For some reason, my computer started being unable to play DVDs today. I have PowerDVD 5 and Windows Media Player on my computer, and both were unable to play DVDs. However, both will play any music files that I have on my computer and will play CDs. I tried uninstalling PowerDVD 5 and then re-installed, re-started my computer, but it's still not working. Whenever I put a DVD into my drive, it comes up with a message that says "An Unsupported disc is in D:". I've tried several DVDs, so I'm pretty sure it's not because it's a specific DVD. I also ran a virus check for the heck of it to see if that could be the problem and my computer came up completely clean. Any suggestions for what I should try next? Thanks!

It may be a problem with the drive, not the player software.

If you have a data DVD, try using that - if it works drive is OK.

If you don't have one, put the movie disk in and hold down the Shift key for maybe 20 seconds, so that the disc doesn't autorun.

Then go to My Computer, right click on the drive, and select Explore. If you can see all the files on the disk, you are probably reading it OK.

If you can see the files, it has got to be a software/codec problem.

I selected Explore and did what you said, and I couldn't see any of the files. So, how do I go about actually fixing that?

Try reading a CD in the same way.

If it reads CD but not DVD, then it is pretty certain that the laser that reads DVD has died (it is a different laser for CD's).

You could try a drive cleaning disk, but I would not be very optimistic.

The only answer is a new drive.

Sorry.

I have sent you a private message...sydneyb

I have that message as well on playing some, not all Dvds. Some of the ones that would not play did play later and then would not play again. Some are as new (I have watched them before on my other optic drive) trade/shop Dvds. So Dvd are not faulty. The drive I am using now is brand new. Recently we watched 4 Dvds in a row ok and later I selected another of generic format (exactly the same) and it would not play. Same message VeeTee got. Mind you POWERDVD 5 is fine and great quality. Controls are fast too. The fault is not here surely.