Vista - DVD-RW displays CD files & directories but not DVD files & directo

I have a "Lite-On DVDRW LH-20A1H ATA Device" (as reported by Device Manager)
that will display the contents of CDs but not DVDs. The drive has the latest
firmware upgrade. OS is Vista Home Premium 32-bit. Here's the scenario:

I can pop in a DVD-ROM and Autoplay will launch asking if I want to run (in
this case) Setup.exe or open to explore files. If I choose the latter, or
close Autoplay and attempt to access the DVD drive via Windows Explorer, no
files are shown and the disk properties show that it is 100% full. Oddly,
the disk label *is* read. If I choose the former, it eventually gives me a
"the language is not supported on your system" error and Setup.exe ends.
Also, sometimes if I play around (looking at the menu options Properties,
Configure, etc.), I'll get a BSOD.

I have successfully read CD contents and installed programs from CD.

I've tried the registry edits shown in:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929461/en-us
I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers (default Microsoft
drivers).

Can anyone offer any suggestions of what else to try (apologies in advance
if this has already been asked and answered, but my search did not yield a
solution)?

MikeD,

Have you checked to see whether the DVD Region is set to 1? Double click
Computer and right click the drive and select Properties. Look in the DVD
Region tab to verify the setting. That's all I have. Anyone else?
--
freddy


"MikeD" wrote:

> I have a "Lite-On DVDRW LH-20A1H ATA Device" (as reported by Device Manager)
> that will display the contents of CDs but not DVDs. The drive has the latest
> firmware upgrade. OS is Vista Home Premium 32-bit. Here's the scenario:
>
> I can pop in a DVD-ROM and Autoplay will launch asking if I want to run (in
> this case) Setup.exe or open to explore files. If I choose the latter, or
> close Autoplay and attempt to access the DVD drive via Windows Explorer, no
> files are shown and the disk properties show that it is 100% full. Oddly,
> the disk label *is* read. If I choose the former, it eventually gives me a
> "the language is not supported on your system" error and Setup.exe ends.
> Also, sometimes if I play around (looking at the menu options Properties,
> Configure, etc.), I'll get a BSOD.
>
> I have successfully read CD contents and installed programs from CD.
>
> I've tried the registry edits shown in:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929461/en-us
> I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers (default Microsoft
> drivers).
>
> Can anyone offer any suggestions of what else to try (apologies in advance
> if this has already been asked and answered, but my search did not yield a
> solution)?

> Have you checked to see whether the DVD Region is set to 1? Double click
> Computer and right click the drive and select Properties. Look in the DVD
> Region tab to verify the setting. That's all I have. Anyone else?

freddy, thanks for offering a possible solution but I don't think that's it.
The DVD/CDRW drive in my laptop shows the same region ("Not Selected") as
the one I'm having trouble with, but my laptop can read and display the files
and directories from the same disks that the desktop cannot. Any other
ideas/suggestions?

"freddy" wrote:

> Have you checked to see whether the DVD Region is set to 1? Double click
> Computer and right click the drive and select Properties. Look in the DVD
> Region tab to verify the setting. That's all I have. Anyone else?

freddy, thanks for responding, but I don't think that's it. My desktop has
the same current region ("Not Selected") as my laptop, and the laptop
DVD/CDRW drive can read the same disks that the desktop cannot. Any other
thoughts? Anyone?

(Apologies for the double-post. As can be seen by the timestamps, I came
back several hours later and didn't see the first, so thinking it hadn't
posted successfully I made the second.)

> Have you checked to see whether the DVD Region is set to 1? Double click
> Computer and right click the drive and select Properties. Look in the DVD
> Region tab to verify the setting. That's all I have. Anyone else?
> --
> freddy

More info: I finally resorted to what I consider a last resort - surgery. I
swapped the drive in question out of the Vista machine and put it into an XP
machine, and the XP machine was able to read the contents of DVD's just fine.
So, it's apparently a Vista issue.

freddy, I think during the transfer the region got set to "1" from "Not
Selected", but that hasn't changed anything - the Vista machine still will
not display the contents of a DVD but will display the contents of a CD. I'm
sure this is a switch buried somewhere in the registry, but I haven't a clue
where to find it.

Also worth mentioning - AutoPlay handles DVD's as I would expect;
executables can be selected to run, movies will play, etc., except for the
option to "open folder to view files". This fact makes me feel a little
better, as it would seem that I can at least use the drive, but I still want
to be able to browse the contents.

MikeD,

Your guess as to the cause is as good as mine. One approach to solving this
issue is to use google to search the Internet. It's likely this problem has
been commented on out there, and some solution posted. Searching on terms
that produce results are key to finding such posts. Maybe someone here has
an idea. Anyone?
--
freddy


"MikeD" wrote:

> > Have you checked to see whether the DVD Region is set to 1? Double click
> > Computer and right click the drive and select Properties. Look in the DVD
> > Region tab to verify the setting. That's all I have. Anyone else?
> > --
> > freddy
>
> More info: I finally resorted to what I consider a last resort - surgery. I
> swapped the drive in question out of the Vista machine and put it into an XP
> machine, and the XP machine was able to read the contents of DVD's just fine.
> So, it's apparently a Vista issue.
>
> freddy, I think during the transfer the region got set to "1" from "Not
> Selected", but that hasn't changed anything - the Vista machine still will
> not display the contents of a DVD but will display the contents of a CD. I'm
> sure this is a switch buried somewhere in the registry, but I haven't a clue
> where to find it.
>
> Also worth mentioning - AutoPlay handles DVD's as I would expect;
> executables can be selected to run, movies will play, etc., except for the
> option to "open folder to view files". This fact makes me feel a little
> better, as it would seem that I can at least use the drive, but I still want
> to be able to browse the contents.

MikeD,

Here is a Microsoft article I found. Look it over to see whether there is
anything in it to help resolve your issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929461/en-us

Should I find anything else, I'll post it.
--
freddy


"MikeD" wrote:

> > Have you checked to see whether the DVD Region is set to 1? Double click
> > Computer and right click the drive and select Properties. Look in the DVD
> > Region tab to verify the setting. That's all I have. Anyone else?
> > --
> > freddy
>
> More info: I finally resorted to what I consider a last resort - surgery. I
> swapped the drive in question out of the Vista machine and put it into an XP
> machine, and the XP machine was able to read the contents of DVD's just fine.
> So, it's apparently a Vista issue.
>
> freddy, I think during the transfer the region got set to "1" from "Not
> Selected", but that hasn't changed anything - the Vista machine still will
> not display the contents of a DVD but will display the contents of a CD. I'm
> sure this is a switch buried somewhere in the registry, but I haven't a clue
> where to find it.
>
> Also worth mentioning - AutoPlay handles DVD's as I would expect;
> executables can be selected to run, movies will play, etc., except for the
> option to "open folder to view files". This fact makes me feel a little
> better, as it would seem that I can at least use the drive, but I still want
> to be able to browse the contents.

MikeD,

Here is another one for your perusal:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321641/

Always looking.
--
freddy


"MikeD" wrote:

> > Have you checked to see whether the DVD Region is set to 1? Double click
> > Computer and right click the drive and select Properties. Look in the DVD
> > Region tab to verify the setting. That's all I have. Anyone else?
> > --
> > freddy
>
> More info: I finally resorted to what I consider a last resort - surgery. I
> swapped the drive in question out of the Vista machine and put it into an XP
> machine, and the XP machine was able to read the contents of DVD's just fine.
> So, it's apparently a Vista issue.
>
> freddy, I think during the transfer the region got set to "1" from "Not
> Selected", but that hasn't changed anything - the Vista machine still will
> not display the contents of a DVD but will display the contents of a CD. I'm
> sure this is a switch buried somewhere in the registry, but I haven't a clue
> where to find it.
>
> Also worth mentioning - AutoPlay handles DVD's as I would expect;
> executables can be selected to run, movies will play, etc., except for the
> option to "open folder to view files". This fact makes me feel a little
> better, as it would seem that I can at least use the drive, but I still want
> to be able to browse the contents.

After quite a bit of troubleshooting, I've got more information regarding
this problem. To recap: I have a DVD-RW drive in my Vista Home Premium
(32-bit) system that can display the contents of CD-ROMs in Windows Explorer
without a problem but will not show the contents of DVD-ROM discs. It will
read the disc's label and icon, and I can run AutoPlay and it will give me
the option to (for instance) run a Setup program, but at some point Vista
will BSOD with error 0x000000E3, complaining that a device "tried to release
a resource that it did not own".

Stuff I've tried:
I swapped the drive in question (Lite-On) into my older, XP machine, and it
worked perfectly.
I swapped the drive from my older, XP machine (Plextor) into the Vista
machine and it exhibited the same symptoms as the original drive.

These two items suggest two points of commonality: Vista and the new PC's
motherboard. Having seen a number of threads in this forum detailing
problems with DVD drives, my primary suspect is Vista.

I have also read and tried the following KB articles, none of which either
apply or helped:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939052/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929461/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316529/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320553/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321641/

I've had Device Manager attempt to update the drivers for my DVD drive, the
IDE controllers, and the storage controllers.

I've deleted C:\windows\inf\INFCACHE.1 based on the experience from someone
else on this forum.

As evidenced by the presence of this post, nothing thus far has worked. If
anyone could provide any useful information you will go a long way to
improving the mental health of one stressed out adopter of technology that is
perhaps not ready for prime time. Not to mention preserving a forehead and
desk. Thanks in advance!