GGC H20L suddenly stopped reading Blu Rays

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers
#1

Hi there,

I’ve had a search around the forum, and I can’t seem to find a problem which is identical to the one I have, so here goes.

In October I purchased a GGC-H20L to go in a PC with the following specs:

Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 motherboard
ATI Radeon HD4870 x2 2GB GFX card
2TB SATA total hard drive space
Core 2 duo E8500 3.16Ghz processor
4GB DDR2 RAM
Dell 2707WFP monitor
Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit

When installed, it played DVDs, CDs, HD-DVDs and Blu Rays without any hiccups. Then suddenly, towards the end of February, without any explanation, it stopped playing Blu Ray discs. I’ve tried inserting a variety of Blu Rays, including ones that it was able to play in the past, but none of them play at all. The LED on the front flashes at a regular intervals for about 30 seconds, before going blank. In windows explorer, the drive simply says HD-DVD drive, and double clicking it simply causes the system to hang until the disc is ejected.

The drive has the latest firmware installed, and it still plays HD-DVDs, DVDs and audio CDs without any problems. I was wondering if anyone has had a similar issue with the drive and if/how they solved it?

Cheers,

Matt

#2

Can you right click on the drive and explore the contents of the Blu Ray disk?

What software are you using for Blu Ray playback?

#3

Right clicking has the same effect as double clicking in windows explorer, it hangs until I eject the Blu Ray from the drive.

As for software, i’m using Cyberlink PowerDVD version 7.3 Ultra, which worked fine for playing back Blu Rays previously, and still does for HD DVD.

#4

I think my next step in troubleshooting would be to try it in a different computer that was also HDCP compliant. That may not be possible for you however.

Since it hangs up just trying to explore the disk, my suspicions that it might be HDCP related don’t seem to be correct. And it isn’t something odd going on with PowerDVD. I had to update my version 7 to get certain BD+ titles to play.

Try a different SATA port perhaps.

#5

Not sure I know anyone else with an HDCP compliant machine, otherwise I’d try it in there.

I’ve tried several different SATA ports, with no success with any of them. I also tried installing TMT, which also didn’t solve the problem, so I don’t think it’s software related.

I’ve also contacted LG customer support. Perhaps they can shed some light on this.

#6

I also have this drive and am using PowerDVD Ultra Update v7.3.4617 not the v7.3.4617a along with the Firmware Version 1.03 and ATI Catalystâ„¢ 8.12 Display Driver, although the latest ATI Catalyst driver version is now v9.4 as I’ve had no problems with 8.12 I’ll stick with it but it could also be the ATI drivers if you’ve upgraded them, stick with the one that works.
Have you tried downloading the Slysoft AnyDvd/HD trial software and leave it running in the backgrond before you insert your BluRay disc as it can also help with playback on newer BluRay releases, other than that send the drive back to your retailer and replace it under your LG purchase warranty.

#7

LG replied stating that “there may be an error” with the drive, so looks like I’m going to have to return it for a replacement where I got it from. Perhaps this will solve this little puzzle!

#8

Just an update, I sent it back to Ebuyer, and their in house technicians confirmed it’s a hardware fault, and so are shipping a new model to me as a replacement. Thanks for all the suggestions guys :wink:

#10

Hi all:
I save data to BD-R and recently had the problem of the drive not reading. Seems strange that 10 BD-R discs recorded in succession over a 3 month period cannot now read. All Discs before these 10 and recorded after these 10 can be read. I tried reading these 10 discs on another computer with a sony Blu-ray player and no luck.
If it is a hardware problem then I presume the drive did something to those 10 discs to make them unreadable. But I wonder why it’s working since those 10 bad discs and still working(burning and reading BD-R’s). Makes me think it’s the discs that were bad? Perhaps a bad batch? (The discs worked initially, but all of a sudden were not readable).
Bad discs were Memorex 4x BD-R (10 out of a set of 15).

I contacted LG but have not had a response yet.

#11

triniarthur
Memorex uses Ritek as a supplier for their BD-R discs. You should read through this thread about failing Ritek BD media: http://club.myce.com/f142/my-ritek-2x-bd-rs-all-dead-306492/

You should download Nero CD/DVD Speed: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cdr_software/cdr_tools/nero_cd_speed.cfm and run the Scan Disc test on one of the discs that fails to read.