Music and video help

[DC]

Hello,
I'm new here and the site was the first to show up when I searched for "computer help" so here goes. I got a Dell Inspiron 1525 in March, and about a month ago tried to play a movie. I'm using Windows Vista also. It turns out, I can't play any video or music from CD's or DVD's, though it's NOT a hardware problem because I got Photoshop and Microsoft office from CD's. Windows Media Player, Media Player Classic, iTunes, they can read the file names and length of the songs, but nothing happens. With movies it sometimes plays the first few seconds but then freezes up. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

[iamtonsoffun247]

Welcome

First off, we will need more info about your computer to help you out.  make? model? when did it start happening?  is this new problem?

[DC]

Thanks. Isn't the make and model Dell Inspiron 1525? Like I said, I got it in March, and my friend helped me install Microsoft Office and Photoshop from CDs onto it. In July I tried to play movies and music and it did not work.

[Broni]

What player are you using?
Do you have on-line video, and sound?

[DC]

I've tried Media Player classic and Windows Media Player for movies and those 2 plus iTunes for music, all with the same result, they can read the file names and know how long the songs are and who sings them and how many scenes there are, and can even play the first few seconds of the beginnings sometimes, but then nothing happens.

Online video and sound, like games, youtube, etc work without a problem.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Do you have another computer you can test these files on?

[DC]

Yes. The everything works on my old desktop, the movies work in DVD players, and the CDs work in cd players also.

[Broni]

You may have some codecs missing.
To determine that, try VLC Player: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

[DC]

Yes, I'd forgotten I had that and tried it, same thing happened. So I got the Combined Community Codec Pack, which also didn't help.

[Broni]

So I got the Combined Community Codec Pack

This wasn't necessary, because VLC has all needed codecs, so if it doesn't play, must be something else.
Is your drive listed in Windows Explorer, and Device Manager without any errors?
What type of drive is it?

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Also, when you said they worked on another computer, did you copy these files over or did you use existing files?

[DC]

When I say the files worked, I mean I put CDs and movies in the Dell and nothing happened, and I put the same CDs and movies in the other computer and they played fine.
Uh, I don't really know anything about computers, so I'm not sure what kind of drive it is. This is what I could find from right clicking:
DVD RW Drive (E:)
WDC WD2500BEVS-75UST0 Disk drive
Optiarc DVD+-RW AD-5560A ATA Device DVD/CD-ROM drives

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

You mentioned in your first post that it isn't a hardware problem.
Can you explain more please?

[DC]

Well I've installed programs and transferred Word Documents onto the laptop with the same dvd drive, plus it can recognize the names and time durations of music tracks, so I think it can read things fine.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

What happens if you try to copy the files to the computer?