Resolved CD/DVD and video problems on laptop

Hi,

I am writing because of a range of problems I am having with my wife’s Samsung R610 laptop, running Windows 7.

The first indication of a problem was when my wife commented that videos (whether attached to emails or accessed from websites) were slow to open.

After a weekend trying a number of strategies to solve this (installing codec updates, VLC, Media Player Classic, etc) I have come to the conclusion there are a number of problems which may or may not be related. I shall describe the symptoms and hope that someone can see a common denominator and hopefully point me in the right direction.
1. As mentioned, video files (regardless of what format they are) are very difficult to view. However, they will sometimes play with good sound and vision and synchronisation, so proving that the media player software and the video hardware are not fatally flawed.
2. The Laptop has a combined DVD/CD player/burner but no matter what disc is put in, AutoPlay does not give any indication the disc is recognised.
3. (My) Computer shows the disc (whether it is a DVD, CD, data or movie) yet as soon as I try to open/explore or read the disc in any way, (My) Computer stops responding. Any attempt to close (My) Computer via Ctrl+Alt+Del fails and it takes forever to close the application.
4. At one stage, having put an audio CD in the drive, I left the computer to have lunch and after about 15 minutes the audio was heard, the disk playing as normal. However the moment I paused Play and tried to restart it Media Player would no longer work for me.
5. Device Manager shows no conflicts, and the CD/DVD player is reportedly using the up to date driver and working properly.
6. Attempts to burn data files to a blank CD also fail and Computer locks up!
7. My wife did remind me however that ever since the laptop was new (with Vista installed) there has always been a problem using the DVD/CD burner - I had forgotten!
At one stage I was on the point of going out to buy a new DVD/CD unit but since the one in the laptop does on occasion work as intended I suspect the problem is elsewhere.

Any suggestions will be very much appreciated

Thanks everyone,

Roger

 

Look at things associated with the problem. You talk about quite a few media players, maybe you need less, not more. I would start uninstalling the media players that are not "working" (no change in the testing). When you are uninstalling look for any programs that might be related...something you or your wife are not really sure should be installed. If you uninstall it and there is a problem, it should be easily reinstalled.

Look for a program that might doing the process that you looking for (running videos) and suspect it is malfunctioning.

Go back to just Windows Media Player if you can. That should (?) work correctly...hopefully

Lots of third party software are installing their own video players now. For example, have you installed software for a video camera? They can install their own player.

Matt

 

Hello guys,

Thanks for the replies. I apologise for the delay in coming back to this topic but I have been putting off doing a reinstall since I do not want to do so until I know I have all my wife's settings etc fully backed up.

I shuold explain that the multiple players only came about because of attempts to cure the problem, and I do not think this is the problem itself. Only when the problem first became apparent did I then try Media Classic and VLC, and I also tried installing Klite Codecs, to no avail.

Very little in the way of software has been installed but I will have a closer look and see if I can detect anything that I am not familiar with.

Coming back to the matter of a reinstall - do you mean I should reformat and start from the beginning, or will it be enough to run the Installation over the top of the current one as a repair. I am not too familiar with these things and as it is my wife's computer I do not want to lose her Favorites, emails etc.

Thanks for your interest,

Best regards,

Roger

 

Hello Arie,

Point taken, and yes you have a very valid pont, but perhaps I gave the wrong impression.

I am in the habit of routinely backing up the entire system using the Windows back up utility - I am ashamed to admit that having bought Acronis True image Home I found it too complex - but this will not be much help if I then reformat and reinstall, thus I need to be sure I have saved everything as a 'stand alone' file. (I think I understand what I mean, I hope you do!)

I will look seriously at reformatting and reinstalling the Operating System but prefer to do this over a weekend when time is a little less limited. The weekend coming up is not an option as we are going away for a break, so hopefully I will be able to report back early in July. Sorry for the delay.

Thanks again,

Roger

 

Hi everyone,

I do apologise, not only for the delay in responding, but more so for my own ineptitude. After some thought while away I finally thought I had better go to the Samsung website and check to see what updated drivers were listed.

As soon as I got the chance I checked the site and there were a whole host of updates which I downloaded, and hey presto, my worries appear to be over!

I feel so stupid, and truly apologise for wasting everyone's time when the solution was so simple.

I hope with this track record you kind folk will still give me your help when I next write seeking assistance.

My very best wishes to all,

Roger