Plexotr Drive won't run DVD games but plays Movie DVDs OK

[blackchess_pawn]

I have had a Plextor DVD/CD-RW drive (Px-712A) for a year and a half now. In the last month it has stopped reading game DVDs or burned DVD-Rs or DVD-RWs. It plays and recognizes CD games and audio CDs perfectly, and it even plays and recognizes movie DVDs without a hitch.

It started by only reading DVD games some of the time. I would have to eject and re-insert the disc three to four times before it would recognize it, then it would work fine. Now it doesn't recognize them at all and after trying for 1-2 minutes it just sits there blinking its LED light orange for two consecutive blinks over and over again.

I have updated to the lastest firmware and it is still a not working. I even made sure that Starforce had not somehow crept onto my system, but still nothing.

I would normally think that the DVD laser was fried, but then why does it play DVD movies without any problem every single time?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edit:: Since it reads and recognizes blank DVD media and movies, but not games and burned discs, I have been led to believe that my drive may be having problems with SecuRom. I am running the retail versions of these games, but recieve the message:

"Unable to authenticate original disc within time limit. Try again?"

And of course "Try again?" never works.

 

[evergreenuk]

Hi I'm having this problem did you ever find a fix for this? :?

 

[blackchess_pawn]

Sort of. I still have problems with some DVD games, but I believe I discovered the root of the problem. Many game DVDs now run a scan to see what programs you have on your HDD. I had Virtual Drive installed (a completely legal program) and since it allows me to copy DVDs and CDs to HDD, the game would prevent me from accessing the DVD. I uninstalled the Virtual Drive program and many of the game DVDs started working with no problems. Some still do however, as it seems some game DVDs take offense to the disc drive being able to burn DVDs. Many of the newer DVD games I have bought do not seem to have this problem, so hopefully that high level of paranoid piracy security is a passing phase, as having a DVD burner legal and a right we should all have.

In short, my drive was no broken or damaged or failing. The software security on the discs was purposely denying me access, particularly SecuRom, which you will know the DVD is using if you see a large spinning silver CD icon next to your pointer while the drive is trying to access the disc.

I hope this helped you in some way. Cheers.

 

[evergreenuk]

Hi thanks for the reply blackchess_pawn. Having looked more into this problem I have come to the conclusion that my Plextor is broken I have emailed Plextor and I think I'm going to get a new drive sent out, We will see. Thanks again for you thoughts on this.