I was bootin my system the other day, and the motherboard start-up screen said that drives are not ATAPI compatible. I tried install, uninstall, update, rollback, downloads, and beatin the drives into submission, but my ACER DVP1640A DVD-ROM and Sony CDRX220A1 CD-ROM/CDRW do not wanna work. Lookin for advice here, yall.

I was kiddin about beatin my drives up, btw.

I've had problems with UDMA not wanting to engage on drives. Going to the drive in device manager and uninstalling it worked. After a reboot, Windows reinstalled the drivers and all was well.

This was on WinXP. I doubt I'd try it on anything older.

well, turns out I tried everything BUT unstall/install Secondary IDE drivers from ASUS. Theres one problem solved.

The second of the three problems I was having was also solved. I had tried to copy my system to CD in the event of a crash, virus, or other fatal error. Couldnt write to CD because a certain file extension was in use by Windows. Couldnt remove files from standby because the system was using said file. Those files are now gone from Waiting To Write To CD.

Here's the other: my DVD-ROM (ACER DVP1640A) still will not read/play DVDs. Do I need a new DVD drive or can I go get the codecs? Are the codecs the problem in the first place?

Are you talking about video DVDs or data DVDs? If you can read data DVDs then you simply need the right software to watch video DVDs. If you can't, the DVD portion of the drive is probably shot. I'd recommend powerdvd.

Is this a branded computer or a home-built one?

homebuilt. I'm gonna go check PowerDVD out. I tried to watch Finding Nemo last night as a test...nope. Not sure if I have any data DVDs. what would those be? Video games? I really dont know.

Oh, and yes, if the player did work, I absolutely would be up watching Nemo. Pixar et al rocks.

I just took a quick look: I have the following programs: Windows player, AVS DVD player, real, google, quicktime. I also have a demo of Nero 6.

Get codecs first. Some should come with PowerDVD. If not, google and download. If it's your first time, it will probably ask about setting the region, make sure it's North America and you're using local DVDs. You can only change regions so many times.

yeah, I checked that when I was in Korea. Wanted to make sure I was running Region 1: United States. As far as I know of, this drive hasnt run anything BUT region 1. What are some keywords that i should be using?
Free Codecs DVP1640A
Free Codecs PC DVD

Any other suggestions? Before I go and mess something up, how can I do a check to make sure the codecs arent the problem? Is there a check for that? Does it really matter? Rook, i sure appreciate all the help and advice you're giving

For the first thing, You have to use a program such as "ghost" or an imaging program to "copy" your drive in the event of a crash... ill message you on IM later when I see you, I can get you a copy... the dvd rom have you been able to watch in the past, I can walk you through doing a flash of the DVD drive ROM and see if updating the ROM and drivers will help out... I Worked for Dell and A+/NET+ certified...

I have NO idea if the movie portion ever worked or not. I'm going to assume so, it's a DVD drive. Have I watched on this drive? No. The flash would actually be about what I'm wanting to do.

Ghost/image is something I am really interested in. Hope to catch you soon on the IM, then.

I sure appreciate the help, Mike.