I installed XP Pro on my PC and one of the first things i done was watch a DVD in WinDVD(v2.3). A few days later, i found that WinDVD wouldn't play my DVD's again. I decided to look for an update, and downloaded and installed the WinDVD XP update (v2.8) but still no luck. Windows Media Player doesn't even show the option to play DVD's even with WinDVD installed. So i tried installing Power DVD and that wouldn't play my disks either. Power DVD does however give me an option to play DVD's in Windows Media Player, but my drive letter is greyed out. I have also downloaded the XP DVD codec DVDpak.msi for Media Player (mentioned in another thread), but that doesn't work! I even went as far as to reformat my hard drive, reinstall XP Pro, reinstall WinDVD ONLY, and my DVD's still won't play. It seems like my Pioneer DVD-115 drive isn't spinning up to speed, and i just get a blinking pointer/cd icon for about 10 seconds, no matter what program i try to use to watch the DVD. Each of the above programs do however autoplay my VCD's from the same drive with no problems. I'm beginning to pull my hair out! Please somebody help!!!!

I have had the same problem with my dvd-drive.I just bought the newest Hi-Val drive and it was bundled with power dvd.It would'nt work.I went to the power dvd web site to look for a patch ,so as it would work with windows XP.There is none !! But,they do however let you know that in the future you can download a new version of power-dvd,but dont tell you when ? Also I just bought Shrek,and that has a program of its own to view the dvd.Inter actual player,which also does'nt work with XP.There site says that I already have the latest version,But it doesnt work!! I am able to watch older dvd's with no problem.I think Microsoft should do something about this.Ive contacted them ,and they emailed me stating that Windows media player should play the dvd's.

Hi Russ, I also tried installing the Interactual Player that was on my Mummy Returns DVD, but that won't play my DVD's either. Neither will PC Friendly which was on another DVD. My girlfriend has since informed me (since my first post above) that after WinDVD was working for me intially, i installed a freeware program called DVD Genie (a DVD Tweaking utility) off one of her magazine coverdisks (I had forgotten about this, simply because i installed it but never got round to looking at what the program did). Anyway, she tells me that WinDVD failed to work after i installed DVD Genie. The thing is, i've reformatted my hard drive, reinstalled XP Pro, and reinstalled just WinDVD, and it still won't work. I'm beginning to wonder if DVD Genie has done any permanent damage to my Pioneer DVD-115 drive somehow? Anyone else had similar trouble?