a pile of technological failure

[fiarra]

Guys, do I have gremlins? Is that the issue? Did I offend someone? Does my laptop hate me?

Here's the new issue. (And I'm not sure it's really *new* so much as.... unnoticed until now?)

I can't play DVDs on my laptop.

I can:
Burn music CDs
Burn data CDs/DVDs
Play legitimately purchased music CDs
Play burned music CDs
Access and play files from burned DVDs

However, when I put in a DVD that I paid real money for at a real store, my laptop decides that it doesn't want to play nice. I feel like there is a lesson in here somewhere.

Tonight I tried to watch Star Trek. When I put the DVD in, it spins and the computer is clearly trying to access something. But then it was.. stutter? It's like something is catching on the mechanism and it can't read. I feel like this happened ages ago when I tried to watch 500 Days of Summer, but I figured it was a DVD issue. :|

I tried updating the firmware. I even used Microsoft's diagnostic tool.

I'm a bit confused. The fact that I can do all these other things makes me think that the drive isn't dead. But I'm not sure what else I can do about it. Thoughts? Do you think if I drag it to Best Buy and show the dudes who work there, that they can give me a guess?

Also, to add insult to injury, my internet has been flickering on and off all night.

Comments

[phantomkennel.livejournal.com]

I had to rebuild my laptop from Windows up and the one thing I didn't get working again is playing DVDs. Not sure if I can read files off them, haven't tired data DVDs, but no playing. I think there's some software and/or decoder I need. But every time I try to figure it out I get frustrated. Maybe there was a separate installation CD I misplaced. Good luck!

[cowbert.livejournal.com]

could just be the laser-lens is dirty but it is still able to read and burn your burned cds because the contrast dye is still detectable (plus error correction and automatic power calibration ftw). Try getting a cd player cleaning disc from radioshack. It's pretty pricey but it comes with a special cd that has brushes on it that will clean the lens. It's a long shot, but weigh that against getting a replacement part off ebay...

[cowbert.livejournal.com]

Or it could be your cd drive is going bad. I've ruined a bunch of apple drives because the metal cases were really thin on both titanium and aluminium powerbooks and repeated crushing of the case by wrist action is what caused the drives to fail, as the drives were located directly underneath where I would place my wrists when typing (they failed in a similar way - because apple drives auto-eject, every disc I would insert would spin around for about 30 seconds and then eject itself as unreadable).

[ashlynwashere.livejournal.com]

Yikes. That is beyond my expertise. I have no advice, but I really hope you get it sorted out soon. D: No DVDs--the horror!