Why won't the dvd drive on my computer play dvds anymore?

Question

i used to watch dvds on my computer but the last few times i have tried it says there is no dvd in the drive. anyone know what i can do or why its like that?

Answer 1

Well, there is one thing you can try.  You will have to go in to the registry editor.  If the computer is XP, you click start, then run, then type in "regedit", if it is a Vista computer, then you need to click start, and then type "regedit" in the search bar.  When the registry editor comes up, you want to navigate to this area HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControl...

Control

\Class

\{4D36E965-E325-11­CE-BFC1-

08002BE10318}

Delete the keys listed as "upper filters" and "lower filters".  After that, simply restart the machine and you should have it back to a working condition.  If that does not work, it may be time to look for a new DVD drive.

Answer 2

Can you play CDs?  There are many reasons why your DVD-ROM/R/RW isn't playing DVDs anymore

-Bad disc (could be that the disc is scratched, smudged, or have been a victim of disc rot, therefore making the DVD unreadable)

-System hardware/software problem (you may have a problem with your computer's hardware or could be interference/glitch with the player software and/or operating system)

-Dirty laser (You probably need to clean your laser either with a CD/DVD laser cleaning disc or with a Q-Tip with rubbing alcohol (if this is a laptop computer))

Dust/Smoke (Dust may have gotten inside the drive and covered the laser, this may be able to be cleaned using the laser cleaning disc I mentioned above, but it may not come off, or can scratch the laser diode's lense, also, if you or somebody else smokes in the house, the tar and niccotine in cigarette smoke can cover and stick on the laser and prevent it from reading the DVDs)

-Broken disc-spinning motor-If your drive can't play CDs either, it can be that the motor the spins the CD/DVD is broken, therefore making the disc unable to spin to be read