I cannot get my laptop's dvd/cd player to read dvds once inserted. What can I do?

When you say play DVDs you mean watch DVD movies? Assuming the drive is not broken you need to use the DVD app. You could use VLC Player which you can download. It's an orange traffic cone icon.

most of the laptop dvd drives have slower reading speed(about 2x) and writing speed(about 24x) compare to desktop pc's(about 8x and 52x respectively).
ur problem might have occured if the writing speed by which the cd was burnt might not be compatible with ur dvd player.
try playing dvds which were burnt using laptop dvd writers.
also try changing the modes in which the dvds are burnt.

If the drive cannot read dvds, try a cd. If it cannot read that either, then the drive is probably bad. You will need to replace it.

Insert a cd and see if that works.
If it works, you may not have a dvd player.
If you know you have a dvd player, and the cd works, but dvd doesn't then it may be the drive.
Does it play anyother dvds or just the one doesn't work?
Try a cd cleaner (at the mart)
If it won't read any dvds then you may need to replace the drive.
Test to see if the driver is corrupt.
Open device manager.
Windows xp – Start button>run> type devmgmt.msc
Vista/Windows 7 – start button> in the search box type devmgmt.msc
Is there a ! on the drive. If there is uninstall and reinstall the driver.

Motor was not working. Disposed of old player and bought another dvd player

Take the laptop *and* your DVDs/CDs to a qualified technician.
It seems like the drive is "intermittently" failing, and needs to be replaced.

It's likely a laser alignment problem inwhich you will need to replace the hardware. However, I had a similar problem once with a notebook and found out that a tiny bread crumb was near the spindal making the cd in the drive off balance. Check liberally for any debris. Good luck!

go to safemode and try reading CDs in safemode. If your burner still can't read CDs then it's most likely bad. You could get an external usb burner.

how old is the player, it sounds like the lazer has gone down if it reads cds and not dvds

Try some factory CD and DVDs and just try to get them to open in Windows (not play in a media player program). If you get errors on every disc you try, it may be your CD/DVD hardware packing in.

If it reads some CDs or DVDs and not others, particularly media discs, you may be having software driver problems, otherwise, it is likely hardware.

Try inserting the disc and spinning it up while resting the laptop on its side, or even upside down. If it reads sideways or upside down, the CD/DVD reader hardware has gone and cannot probably be prepared (this is a symptom of physical controller failure and is ot fixable by normal means).

Good luck...