500, with Hitachi oem dvd and CineMaster software, (now also PowerDVD 4 software).

My dvd player plays cd's and cd-roms but will not play dvd's. Up until recently it played dvd's too. I cannot say for sure when it quit playing dvd's: either when I changed the video card from a different Invidia card to this new GeForceMX200; or when I added the cd-rw internal drive (TDK). I am pretty sure that it was the former, because I used GoBack to revert my drive to a time before I added the TDK drive and my Hitachi still would not play a dvd.

Here's the deal:
Every time I put a dvd in, it gives me this error message:
"Another application is preventing dvd playback".
I have killed every program using ctl-alt-del and STILL I get that message!

So, I have done every thing I've found that anyone recommended:
I have started in Safe mode and deleted the drivers.
I have checked for new drivers (I had the newest.)
I have changed my Sony Trinitron resolution to 600x800 and changed colors to 256 (although it used to play fine with 32bit color).
I have downloaded and used DVD Genie.
I have downloaded and used PowerDVD 4 trial version.

Oh, and I get this error message when I try to use PowerDVD to run my dvd:
"Invalid Page Fault in NVDD32.DLL at 0187:b00dcfff
Error code F6F00018"
Then another message:
"DDraw Overlay is recommended. Lower resolution and color depth 800x600 w/256 colors or change refresh to 75 Hz"

But like I say, I tried all that and it didn't make it work! Except for the ddraw overlay thing - I cannot find it anywhere. Oh, and when I click on the Overlay Controls of my NVidia software, I get this:
"An error occurred while Windows was working with the Control Panel file C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DESK.CPL" and then the settings box closes on its own.

ANY IDEAS? This is really driving me crazy, now, after 4 days and nights of trying everything anyone has suggested...and still NO DVD!

Thanks for any more ideas, especially if you happen to KNOW what the heck is going on with this thing!

What on Earth has caused my dvd not to work anymore????

[Enchanter]

Let's try the basic steps.
1. Insert DVD into the drive
2. Go to My Computer -> Right-click on the DVD-ROM icon and select Open
3. Are you able to browse through the files there? If so, it is indicative that the drive is still functional.

"I have a Gateway Performance 500, with Hitachi oem dvd and CineMaster software, (now also PowerDVD 4 software). "
Regarding this statement, have you removed Cinemaster prior to installing PowerDVD?

[miguelbgood]

Thanks for the reply. Yes the files are there, but they won't open.

No, I did not because I don't have the Cinemaster software to re-load it if the other one doesn't work. However, it (the dvd player) was not playing dvd's before I added the PowerDVD software. Actually, I am planning to delete the PowerDVD software because I am pretty sure the Cinemaster software is not the problem, and I don't really want to buy the PowerDVD software (it is a trial version).

As to thd DVD genie software, is it true that I should not use it along with the HItachi which has locked regions? (I am not using the region-changing preferences.) I'm thinking maybe I should delete that , too, before I reinstall the Invidia driver.

Please advise.

Originally posted by Enchanter
Let's try the basic steps.
1. Insert DVD into the drive
2. Go to My Computer -> Right-click on the DVD-ROM icon and select Open
3. Are you able to browse through the files there? If so, it is indicative that the drive is still functional.

"I have a Gateway Performance 500, with Hitachi oem dvd and CineMaster software, (now also PowerDVD 4 software). "
Regarding this statement, have you removed Cinemaster prior to installing PowerDVD?

[miguelbgood]

PROBLEM SOLVED (at least the video portion)

I posted this a couple weeks ago, and no one was able to help me with my problem. I posted here, I posted on another digital video site, I spent two hours on the phone with Gateway techs. I stayed up til 5am trying various solutions people gave me, all to no avail. I installed new drivers, I installed several different video players, but nothing worked until this:

This is the solution to my error message, "Another application is preventing dvd playback":

I found this on google groups in the pc/dvd group, not sure which one, but if you do a search on the error message above, you find it. So here's what Steve, Senior DVD Applications and Support Engineer at InterActual Technologies, Inc. wrote, that solved my problem:

"1.Click start and choose Run.

2. Type DXDIAG and hit OK. If you get an error stating that the file was not found, download the DirectX 8.0a Full Installation at http://www.microsoft.com/directx/hom...s/default.asp.

3. In the DxDiag utility, select the DISPLAY tab.

4. In the middle left side you will see a setting for DirectDraw Acceleration. It must be ENABLED. If it is not, click the ENABLE button next to it, then Exit from the utility.

5. Restart the computer. After restart, test the movie in the Cinemaster player."

Thanks a million Steve, wherever you are!

So the whole thing had to do with DirectDraw and the lack of the DirectX program.

NOW, if I can ONLY get my AUDIO to work on my dvd! (It works on my cd player, but not on my dvd...)

[Dstyle]

Sound issues

miguelbgood -

I am unsure if you have tried this or not, Do you have a decoder card that came with your dvd player?

I know with my dvd player a decoder card came with it, and it works as a sound card.

So you may have two sound cards. Try adjusting sound ports. Or see is Analog is on and not digital in you sound preferences.

I hope that helps a little!


Dan