Cannot read current DVD contents

[XPonElmStreet]

When I change a DVD I cannot get Windows XP to recognise the contents of the new DVD. The last successful read is always displayed. It is not a bug in Windows Explorer since I have not used that for several months. Instead, I use Servant Salamander, which does not force me to reboot my PC when it crashes, like Explorer did.

The contents of the DVD seem to be stored in a registry of some sort, since, even when a new DVD is in the drive the first few seconds (20 seconds in the case of the first file) of the files displayed is played when I use VLC player to play the files. This means that more than the file title is kept by XP.

Instead of hyping up the new operating system I wish Microsoft would get the major bugs out of XP. For Windows Explorer not being able to read what is on a DVD counts as a major bug in my eyes.

In case I did not make myself clear before, this problem also occurs in Windows Explorer.

[thundernetbr]

XPonElmStreet,

maybe it's not a XP-related issue. What is your DVD reader ? Does it have the latest firmware ? Is it a 'combo' drive (CD-writer + DVD reader), a DVD-ROM drive or a DVD-writer ?

It always happens whatever the recorded DVD you use, or with just one or two from the same brand ? I'm saying this because a little time ago I had a LG-branded DVD-R media which caused lots of problems - it was smoothly recorded but, after two weeks or so, the contents of these media became unreadable. I lost about 16GB of data on these media; I visited www.videohelp.com and using DVD Identifier to find the Media Code for these DVD-Rs, I detected that the media had a historic of coasters with many people for that specific Media Code...

--ThundernetBR

[FthrJACK]

tried hitting F5 with the drive contents window open?

[XPonElmStreet]

Thanks for the 2 replies. Last one 1st - I have tried the F5 key in Windows Explorer and the refresh key in Salamander. No change to what is displayed.

The DVDs don't get corrupted. They are readable when I fianlly get to access them. I have used Nero to burn an usable disk and sometimes that clears the contents down. When I put a DVD into the DVD ROM drive the DVD player still displays the old contents.

I have googled this problem over the months and I am not alone in this matter. All that Micros**t can offer is pressing the F5 key.

The drive claims to be a pioneer so I'll try their website.

Thanks for suggestions.

[LLXX]

I remember a similar problem with floppy drives in the mid 80s and something called "change line support" - basically the drive isn't notifying the OS that the media has changed.

The behavior you describe with the files still being readable somewhat is due to the file cache, and is perfectly normal.

What happens if you try to access the old files on the new disc?

[HyperHacker]

I've had this problem when burning a CD; windows would lock the drive and I'd have to eject it manually. Because there's no media removal notification and a disc cache, the old data is still somewhat readable. Basically your DVD drive may well be the culprit here. Windows should have a way to force a re-read though... Ctrl+F5?

Edited November 15, 2006 by HyperHacker

[#rootworm]

i totally misread your post.

Edited November 15, 2006 by #rootworm

[thundernetbr]

The drive claims to be a pioneer so I'll try their website.

Try these two also:

http://www.rpc1.org <--- Maybe a new firmware can solve this problem...

http://www.videohelp.com <--- Many users may have the same problem with the specific drive you have.

--ThundernetBR