Issues with my DVD drive.

My computer's DVD burner is acting up.
Well, I honestly thought the burner itself was the culprit.

Here is the deal: when I pop in a DVD with a movie recorded in DVD format, I get audio, but the screen stays pitch black (using Windows Media Player). Then, if I put in a disc with movies in .avi or .mp4 formats, I hear the sound, but the video is just a mess of colorful digital blocks dancing across the screen—though the subtitles actually show up fine. (Using BS Player)

When I try to transfer files from a burned DVD over to my hard drive, everything copies over without an issue. The folder with all the filenames is there, the movie files themselves are there, but once I try to play any of them, I run into that exact same problem mentioned above.

Also, when I burned a CD in MP3 format and tried playing it on a different device, I kept hearing this weird popping noise during the songs.

I already swapped out the DVD drive for a different one, but the problem didn't go away.
What could possibly be wrong here? I haven't noticed any other glitches with the PC. It’s an older machine, but it seems to run perfectly fine otherwise. I am running Windows 10.

If anyone happens to know what's going on, I would really appreciate the help.

Did you try swapping out the cable connecting the reader to the motherboard—you know, depending on if it's IDE or SATA?

We’re talking about an IDE PATA setup here.
No, the cable itself hasn't changed.

Just swap out the cable and give it another shot, though honestly, finding a working one like that these days is probably like hunting for a vintage relic in a museum somewhere.

I went ahead and swapped out the cable, but I guess the issue is still hanging around.

Maybe this is some kind of software glitch. I’ve noticed that on certain sites—like Napster—the movie cover art isn't showing up anymore; instead, I just get these empty boxes with an X inside them. It’s the same deal in Outlook Express, too, where some emails show an empty box with an X where a photo should be. I guess... maybe this is related? Like, am I missing some specific codec or something? I don't know!

Looking at those screenshots, I’m thinking this might be a disk caching issue. How has the drive been performing lately? Is the SMART status looking alright to you? Any bad sector count or write errors showing up?

If both the power supply and the drive are acting up, then it’s probably a motherboard issue.

Morgan Brown6 said:Maybe it’s a software issue. I noticed that on certain sites (like Napster torrents), the movie posters are just empty boxes with an X in them now. It's the same thing in Outlook Express—some emails show an empty box with an X instead of the actual photo. Could this be related to a missing codec or something?

Look, there are way too many variables and settings involved to really explain it here, but it feels like a software problem.

Your best bet is probably just downloading VLC Media Player from the web. Just install it by clicking next through the prompts. Once it's set up, try playing the video with that.

Then let me know if you're still seeing the same issues using that player.

Alright, here's the deal. I installed VLC Media Player, but whenever I pop in a DVD-R, the picture looks like garbage—honestly, it looks like some low-budget cable TV broadcast from the 90s with constant interference. You know, those pixelated blocks just dancing all over the screen and warping the image. Plus, the audio is incredibly choppy.

If I try playing that same DVD using Windows Media Player, the screen just stays pitch black. The audio isn't quite as stuttery as before, but it’s still definitely not clear.

It's the exact same headache with DivX or .mp4 files played directly from the disc. The video is just a mess of squares and the sound keeps cutting out; the only thing working perfectly is the subtitles.

Now, when I use VLC to play an .mp4 file stored locally on my hard drive (something I grabbed via Napster), everything works flawlessly. Video, audio, subtitles—all good.

So, I guess something is fundamentally wrong with the path through the DVD burner. Maybe the burner itself? Or maybe it's the cable...? I don't know.

I went ahead and checked the SMART status, following that suggestion from George Sanders37.

Looking at the results, almost everything is highlighted in blue, except for one entry marked in yellow. That yellow warning corresponds to the Health status : Caution.

yellow: Bad sector count
current : 100
worst: 100
threshold: 36
raw values: 000000000001

A Bad sector count usually points toward physical issues with the hard drive. Since you're also having trouble with the optical drive on that machine, I’m still leaning towards the motherboard being the culprit.

You can't really run a full diagnostic on the motherboard at home—if it's still under warranty, I'd say just take it into a service center.

Morgan Brown6 said:When I play an .mp4 movie downloaded from a torrent using VLC, everything works fine—audio, video, subtitles, all of it.

Well, the main thing here is that movies from the hard drive work fine, which means we have decent codecs and the HDD is doing its job, so we can move forward.

So, something isn't right when it goes through the DVD burner. (Maybe the burner itself, maybe the cable...?)

It's a weirdly specific mess, honestly. 🙂 It's like... like the data is being sent in half-packets, but somehow it still qualifies as "OK," which is just great.

Since the PC runs fine and the burner clearly works, there's likely a data transfer issue somewhere on that IDE channel.

By the way, what's your optical setup? One HDD and one burner? Anything else? Are the HDD and burner on the same IDE cable, or separate ones? And are you using a 40-pin or 80-pin PATA cable?🙂

Anyway, try following this closely:

0. Unplug the computer, set it on a table, and take off the left side panel of the case.
1. Find the PATA cable that has a CLEAR blue connector in the middle and has 80 wires. Spray all three connectors with WD-40 (personally, I don't build used PCs without WD-40; I lost my mind dealing with bad contacts once, and WD-40 brought it back :P).
2. On the back of the HDD, there's a sticker showing how to set the JUMPER for "master w/ slave." Set the jumper like that.
3. Plug the middle blue connector of the PATA cable into the HDD.
4. Plug the end blue connector of the PATA cable into the motherboard, specifically the IDE channel where it’s currently plugged and working fine.
5. Plug the computer back in, turn it on, and see if it runs okay.

If everything is fine and working properly (which I assume it will be), let's reconnect the burner.

5. Unplug the computer.
6. Remove the burner from the case.
7. Set the jumper on the burner to "slave" (or cable select).
8. Plug the burner into that third, black connector on the PATA cable.
9. Turn the computer on.

If you hooked everything up right, Windows should boot up with the burner visible. If the burner still acts up...

10. Unplug the computer,
11. Move the end blue connector of the PATA cable to the other IDE channel on the motherboard.
12. Turn the computer on and test it.

If the burner is still giving you trouble, let me know. :P

ps: It's possible one IDE channel is fried, while the board can still run perfectly fine on the other one (I've seen it happen). This procedure might save you from buying a new motherboard like Antomon suggested, so we have to outsmart him 🤣 since the warranty is probably long gone anyway. 🤣