My DVD-ROM drive stopped reading DVDs several weeks ago. It still reads CDs fine, but not DVDs. It started stopped reading them out of the blue. In fact, I had played a DVD just a day earlier and the following day I wanted to watch it again and it wouldn't read it. The drive recognizes that a disk has been inserted into the drive because it tries to load it, but then nothing happens and when I click the drive's icon in My Computer it prompts me to insert a disk into the drive. I brought a CD/DVD Lens cleaner and I went through the cleaning process and tried to play the DVD and the samething happened. I cleaned it again and tried again and it still didn't work. I've tried different DVDs and none of them will work. Suggestions?

If you have tried updating your drivers with any that may be available, then I suspect that you DVD/ROM drive needs replacing.

You might try uninstalling the DVD drive, then allow Win XP to auto-detect it and reinstall the drive for you. Go to the Device Manager, click on your DVD drive, then Actions, uninstall. Restart your computer, and Win XP will detect and install the drive again. If you installed any special drivers that came with your DVD drive, reinstall them again.

Had you erased any dvd software sometimes when you do, it erases the codecs that you need in order to see a dvd

It's not a problem of the drive not working, it's that it won't read DVDs. I installed an updated version of my DVD software a long time ago when I upgraded to XP. But I had played a DVD on it since that time and it read and played fine in WMP.

what is this dvd software you are using? did you try uninstalling\reinstalling that?

I use Intervideo WinDVD, PC Friendly DVD and WMP as my DVD software. Before my drive stopped reading DVDs I had been using WMP and it had been working fine. I doubt it's a problem with the software...the drive his doesn't recognize DVDs or read them. It knows a disk is in the drive, because it tries to load the DVD, but then nothing happens. Like I said, I've tried to click the actual drive icon and it acts as if no disc is inserted because it prompts me to insert one. I think that it tries to load something because I have just opened my drive and closed it, so Windows knows that I could have inserted a disc. It then knows there is a disc in the drive, but can't read it, so it assumes there is no media in the drive and that is why it prompts me to insert a disc. In short, my drive isn't reading DVDs. I am almost 100% positive it is a hardware problem with the drive and not with any software.