DVD Burner & DVD-Rom Drives Stuttering During Playback

alright i really dont know where to start...but this problem has become a huge annoyance. recently when playing dvds in both of my drives i have been getting stuttering (sometimes freezing) playback. it has also been causing my drives to click and make a whirling noise (start up then slow down)...im starting to become desperate...at first i thought i had a bad disc...but when this problem occured with 4 out of the 5 dvds i tried today i knew it was either a hardware problem or something i need to change in my settings. i do have dma enabled...if anyone could help me it would be extremely appreciated...im just so fed up with this problem it is driving me nuts. thanks in advance.

i also want to add i recently bought new round IDE cables thinking it might solve my problem...but no luck...also i know the discs are not bad because they play fine in my laptop and stand alone dvd player.

 

Here's a couple of things to try. First a lens cleaning disc. Then get a can of compressed air and blow out the inside of the drive.

What brand are the discs? DVD writers are sometimes more picky about discs than players.

 

the discs are sony...like i said, i really doubt discs are the problem...as they worked fine in the past and all of a sudden im having this problem with them in my desktop drives. how would discs just go bad out of nowhere from sitting in a case for 2 months?

 

If those DVD's are ones that you burned, then they sure could go bad by just sitting there. I don't know who manufactures Sony's media, but the dyes could be lousy and deteriorate over time.

Your drive could be going belly up, too, but as suggested in this thread,try using a DVD laser lens cleaner, and see if that clears up the problem. They are relatively cheap, and you can pick them up at Best Buy, Radio Shack, or other similar retailers.

 

i have a lense cleaner several times and ive used it several times...no luck...my dvd-rom is less then 2 months old and the burner is about a year old.

 

i just tested it and it is doing it on store bought movies...discs are obviously not the problem here.

 

Do you smoke? Live in a high dust area? Both will lead to quicker drive slow downs and death.

Did you try the compressed air?

Disc of poor dye will deteriorate some quickly, others over a longer period of time. As GrandpaBW suggested.

Have you checked Device Manager to see if there is any problems shown?

Try and replace the ribbon cable and see if that will help (not the round one). Are both drives on the same cable? Are they set as Master/Slave (don't use calbe select!)?

Post back and let us know your results.

 

dont smoke. no dust. i just replaced my ide cable with a round one thinking it might fix problem, no luck. they are both on the same cable. everything looks ok in device manager. they are set correctly as master and slave. what is cable select?

 

There are 3 jumper settings on the drives. 1>Master 2>Slave and 3>Cable Select.

You can read about Cable Select here:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCS-c.html

If your lens cleaner is old, it may no longer be effective.

 

Do you happen to know the media code for the discs you are using?

Use this to find out:
http://dvd.identifier.cdfreaks.com/my_site/download.php

 

im using several different types...like i said its doing it to pratically every disc i put in. including store bought dvds.

 

Might be time to swap out the drives. =( There are alot of wallet-friendly drives out there that perform quite well. But before you do that, have you tried uninstalling and re-installing your drives, uninstalling your IDE cables from Device Manager, or Physically removing the drives, restarting and re-installing followed by another restart? Are the drives loose or shake at all in their bays? If none of these things work, you're looking at an unexpected upgrade my friend.

 

I agree. Sounds like it's time for a new drive. At least there are good ones for less than $40 now.

 

i might look into getting a new drive but is it possible that one bad drive could make both of them bad? my dvd-rom is only 2 months old. and how do you uninstall ide cables from device manager?

 

From Device Manager, expand the IDE/ATA ATAPI Controllers Tree. Right-click your Primary IDE Channel and then select Uninstall. Then restart your computer, this will re-install your primary IDE Channel automatically.

If its still a no go, here are some suggestions for new drives. Easy on the pocketbook =)

DVD-ROM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106027

DVD+/-RW DL Writer:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101010
(This BenQ drive is great! I have the Lightscribe capable version, but if you're not into that, this is your best bang for your buck)

Good Luck!

 

yeah ive done that several times. why would the dvd-rom drive i just bought 2 months ago already be in the crapper though?

 

What make and model is that DVD-ROM drive of yours? Do you use it on a daily basis to watch/rip/read movies/media? Over extensive use of the drive can wear it out very quickly and/or you had a bad drive to begin with and it wore out alot sooner than expected.

 

its a sony ddu 1615...if one of the drives were bad would it also cause the other drive to not work properly since they are sharing the same cable?

 

I would doubt it. I forgot to ask you if you have done any firmware updates recently, if not maybe its time you did. Updating your firmware might fix your problems altogether =)

 

yeah i updated my burner but there is no updates out for the dvd-rom yet.