DVD/Rom - Plays CD's & not Movies

I have been trying to work on this laptop as I can. I now have a dilemma with my DVD/Rom. I can play CD's and burn CD's. I downloaded Power DVD software thinking that was the problem. I have a Toshiba SD-R2312 DVD and have gone to their website and got the firmware updates. Any other suggestions would be helpful. I am hoping that the lazer is not fried.:major
Thanks !

 

Tell us more about the problem please. What exactly is the problem?
When you put a movies does it not start playing the movie automatically or it simply does nothing and just sits there?
Can you maually start the movie? Any errors messages? Does the Device Manager (Start > Run > devmgmt.msc > OK) show any errors or exclamation mark next to this drive?
Has this drive ever played movies before?

 

Thanks for replying. The DVD just sits there, so I go to the Power Dvd software and try to start it from that. I then get an error that there is no disc in the drive. I have checked w/ device Mgr and the dvd/rom has no exclamation marks next to it. I can play games and like I said burn cd's. I just can not do anything w/ the dvd. My son had this Computer and gave it to me after the hard drive cratered. Thanks :wave

 

Does the same DVD disc play fine in another DVD player?
Are the games or other media you are placing in the drive are DVD format or CD? I had a Verbatim DVD Player/CD-RW where DVD media would not play but CD media would...so it was the drive that was kaputt. I didn't analyze much into it, simply replaced it.
I generally stick with the following brands (in the order listed): Plextor, Lite-On, Teac, Memorex, NEC.

 

The only dvd format that I have tried is in the form of a movie. All of the other games, music , data ,etc have been in cd format. I do have 1 game that is in dvd. HHHmmmmm - might try loading that and see what happens. I am thinking that the drive is kaputt. So, thanks for replying. I will let you know how the dvd game went or if it even worked. :cool