Blu ray drive not detecting some discs

[mpg1811]

I have a blu-ray dvd/cd rom drive in my new HDX 16t notebook computer.  I have installed all of the newest MediaSmart software.

When I try to play blu-ray movies, some of them play perfectly.  When I try to play others, the drive just spins and spins.  It doesn't detect a disc in the drive, just keeps spinning.

I've tried playing the problematic discs in my Playstation 3 and they work fine, so I don't think that the discs are bad.

I've tried the troubleshooting steps listed in an article in this forum addressing what to do when a drive won't play blu-ray, but it doesn't help.  The problem is NOT that certain discs don't play.  It's that the drive doesn't even recognize that there's a disc in the drive for certain discs.

Suggestions?

4-month old HP HDX 16t

Vista Ultimate 64-bit

Blu-ray drive is internal HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW CT10L

Device manager says that the drive is working properly.  The installed drivers are the one that came with the PC.  No updates are available on the HP support site.  I haven't downloaded any software that installs additional drivers.

[Kalt]

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hpshopping wrote:

As Blu-ray is new format w/new technologies, certain disc, digital connection, compatibility and/or performance issues may arise, do not constitute defects in product. Flawless playback on all systems not guaranteed. For some Blu-ray titles to play, may req. DVI or HDMI digital connection, display may req. HDCP support.

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You've pretty much done everything you can...you'll just have to wait for the next update to see if that resolves the issue.

[Trevor6792]

This is not entirely related but I had purchased a hp pavilion 1264nr entertainment notebook pc with an HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW ATA Blu-ray drive. For awhile I didnt have blu ray discs and the drive would play cd's and dvd's. About a month ago I bought "The Matrix" on blu ray disc and tried to play it in the computer. It would play the opening piracy warning and the warner bros logo but then it would just stop playing and close the program. I updated media smart dvd to the latest version after reading about how a software update could fix my problem. It didnt. Eventually my drive started to not play anything at all. It would'nt even recognize that a disc was in the drive. Randomly out of the blue it will decide it wants to work but most of the time it wont, and when it does it still will just play the above mentioned when i put in a blu ray disc.  I'm not sure what is wrong with my drive. Please help.

[Toronto699]

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=300221&page=574  petermichaelw  may have the solution http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=378373  read about anydvd  software in this link

Message Edited by Toronto699 on 06-02-2009 09:06 AM

[Toronto699]

read about anydvd in this link http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=378373

[priuscat]

Are there fingerprints on the disks? Or any other kind of scratches on the disks? I couldn't get a blockbuster Blu-Ray to play untill I removed the fingerprints.

[Trevor6792]

The disc was brand new and I had checked for that to make sure. I know that is not my problem because the drive itself will just work off and on. When it is working the blu-ray does not work as i mentioned above so there could be something wrong with the disc too but the larger problem is the drive itself. I have tried updating the driver for the Blu-Ray drive only to get a message that says i have the most recent driver.

I have thought about uninstalling and reinstalling the driver but i have no idea where to actually download it from. I know I can update it and uninstall it in the device manager on my computer but am not sure that, if i uninstall the driver,  I will be able to reinstall it from there and I dont have a disc with the drivers on it. If someone could tell me where the drivers for an HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW ATA Device blu ray drive are, I would try this to see if it works. The driver is not on HP's website even though my notebook is an hp product. I've also tried to find it elsewhere on the web with no avail.

Message Edited by Trevor6792 on 06-03-2009 10:06 PM

[priuscat]

Check with HP support but I think they said when you uninstall the driver, windows automatically reinstalls it.

[Trevor6792]

Yeah, i found that out already. It didnt fix anything.

Message Edited by Trevor6792 on 06-04-2009 01:21 PM

[anyvainlegend]

I've had the same problem happening as the original poster of this thread. Plenty of Blu ray discs had worked fine in the Optiarc BC-5500S drive of my DV5 1010tu bought 1 year ago. However, starting about 6 months ago, brand new movie titles would not play, while titles I already owned still would. The first time this happened was with the Watchmen Blu Ray.

This problem was nothing to do with the Profile 1, 2 and 2.5 problems that others have had. Nor was it due to any media player needing updates.

The disc would spin and spin and finally stop, unrecognized by the computer. It's like the computer couldn't make heads or tails of the disc. A number of possible problems occurred to me, including that new discs were somehow manufactured differently to older discs, or that there were region conflicts, or that there was some capacity difference between the discs that my drive was having problems with and those that worked fine.

The fact that I could get Watchmen to play once out of every 6 times got me to thinking that it might have been the drive's fault. However, when other new Blu rays would not play at all, yet my earlier purchases still played fine, I started noticing that there was a clear pattern.

I've owned The Aviator for about a month now without being able to play it. I also bought the Bourne Trilogy around the same time, and only the third movie in the series would work. Definitely a head-scratcher of a problem!

I made a call to HP last week, however "John" in India told me they would have to call me back. They never did.

However, today I had another try with The Aviator and this time decided to have a good look at the disc. I gave it a wipe with my shirt tail even though the disc looked pretty spotless already. But doing this revealed a clearer patch of disc! What I discovered was that the disc had a "fog" or "fuzz", or fine film across its playing surface. So I got a soft cloth and wiped the surface from the inside out, clearing all the fog and any other specks off the disc. Hey presto, my pedantic drive finally plays the disc!

I have a theory that some brand new discs come with this fine film over the surface, probably gained at some point in production or shipping. In fact it might even be from the plastic case it comes in. I know that my car's windscreen often fogs up with a similar film of muck, which, from my understanding, comes from the plastics or rubber in the dashboard rising up and covering the glass.

So, after that long explanation, I suggest you clean the discs that aren't working within an inch of their lives. Be meticulous that no grease, fingertips, eye lashes or bits of dust are left on the playing surface, and you might find that those discs finally work!

I still have had no trouble with earlier discs - they play every time. So it could be that newer discs are susceptible to this "fog". And I would suggest that the particular drives that our notebooks came with are just particularly picky when it comes to what discs they can and can't play.

I hope this helps someone!

Message Edited by anyvainlegend on 10-23-2009 01:52 PM