BLU RAY PROBLEMS

[Etsi]

Hello

I have an HP Pavilion DV7-3190ev Moonlight laptop, running Windows 7 and i am experiencing a problem with the Blu Ray drive.

It seems to be impossible to detect a Blu Ray disc. I did every update available (windows, HP Media Smart, etc), uninstalled Daemon Tools Lite (which in some posts is mentioned as a potential problem due to the virtual drive that it creates), i even downloaded the last version of Power DVD 12. Still nothing. The discs would not even start to load. When i try a normal CD though, everything works fine.

The Device Manager says that all are working properly, the Blu Ray region is set to 2.

Any help on the matter would be highly appreciated, since i believe i tried everything i read so far. 

Thanks in advance

[erico]

I am surprised that the region is set to anything.  I always leave that alone. Changing that can screw up the digital rights permisssions and render the drive incapable of playing locally produced DVD disks.

Use the Details tab and post the entire string or use the snipping tool to post a screenshot here. That way I will see if I can find a firmware update from the manufacturer's website. If that is a no-go I will ask my HP internal contacts.

BluRay region codes are far simpler than DVD region and are either region A, B or C.  It is possible that your DVD bluray capable drive is locked. In most cases only a firmware update or replacement of the drive with a new one can remedy that.

Have you tried the BluRay movie disk in another drive to see if it works?

Is your notebook still in warranty? The standard warranty for consumer notebooks is one year.

[HaggisCat]

I am going to suggest here that the region code is set to "2" because the dv7 is a European model, being the country code on the model number is "ev".

 Although I am not sure what country that stands for, it's not North American other wise it would be "us" or "ca"

 No matter what Blu-ray software you're running even if there is none installed on the laptop, the title of the Blu-ray movie will show up in the driver in "Computer"

 If it's not there I am going to say the Blu-ray drive itself is faulty.

[HaggisCat]

Did some experimenting, I changed my Blu-ray/DVD/CD reader to region 2 and a region "A" Blu-ray played anyway. The setting does not affect Blu-ray play-back, but the setting with in the player does eg. Power DVD10.

 The interesting thing was that in order to change it to region 2 (DVD) I had to insert a region 2 DVD, if the reader did not detect that there was a region 2 DVD in there, it threw up an error telling me that there had to be a region 2 DVD in the drive before it allowed me to change it.

 And I am sure that if I wanted to change it back to region 1, I would have to insert a region 1 DVD in the reader first.

 I have a question for Etsi, is this the first time that you tried to play a Blu-ray and you have only discovered now that it won't play Blu-ray's OR did the player suddenly stop recognising Blu-ray's ?

[Etsi]

I have tried once in the past with a Blu Ray from a Video Club, but it was rather scratched and i decided not to go for it. Although, when i inserted it in the drive, the Menu of the Movie appeared.

The problem that makes me wonder now, is that the disc starts to turn 2-3 times and stops. In "My Computer" you see that no disc is inside it (and nothing happens no matter which player you select). DVD's though, play absolutely normal. If it was a drive issue, shouldn't i have a problem with normal DVDs' also?

Thank you for your swift reply and help.

[HaggisCat]

I will keep answering too and if Erico has something to add, he will also post.

 As for your question, if you open the DVD drawer there will be two lenses in there (at least there should be).

 The blue-ish one is for Blu-rays and the other is for DVD's and CD's and they are independent of each other, so even of it plays DVD's and CD's the Blu-ray lens still can be faulty.

 If you can, I would try try the drive in another laptop, they are all pretty much a standard size and it will fit. The drives are held in there with only one screw and are easily removed.

 In some cases the drawer front will get in the way and this can be temporarily removed so it will fit in another machine.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CykBGkzaX48

 You also need to answer Erico's question, is it still under warrantee ?  How old is the laptop ?

 There is also this automated fix from Microsoft, but it may not apply to the Blu-ray drive, but it's not going to hurt anything to try it.

 http://support.microsoft.com/mats/cd_dvd_drive_problems/en-us

[Etsi]

The laptop is 18 months old aproximately, so it is out of warranty.

I know about the 2 lens, i just did not know that they work independently.

Unfortunately i do not have another machine to try the drive.

[HaggisCat]

Just a couple of more questions and I have some things to try.

 Have you disabled "Windows Media Player" ; Cyberlink's Blu-ray products need that enabled for their software to work ? Even if it's not disabled open it and make sure that it's working.

 What anti virus program are you running ?

 To confirm, can you see the title of the Blu-ray under Blu-ray ROM drive in "Computer" and if you can, what is the title of the movie.

[HaggisCat]

You may have already tried this, but here it is again anyway.

 Install Imgburn form the 7th link provided by Imgburn. (remember to uncheck the box to install the Google tool bar when installing)

 http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

 Next install the trial of AnyDVD HD and restart. (the install now includes AnyDVD as well now)

 http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html

 Now go to the control panel and find "Auto Play" and select "Take No Action" for Blu-ray.

 Open Imgburn and then insert your Blu-ray, AnyDVD HD will begin to scan the disc if everything goes well.

  Give AnyDVD HD a little bit to finish scanning the disc.

 On the main page of Imgburn from the six choices select "Create Image File from Disc"

You will have to tell Imgburn where you want to save the file, sometimes it will default to "Documents", but where ever you put it, make sure you know where to find it. I save mine to the desk top.

 Also, a Blu-ray movie takes up a big chunk of hard drive space, so hopefully you will have the room. (it will take around an hour for this so make sure you have your power settings not to automatically shut down your laptop)

 Allow Imgburn to copy the whole movie.

 Assuming it gets this far, let me know when it's done and we'll go from there.

 The point of all this is that if you are able to create the ISO files of your movie, then the Blu-ray drive is functioning normally and it is a problem with the Blu-ray playing software.

[Schranzistor]

Hi,

Iam from Germany. Here ist the latest MediaSmart DVD Software: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp53001-53500/sp53390.exe

After Installation done, open Internet Explorer and go to this Page: ww.cyberlink.com/bdupdate

If same issue, you can test Cyberlink PowerDVD from HP: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp54501-55000/sp54746.exe

Please run also these FixIt from Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/mats/cd_dvd_drive_problems/en-us

Best Regards