Blu-Ray Internal and External Drives No Longer Play DVDs

HDL · Dec 10, 2022

My DVD drives both internal and external will no longer play DVDs or Blu-Ray DVDs. They all played excellently until one of the recent Windows Pro updates and now they no longer do. These same drives will play music CDs, will recognize and open data CDs, and will allow burning to them using programs like Nero Burning Rom and Nero Video DVDs. The only thing they will no longer do is play DVDs. I am going to try to outline all that I have tried to date. Some of the things were suggested at another tech site, some I came up with on my own. Nothing fixed it. What I found, that may be of interest, is no matter if it is the 2 internal BD-RE Asus BW-16D1HT Blu Ray burners, the external HL-DT-ST DVDRAM SP80NB80, or the Asus Optical Drive BW-16D1x-U external Blu-Ray burner that I purchased and then sent back, all use the exact same MS driver. The Driver date 6/21/2006 version 10.0.22621.1. I am told the date means nothing. So now the steps I have taken:

I uninstalled the update I thought had caused the problem and paused Windows updates for 5 weeks. The drives worked and played DVDs until booting the computer the following morning. it had been off all night.
Somehow, even though updates were paused, an update installed itself. I uninstalled that update, but the drives have never worked since.
I uninstalled the DVD drives and rebooted. The same drivers were reinstalled.
I tried to update the drivers. Windows 11 won’t allow that saying the drives are already using the most current drivers.
I hooked up external drives, they do the same as the internal drives in that the light flashes and the drives make a clicking sound but will not play DVDs. the blinking and clicking continue until I close the program or eject the disk.
I opened a case with Asus. They could not update the drivers and told me Microsoft was responsible for keeping drivers current. They suggested starting from scratch with my less than 6 month old computer and reload Windows Pro meaning I would lose everything I have installed on the computer.
I opened a case with Microsoft – Windows support technicians. He actually worked on my computer remotely for over 2 ½ hours. He, somehow, reinstalled Windows 11 keeping my apps, data files, and settings. He said that Microsoft was not responsible for keeping drivers up to date; companies like Asus or LG were. He went to Asus’s site and tried, unsuccessfully, to install different drivers for my internal drives. For some reason, they would not install. That is when he reinstalled Windows 11.

I should mention here that I have 2 other computers that have the exact same internal drives and use the exact same drivers and they continue to work as they should.

I am out of ideas to try and so is the other tech site I was working with. Does anyone have any suggestion short of reformatting my drive and starting completely over?

spapakons · Dec 10, 2022

Which program did you use to play DVD discs? If auto play doesn't work (playback doesn't start automatically when inserting a DVD disc), check to see if you can manually play the disc. Right-click on the drive and you should see a list. At the top you should see Play with... and some application that plays DVDs. If you can't do that this way, try loading the application (such as PowerDVD or similar) and open the disc from there. If you can manually play the disc but auto play doesn't work, you must change auto play settings. I don't have access to my computer to guide you. Search for auto play in Settings.

bobkn · Dec 10, 2022

I wonder how DVDs and BluRays played in the past?

The ability to play DVDs using a default Windows setup was eliminated in Windows 10. I believe that carries on into 11. As far as I know, no version of Windows natively played BluRay discs.

It sounds like you have some sort of third-party program installed that has stopped working. I wonder what it was?

Optical drives use different lasers for CDs, DVDs, and BluRays (near infrared, red, and blue), but if a couple of different devices can't play DVDs, that makes it unlikely that both suffered similar hardware failures.

Berton · Dec 10, 2022

As to the program, I'd try the free VLC as it can open the discs. www.videolan.org

HDL · Dec 10, 2022

spapakons said:
Which program did you use to play DVD discs? If auto play doesn't work (playback doesn't start automatically when inserting a DVD disc), check to see if you can manually play the disc. Right-click on the drive and you should see a list. At the top you should see Play with... and some application that plays DVDs. If you can't do that this way, try loading the application (such as PowerDVD or similar) and open the disc from there. If you can manually play the disc but auto play doesn't work, you must change auto play settings. I don't have access to my computer to guide you. Search for auto play in Settings.

I always used Leawo Blu-Ray player. After that no longer worked I tried Power DVD, VLC Media player, Nero Video, and Any DVD player. Not all my disks are Blu-Ray but no DVD will play any longer and with the Leawo Blu-Ray player, they all did. I not only did try these players but so did the MS technician when he was connected to my computer and the Asus person had me try Power DVD as well. He also wanted me to disconnect the drives but being that they are internal I did not do that, especially since I had used them successfully just a day or two before I discovered they would no longer work.

I do use AutoPlay and probably should mention that Leawo Blu-Ray player always finds the DVD and lists its title, but will not play it. The same thing happens with Nero Video and VLC media player. The only one I know of those I listed that plays Blu-Ray is Leawo Blu-Ray player so I have made my tests on DVDs, not Blu-Ray DVDs.

HDL · Dec 10, 2022

bobkn said:
I wonder how DVDs and BluRays played in the past?

The ability to play DVDs using a default Windows setup was eliminated in Windows 10. I believe that carries on into 11. As far as I know, no version of Windows natively played BluRay discs.

It sounds like you have some sort of third-party program installed that has stopped working. I wonder what it was?

Optical drives use different lasers for CDs, DVDs, and BluRays (near infrared, red, and blue), but if a couple of different devices can't play DVDs, that makes it unlikely that both suffered similar hardware failures.

I don't know enough about this to dispute what you say. However, I installed nothing between when they worked and when they stopped. the only thing I did was allow windows update site to install its updates. I have to believe that if there were some third party program causing me problems, the MS technician would have found it. He went over all my programs and machine very thoroughly.

HDL · Dec 10, 2022

Berton said:
As to the program, I'd try the free VLC as it can open the discs. www.videolan.org

View attachment 47288

Please see one of my posts above. That is one of the programs I did try. It too, will no longer play DVDs. Something happened when MS installed its updates from the Windows update site.

HDL · Dec 10, 2022

Maybe I should put this out there, along with Leawo Blu-Ray player I had VLC media player and Nero Video installed prior to this problem occurring. I never used them to play a DVD because I had no reason to since Leawo Blu-Ray player worked great. After all those failed the MS technician downloaded Any DVD and PowerDVD and, as mentioned above, none of them play a DVD.

spapakons · Dec 10, 2022

Due to copyright restrictions, some DVD playback software require a HDCP compliant graphics card and monitor connected with a digital cable such as HDMI or Display Port. If you don't meet these requirements (for example you connect the monitor with analog VGA cable or the monitor doesn't support HDCP), they block playback in an effort to prevent you copying the movie, see analog loophole Analog hole - Wikipedia
Probably Windows Update messed with your graphics drivers making the card non compliant and the players block playback of DVD or Blu Ray discs. I would update the graphics drivers directly from manufacturer, not Windows Update.

bobkn · Dec 10, 2022

That's quite a list of third-party player software.

Just for fun, I tried playing a DVD using Media Player Classic. It worked. A BluRay, no. (The burner supports BDXL. It has an old firmware that permits it to play UHD BDs, although I currently have no software installed to do that on my primary PC. I prefer to watch UHD BDs on my 55" OLED TV.)

My Windows 11 version is 22621.900. That may not help you at all, but it suggests that it may not be normal for Windows updates to have interfered with your ability to play DVDs. BluRays are another level of Codec support. I was able to do it when I had AnyDVD Player (the paid version) installed.

bobkn · Dec 10, 2022

spapakons said:
Due to copyright restrictions, some DVD playback software require a HDCP compliant graphics card and monitor connected with a digital cable such as HDMI or Display Port. If you don't meet these requirements (for example you connect the monitor with analog VGA cable or the monitor doesn't support HDCP), they block playback in an effort to prevent you copying the movie, see analog loophole Analog hole - Wikipedia
Probably Windows Update messed with your graphics drivers making the card non compliant and the players block playback of DVD or Blu Ray discs. I would update the graphics drivers directly from manufacturer, not Windows Update.

I believe that no DVDs require HDCP.

BluRays and UHD BluRays usually do.

spapakons · Dec 10, 2022

I can play a Blu Ray disc in Media Player Classic. If it cannot open the disc directly you can browse the disk and open the playlist file (don't remember how it is called). You also may need to install additional codecs. I always install the K-Lite codec Mega pack so I can play any format from any media player. The alternative is VLC but I hate it that you cannot use its codecs with another program such as a video editing application. K-Lite codecs can be used by all video applications for either playback or recording, so I prefer them over VLC. Of course I also have VLC Installed just in case I encounter a weird format that doesn't play in Media Player Classic.

HDL · Dec 10, 2022

spapakons said:
Due to copyright restrictions, some DVD playback software require a HDCP compliant graphics card and monitor connected with a digital cable such as HDMI or Display Port. If you don't meet these requirements (for example you connect the monitor with analog VGA cable or the monitor doesn't support HDCP), they block playback in an effort to prevent you copying the movie, see analog loophole Analog hole - Wikipedia
Probably Windows Update messed with your graphics drivers making the card non compliant and the players block playback of DVD or Blu Ray discs. I would update the graphics drivers directly from manufacturer, not Windows Update.

My monitor is using HDMI connection and from what I just checked, see attachment, my graphics card is using its manufacture's driver. I also checked Windows update site to see if I could determine if there had been a graphics card update and I cannot determine that but I just don't think there has been.

Thanks.

HDL · Dec 10, 2022

bobkn said:
That's quite a list of third-party player software.

Just for fun, I tried playing a DVD using Media Player Classic. It worked. A BluRay, no. (The burner supports BDXL. It has an old firmware that permits it to play UHD BDs, although I currently have no software installed to do that on my primary PC. I prefer to watch UHD BDs on my 55" OLED TV.)

My Windows 11 version is 22621.900. That may not help you at all, but it suggests that it may not be normal for Windows updates to have interfered with your ability to play DVDs. BluRays are another level of Codec support. I was able to do it when I had AnyDVD Player (the paid version) installed.

I have the same version of windows installed. There is a reason I am very certain Windows updates caused me the problem. Just prior to installing the latest windows updates, I was using this computer to play DVDs. Immediately after that installation, or I should say the next day, I could no longer play DVDs. If I had installed any other program I would have gladly uninstalled it but that is not the case. Media Player Classic also will not play a DVD on this machine.

HDL · Dec 10, 2022

spapakons said:
I can play a Blu Ray disc in Media Player Classic. If it cannot open the disc directly you can browse the disk and open the playlist file (don't remember how it is called). You also may need to install additional codecs. I always install the K-Lite codec Mega pack so I can play any format from any media player. The alternative is VLC but I hate it that you cannot use its codecs with another program such as a video editing application. K-Lite codecs can be used by all video applications for either playback or recording, so I prefer them over VLC. Of course I also have VLC Installed just in case I encounter a weird format that doesn't play in Media Player Classic.

Is Windows 11 Pro compatible with K-Lite codec Mega pack? I haven't had to install anything like that for sometime now. Maybe it would be worth a try.

I just searched and found it is compatible with Win 11. So let me ask this because I really don't know what this does, if I install this K-Lite codec Mega pack would it be compatible and try to work with my players I mentioned above that I use?

spapakons · Dec 10, 2022

Yes, it should. Also your graphics card driver is outdated. Latest official nVidia graphics drivers are from November 2022, maybe there is also a December 2022 version. Update your graphics drivers and try playing a movie again.

HDL · Dec 10, 2022

spapakons said:
Yes, it should. Also your graphics card driver is outdated. Latest official nVidia graphics drivers are from November 2022, maybe there is also a December 2022 version. Update your graphics drivers and try playing a movie again.

I updated the video driver to one dated 12/5/22 and that did not make the DVDs play. How do I use this K-Lite codec Mega pack? Do I just open the download or do I have to do something else after opening it like tell it what programs for it to use? I am going to create a Restore point before doing anything with it but I am not sure what do do once I open the download.

bobkn · Dec 10, 2022

K-Lite The codec pack comes in a number of sizes. It claims to support DVDs, even in the smallest (basic) package.

I have the "standard" version installed, which may explain why I'm able to play DVDs.

The download is an exe, which you then run. It'll put the codecs in the proper location. The Standard version also installs Mediaplayer Classic.

This doesn't do much to tell why you lost the ability to play DVDs, but if it restores that, you may not care.

Note that encrypted BluRays may not be playable by freeware players.

A Guy · Dec 11, 2022

Have you tried running the Windows Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter?

Open CMD prompt as Administrator> Paste:

msdt.exe -id Device Diagnostic

Enter

Run the troubleshooter and restart

A Guy

spapakons · Dec 11, 2022

Right click the drive and select to open it to see the files. Can you access the disc contents? If you can and you have K-Lite codecs installed you should be able to open the playlist file (don't remember which it is) and essentially load the disc and go to the disc menu. Media Player Classic can also open the disc from File -> Open Disc. If you can't access the disc contents probably some upper or lower filter affects proper DVD access. Once I had a similar issue after installing Nero. Uninstalling Nero didn't also remove the filters and I had to manually delete the respective Registry entries. Let's hope your case is simpler than that.

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