WinDVD (or general laptop dvd player?) problem

[bonecrivain]

For about a month now, I've been having issues with my Toshiba laptop's DVD player. I bought this laptop last May ('05) and never had any problems with it until recently.

I first noticed it when I rented two dvds and tried to watch them in my player: the dvds would play, but each one skipped horribly during one chapter or more (around the same area in the disc, generally 2/3 of the way through). First there would be a loud clicking, whirring, grinding sound coming from the dvd player, then the scene would start skipping, and the sound would warp, then the noise from the player would sound even MORE like grinding, while the screen either froze completely or just the winDVD screen went black.

Since then, brand new dvds have done the same thing in my player, and it seems to be getting worse. I tried other video players that I had installed on my computer (VLC player, for example), and at first I thought they were working better, but now the same thing happens with them.

Any idea what's gone wrong and how to fix it?

Thanks.

[anonymez]

first of all, make sure DMA is enabled http://forum.digital-digest.com/show...threadid=44808

[bonecrivain]

I checked all of that and it seems to be working properly. Now what's weird is that my InterActual Player was doing fine a couple of days ago (right after I posted this thread, actually), and now it doesn't work at all. I can get the sound for the main dvd screen with some dvds, but I have no picture.

[codajohn]

I had the same problem with my desktop 98se. I also had Win DVD and Interactual. I did'nt like the fact that Interactual was very difficult to remove. It wasn't until my comp crashed and I had to reinstall that I was able to get rid of WinDVD and Interactual. This time I used Power DVD instead. I haven't had a problem since then. I would also check to see if there is a firmware update for your drive.
CJ