DVD-RW doesn't play dvds, but plays cds

I've had a Toshiba Satellite P-15 S479 running XP Media Center edition for over a year now, and have had no problems with my DVD-RW drive. Last Saturday, Feb 25, I successfully burned a DVD. In the interim period, I ran Norton System Works, and used Win Doctor, which fixed a few problems directly from the CD (I didn't load it onto my computer--just ran Windoctor directly from disk). I also dowloaded Sony's music program from connect. I also used InCD (another program) to successfully burn a data cd the other day).

Anyway, when I tried burning a dvd yesterday, the drive wouldn't read the dvd. I treid several other dvds that I have used before--none of them worked. They all worked on another computer and my dvd player when I tested them. However, my computer dvd drive has no problem reading Audio cd's and data cds. I uninstalled the Sony progma, and also used XP's system restore to restore my computer to the Thursday before I successfully burned the dvd. none of that worked. I now get the following message when trying to play a dvd (cds still read fine):
D:\ is not accessible
The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.

Please help. Thanks.

"D:\ is not accessible
The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error."
I have a Toshiba Satellite P-15 S479 running XP Media Center edition

I've had my Toshiba Satellite P-15 S479 for over a year now, and have had no problems with my DVD-RW drive. Last Saturday, Feb 25, I successfully burned a DVD. In the interim period, I ran Norton System Works, and used Win Doctor, which fixed a few problems directly from the CD (I didn't load it onto my computer--just ran Windoctor directly from disk). I also dowloaded Sony's music program from connect. I also used InCD (another program) to successfully burn a data cd the other day).

Anyway, when I tried burning a dvd yesterday, the drive wouldn't read the dvd. I treid several other dvds that I have used before--none of them worked. They all worked on another computer and my dvd player when I tested them. However, my computer dvd drive has no problem reading Audio cd's and data cds. I uninstalled the Sony progma, and also used XP's system restore to restore my computer to the Thursday before I successfully burned the dvd. none of that worked. I now get the following message when trying to play a dvd (cds still read fine):
D:\ is not accessible
The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error.

Please help. Thanks.

It sounds like your DVD software was corrupted.

I would suggest uninstalling/reinstalling. Preferably with a registry clean between.

Thanks for your reply. I don't think the software is the issue. I pulled out the dvd drive and then reconnected it, which solved the problem for a while. IT started reading dvds again, however after an hour, it stopped again. I also did some research on my drive, which is a Mat****a DVD-RAM UJ-811, which seems to have a lot of hardware problems. Any tips on the hardware issue. I've tried disconnecting and reconnecting a bunch of times. Everytime, it seems to work for a while, but then stops soon after. Any suggestions?

This post suggests cleaning the connection.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=139852

More:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...ms&btnG=Search



http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...ms&btnG=Search


To get the best google page you need to turn off Safe Search as it doesn't like the name mats-hita


.

Thanks so much--that sounds exactly like my problem. I'll try that out and let you know how it goes. I've just been using a cotton swab with some rubbing alcohol. Would you recommend something? If sandpaper really is safe, what grade should be used for a computer?

Thanks again. Hopefully, this will save me a couple of hundred bucks.

The poster mentioned: .

In other words very fine. Perhaps an emory board? I would do a shot of air afterwards.

Thanks for the tip. I followed your recommendation. The drive is now able to play both dvds and cds. However, I'm still having trouble burning dvds. I am able to use Nero to read and encode a dvd, but when the actual burn process (on a blank dvd) starts, I get a message saying "burn failed."

Any tips?

Thanks.

Do you have another cable you can try?

It's an internal dvd drive for my laptop--it's a Matshi ta (Panasonic).