My DVD is not playing, what could be wrong?

If you can't play a DVD disk that you have made, be sure you created a DVD Movie disk when you compiled your disk session for burning. Also, if there was an error during the burn process, then the disk may not play .

If you can't play a retail DVD movie disk, check the following:

1. Be sure that you are trying to play the DVD movie in a drive that supports DVDs. Check the face of the optical drive tray for the DVD mark.

2. If from within Windows Explorer you cannot see the drive letter for the optical drive in question, and you have confirmed that the data ribbon cable and power cables are both properly connected inside the case, then the drive may have a problem. (Reconnecting or reseating these cables may make the drive reappear within Windows again.)

3. If from within Windows Explorer you click on the drive to access the data files on the disk, and the drive cannot access any files or behaves as if no disk is present, then the drive may have a problem.

4. If you can access files from within Windows on CDs or DVDs but apparently can’t play DVD movies, then the DVD codec required for DVD playback needs to be present. This codec is provided with Vista but not with XP. XP users will need to install DVD player software like PowerDVD or WinDVD on the system, and this may need to be reinstalled in this case.