DVD RW won't read/play DVDs, but will read/play CDs

hey, sorry if I'm making a newb mistake, but here's the situation. I have an Acer 5100-5674, Vista Home Premium, with a Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-K17RS ATA Device. I ripped some DVD movies using DVDshrink, then I tried to burn one onto a Memorex dvd-r using NTI CD&DVD-Maker 7. I got an error when I burned at 8x, so I lowered it to 2x and got the same error. The log is below:

---

Processor Architecture: INTEL
Processor Type: INTEL PENTIUM
Processor Level: 15
Microsoft Windows version 6.0 (Build 6000)
Memory in use: 56%
Total physical memory: 783 MB
Total free physical memory: 341 MB
Total paging file: 1973 MB
Total free paging file: 524 MB
Total virtual memory: 2097 MB
Total free virtual memory: 1979 MB

CD Layout: Data DVD
Disc Format: DVD-ROM
File System: UDF
Bootable CD: No
Total Data Blocks: 2285888

CD-Recorder: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K17RS (E
Firmware Version: 1.00
Disc Media: DVD-R
Free Disc Blocks: 2298496
Test: No
Write Speed: 2x
Write Method: Disc-At-Once
Close Disc: Yes
Leave Session Open: No

Error Code: 1012
CDB: 2A 00 00 00 03 00 00 00 20 00 00 00
SenseKey:05 ASC:21 ASCQ:02

---

After that happened, I put a new dvd disk in, but the computer didn't recognize that there was anything in the drive. It made some sounds, but I got a message saying to insert a blank disk into Drive E. I tried a few more disks and it kept happening. I then tried to play a regular DVD in the drive, but I still got the message "Please insert a disk into drive E:"

The drive reads and plays music and data CDs fine, but it doesn't pick anything up when a DVD is in there. I did some google searches for problems with my dvd-rw drive, and got a link to this Windows support page. I'm not sure if it applies to me though, because I never got a "Code 32"-type of error message.

I am pretty sure that the scanner lens of the drive works fine, since it plays CDs. I blew some compressed air on it in case it was dirty, and that didn't help the DVD situation.

In one of the "read this first" threads in this forum, I came to this helpful page. Going to my Device Manager gives me three IDE Channels. The first one is for ATA Disk and uses Ultra DMA Mode 6; the second one has nothing listed, and the third one is for ATAPI Cdrom and uses Ultra DMA Mode 2. Is this where the problem is? Is that second IDE Channel for the DVD? If that's the case, how do I fix it? The page I just linked to says to uninstall the Controllers and that restarting would give me the right IDE-DMA configuration, but I wasn't sure if I should go that far since I have vista and that page is based on xp.

Thanks for help help you can give. Again, sorry if I missed the answer somewhere else on this thread. I did search but didn't find anything exactly like my situation.

 

yes uninstall the IDE controllers then reboot the machine and windows will reinstall them correctly. heres a guide that will help

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/260038

second thing use better blank media like Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim. Memorex (cmc mag) are low quality disc which can cause problems

third use a better burning program like imgburn its freeware you can download it here

http://www.imgburn.com/

and heres some more info to backup your DVDs, read here

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/622748

 

thanks! I'll give the uninstall/reboot a shot.

 

I uninstalled & rebooted all three IDE Channels, then the DVD player, and it still won't read DVDs. In the device manager, the channels read:

IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
-ATA Channel 0
-ATA Channel 0
-ATA Channel 1
-Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
-Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

The third ATA Channel (Channel 1) still doesn't have any Device listed, including no DMA. I don't see PIO anywhere, however. Also, the interface is different with Vista than what's in the "if your DMA is OFF..." pictures. For example, there's no drop-down menu for "Transfer Mode".

Thanks for the advice so far. Am I doing something wrong?

 

if you have 2 drives, 1 hard drive and 1 dvdRW drive you will only see 2 lots of dma so alls well

i think its the disc used inferior, also you could try a firmware update to the drive, check manufacturers website for firmware

 

or here

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_all.php

 

do you mean the disc was inferior that I originally tried to burn onto? Or the one that I'm trying to play now? I've been using my wife's Celine Dion DVD (hey lay off - it was the closest dvd to me at the time) that's straight from the manufacturer, not bootlegged or burned.

I'll try looking for firmware tonight, thanks.

 

inferior = Memorex dvd-r

 

Thanks for the help so far. Since I last posted, I've tried all of the below fixes, unsuccessfully, in various combinations. I've still go the problem that my DVD-player doesn't recognize when I put DVDs in it. It spins and whirs, but nothing plays, and if I click on the drive in Computer, it tells me it's empty.

-uninstalling/reinstalling the IDE controllers
-uninstalling/reinstalling the DVD Drive
-looked for firmware updates (but didn't find any)
-deleting registry entries as explained here (backed up registry first)
-uninstalling 3rd-party CD-playing/burning programs (CDBurnerXP, Media Player Classic, ITunes)
-downloading update patch from Acer for NTI CD & DVD-Maker 7 (this program was preinstalled on my computer, and using it for the first time led to the problem in this thread)
-starting the computer in safe mode and trying to play a DVD

Of course I've also googled it and searched microsoft, vista, & acer forums and haven't found a solution. It does seem that a lot of other people have had the same problem, but the registry editing fixes it for them.

Any more advice?

 

i think ihave seen this before, please tell me do you see any reference at all in the ide controllers/drives for DMA/PIO?

if not then i could be on the right track, i know what needs doing but cant remeber the location and steps to change it.

you need to go in the ide controller and in a certain window/link you can change from what your useing to another type that does show DMA/PIO and on another thread doing this on an INTEL chipset worked for this guy, and could burn fine!

by changing Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller to VIA IDE controller or something simarlar thats there

you have to change the driver! used by the channels to the other one there

also cant remember if you updated firmware to the drive????

i will try locate the steps needed to change useage of controller to ide...

 

There isn't anything in the IDE settings for DMA/PIO. Everything is DMA from what I can tell; I don't even see "PIO" mentioned anywhere. In the Device Manager, if I expand "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers", there are 5 choices underneath it:
-ATA Channel 1
-IDE Channel
-IDE Channel
-Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
-Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

Both IDE Channels have a checked "Enable DMA" box in the Advanced Settings tab. The ATA Channel 1 has no such box. In the Controller properties, there are tabs for General, Driver, Details, and Resources, but I don't see anything about DMA/PIO.

I have looked online for firmware updates for the drive but haven't found anything except stuff to make it play DVDs from different regions. I emailed Acer Support this morning to see if they can send me any new firmware and am waiting for a reply.

Rotary, when you say "you have to change the driver! used by the channels to the other one there", how do I do that?

 

i have been looking for the thread all morning on changing over intels driver to the other

i need to know your full intel mother chip info, this may help, i answer 100's of threads so its dam hard lol

looking still.....

i know its in device manager it allows dma transfer mode to be seen and changed!
************************************************

EDIT

go to: device manager / hardware / ide controllers link

open controllers link up and go to "UPDATE driver"...

this opens:

welcome to hardware update wizard / tick "NO not at this time", click next...

another window of the wizard appears, tick "install from a list or specific location"... click next

another, third wizard window appears, choose "DONT SEARCH i will choose driver to install"... click next

and now you will see a list of drivers you can use! try the "other" driver there!

---------

try this driver after reboot with your software and also "CHECK" for DMA is enabled

 

I tried that driver switch (or least think I did) and it didn't work, but before I get into that, to answer your processor question, I actually don't have an Intel. It's an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-53. I have no idea why that log I pasted in my first post says it's Intel. I just wanted to throw that out there in case that's a reason for the DVD drive not working?

Back to the IDE Controller - Rotary, I think you're basing your instructions off XP, but I think I interpreted them OK for Vista. In the Device Manager, I clicked on Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller. In its properties, under the Driver tab, I clicked Update Driver. I then had a choice between "Search automatically for updated driver software" and "Browse my computer for driver software".

I chose the Browse option, and the next screen has a choice of "Search for driver software in this location": C:\DRV0\MODEM (with a Browse option) OR "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer".

I chose the "Let me pick..." option, which I think is where you said there would be a choice of another driver to pick, but all that was there was "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller". I picked that one, rebooted, and checked for DMA enabled, and still no luck.

 

now that is wierd, its like you gave a log from somewhere else? crazy...

ok

this pc, did you build it yourself? or a shop bought one?

can you tell me the FULL name of the motherboard? try useing belarc advisor

i think you dont have the main drivers installed, maybe not an aspi layer too?
--------------------

i have the motherboard drivers loaded! below pic, i built this amd dual core myself, your running on Microsoft standard operating system drivers that come with vista...

http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/downloads.html



bios sets on boot also

 

I definitely didn't build the computer myself. I bought it new from Circuit City a few months ago and haven't added much to it besides MSOffice and some CD/DVD tools like DVDShrink, Handbrake, CDBurnerXP, Media Player Classic, and ITunes.

Here's more info about my processor:
Name: AMD Turion 65 Mobile TK-53
Code Name: Tyler
Brand ID: 3
Package: Socket S1 (638)
Technology: 65nm
Core VID: 0.900 V
Specification: AMD Athlon(TM) 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-53
Family: F
Ext. Family: F
Model: 8
Ext. Model: 8
Stepping: 1
Instructions: MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, x86-64

You need more than that?

Thanks for the Acer link. I think I've tried downloading from there already, but can't remember specifically at this point. On the Aspire 5100 page, under MS Windows/Vista, which Drivers/Utilities should I download?

What do you mean by "bios sets on boot also"?

 

yeah if look at second pic above "let bios set transfer mode" is ticked, the bios on booting dets DMA, i can untick and set myself in that window, but bios can read the drives and set the according dma mode, as you can see in pic i have ultra dma 2/ultra dma 4, for 2 different drives...

what is your acer? "Extensa" or "Travelmate" or "Aspire" to get the correct drivers...

you need to look for ide drivers

 

It's an Aspire 5100. I (obviously) don't know much about drivers. Which of these should I download?

ATI VGA driver 8.31.100.3c
VGA Driver ATI Ver. 8.352
VGA_ATI_v8.362

Thanks for the pics - when I wrote my last post, I couldn't see them.

 

yeah bit confusing but

try VGA Driver ATI Ver. 8.352

 

im having the same problem

i have a packard bell machine with xp and my dvd drive is a nec_dvd_rw nd3550a

mines worked fine then just stopped reading the disks cds work fine dvds dont
i have tried all the suggestions i think relates to me
i went to my primary and secondary IDE channels and both say DMA if available

now i have absolutely no clue about IDE/DMA or anything like that but i just followed the screenshots of how to check these channels

so is there anything else i should try
oh nearly forgot maybe this will help...if i go to my computer after putting in a blank dvd the picture of the disk tell me 0 free space but if i use my cd/dvd writer it writes no problem.But when i put the dvd back in the computer after burning i get nothing again

as i said guys/girls i have not a clue so if you could help me out but make it simple i would be very grateful

thanks for your time and effort
scott

 

please can you start your own thread, and post link to me...

also can you elaborate on the above statement as i find it confusing...