Problems with dvd player on laptop

I have a Dell Latitude D600 laptop about 5 years old. I bought it used and at the time it had a dvd decoder that must have been installed because I have been informed from Dell.com that it didn't originally come with a decoder. So, just after I bought it, I had no trouble using my dvd player. Got a virus soon after, had my system swept and didn't have the decoder re-installed. Now I have downloaded freeware off of the Major Geeks site, and have had various problems, freezing, skipping etc. Have tried many solutions and none have solved this issue. Is there anyone who has a suggestion as to what I may try next. I am very new to this, this is my first laptop, so I am just trying to solve it myself as I have just spent $150 getting rid of the virus!!! Kind of a learning curve or what!
Thanks to anyone who can help

 

What are you trying to do--play a commercial DVD movie on the laptop?

What are you using to play the disk now?

 

I am playing commercial/rented dvd movies. I downloaded media classic to play them.

 

Try playing one using VLCplayer. See if it has the same problems of skipping, freezing.

VLC has it's own codecs installed so if it has the same problem it might be a resources problem. How much RAM do you have installed?

 

try using power dvd by cyberlink, it's usually shareware but it doesn't limit much you can still play them

 

Well, I have downloaded and used VLC recently and the problem was the same. However, today, I decided to take the rented dvd back and ask the store to play the dvd and see if they had the same issue and yes, they did! So, now, I am thinking it must be the dvd's from the video rental place. We are renting older movies and they all seem fairly scratched. It just seems to have no rhyme or reason to it, this issue. Sometimes I play a dvd that I know is in good condition, (one I own) and it will be fine, then after I have a problem with the rental, I try my dvd and it also has skipping problems! So, I guess it is something I will still have to trouble shoot. Tonight I will try the dvd again, they gave me a less scratched copy! I will keep trying and see where this takes me. I don't know about the RAM on my laptop? Where do I get that info?
Thanks so much for taking the time to help me out, I will check back tomorrow and I will post how it went for me.
Thanks again.

 

You can just right-click MyComputer and select Properties the RAM amount should be in the bottom box.

That laptop shipped with just 128mb of RAM which is really low. It could be that as the operating system has gotten more cluttered it works less efficiently and is using more resources even before you start to play DVD's. It is possible that the previous owner bought additional RAM which would eliminate this cause.

Another thing you could check is while playing a dvd; hit ALT+CTRL+DELETE and at the bottom of the Task Manager window watch the CPU usage. If it hovers around 100% that would also signal that your computer is maxing out it's resources although there is little you can do about it for a laptop other than stop as many tasks running in the background as possible when watching a DVD.

 

Thanks for getting back to me. I have checked the RAM and it has 512 mb. So, next time I watch a dvd, I will check the CPU usage like you suggested. Thanks so much for your advice and help.
Leslie