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DVD drive wont read DVDs on Ubuntu 14.04

I'm a newbie, running 14.04 on a Dell Optiplex 755, dual install with windows xp

the drive reads and plays audio cds and data cds fine. all DVDs spin for a few seconds, light blinks, then no more action. under Volumes it shows No Media. i installed and unpacked the extra codecs etc suggested at http://howtoubuntu.org/how-to-play-a-dvd-in-ubuntu and looked a bunch of questions at howtoubuntu, none of which were solved.

the offending drive is a TSSTcorp DVD+/-RW TS-H653F (D200), aka /dev/sr0

Code:

sam@sam-OptiPlex-755:~$ sudo lshw -class disk

[sudo] password for sam: 

  *-disk                  

      description: ATA Disk

      product: WDC WD800JD-75MS

      vendor: Western Digital

      physical id: 0.0.0

      bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0

      logical name: /dev/sda

      version: 10.0

      serial: WD-WMAM9NU53671

      size: 74GiB (80GB)

      capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos

      configuration: ansiversion=5 sectorsize=512 signature=afc263fa

  *-cdrom

      description: DVD-RAM writer

      product: DVD+-RW TS-H653F

      vendor: TSSTcorp

      physical id: 0.0.0

      bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0

      logical name: /dev/cdrom

      logical name: /dev/sr0

      version: D200

      capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram

      configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc

  *-disk

      description: SCSI Disk

      physical id: 0.0.0

      bus info: scsi@6:0.0.0

      logical name: /dev/sdb

      size: 465GiB (500GB)

      capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos

      configuration: sectorsize=512 signature=49ec06f5

when i brought up Disks, in Mount Options, Automatic Mount Options was originally ON.
i've fiddled around in Disks with many restarts: mount at startup/not; different "identify as", for which there're 3 options:

/dev/disk/by-id/ata-TSSTcorp_DVD+_-RW_TS-H653F
that one was the one it was originally set to

then there are

/dev/sr0
/dev/cdrom

all with corresponding mount points that appear automatically when i change the identify as. when i changed the mount options in Disks, away from ata-TSSTcorp_DVD+_-RW_TS-H653F (that guy), and restarted, i got startup errors, but audio cds would still play.

filesystem type is listed as auto

this is the current contents of /etc/fstab:

Code:

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.

#

# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a

# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices

# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).

#

# <file system> <mount point>  <type>  <options>      <dump>  <pass>

# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation

UUID=cece2b45-a62b-484a-8db9-eb1f70f6d718 /              ext4    errors=remount-ro 0      1

# swap was on /dev/sda6 during installation

UUID=f1f4b9ac-3af4-4671-8e47-23190bb77bbb none            swap    sw              0      0

/dev/disk/by-id/ata-TSSTcorp_DVD+_-RW_TS-H653F /mnt/ata-TSSTcorp_DVD+_-RW_TS-H653F auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show,noauto 0 0

i also note that there are no such folders as /dev/sr0 or /dev/cdrom
there is a /cdrom/ directory at root (?)
and folders for both sr0 and ata-TSSTcorp_DVD+_-RW_TS-H653F in /mnt/

and that's about all i know how to do.
any help would be greatly appreciated! i just need to install some software off a DVD! i dont even want to watch pirates of the carribean!

It sounds like the drive is slowly dying.
If I get that correctly, it won't read dvds but until recently still played audio cds?

There are 3 laser adjustments on a drive and they are very fine. It takes machinery to set them up. they gradually drift over time (Forward diode voltage, and resistor values all change slightly, adjustment potentiometers develop resistance, applied voltage can even change). sometimes running this command a few times restores temporary function

Code:

sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sr0

If it does restore temporary function, your drive is borked. Replace.

hiya, thanks for tip. the drive still plays audio & reads data CDs, just doesnt read DVDs at all.

i still "feel" like it's a software thing, like the OS doesnt know where to find the dvd or something, but I don't know if that's possible cos i'm clueless.

i ran your command and got this:

Code:

sam@sam-OptiPlex-755:~$ sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sr0



/dev/sr0:

read() failed: Input/output error

 Timing buffered disk reads: read() failed: Input/output error

& no change to situation.

but does it matter that there's no directory called dev/sr0? (but there is a directory mnt/sr0?)
on the other hand when i tried same command on dev/cdrom, one of the drive's "logical names", it said no such directory.

thanks for your help anyway. reluctant to replace drive before i find out if it's a software problem.

first of all i think what you describe in post #1, you should undo (=restore to default) all of it except the extra codecs/libraries.
you probaby messed something up there.

afterwards, try to open the dvd directly from vlc => media => open disk.

Is dvd working in wins?
Do you have libdvdcss & libdvdread?

ondoho, this is what i got -

"Playback failure:
DVDRead could not open the disc "/dev/sr0".
Your input can't be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL 'dvd:///dev/sr0'. Check the log for details."

drive is now set to "automatic mount options" in Disks

i must stress tho that in Disks, even with the DVD in the drive, it says there's no media. the drive isnt even detecting the DVD, it's not that i can't play it or open it.

cheers, thanx for help

---------- Post added 09-29-14 at 11:53 AM ----------

what's wins

duh windows i guess, hang on i'll check

doesnt work in windows either :/ dumb
i guess i didnt check it before because i must have played dvds pretty recently before installing ubuntu
time to get a new drive i suppose?

i have the extra packages etc, btw.

Follow the alternative steps described in this link

https://help.ubuntu.com/14.04/ubuntu...estricted.html

Or buy fluendo as suggested on that link too.

yep, already installed those codecs, thanks.

Codecs won't help if drive is failing.
I wiuld say that if it's not working in either os then drive is bad.

If the hdparm thing sees a disk, but can't read it, the fix is to buy a new drive. Don't bother fixing anything else - the drive is broken. .

Installing libdvdcss to enable dvd play using VLC and/or Dragon Player

Quote:

Originally Posted by EDDY1 (Post 5246186)

Is dvd working in wins?
Do you have libdvdcss & libdvdread?

In fact, I found a page citing needing it but know not how to install the thread. My "Apper" distribution doesn't have it; where do I get it and how is it installed. Please be my answer. :scratch:

Simple instructions at the Ubuntu site below:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Re...ts/PlayingDVDs