No response trying to play DVD movies

[videobruce]

I wasn't sure where to put this, but this isn't hardware related. I can read the DVD on either DVD drive in Windows (2k), but I can't play any movie.

I had PowerDVD installed, but had issues (unrelated) with it so I uninstalled it manually since I couldn't do do from add/remove programs (received error message). I searched the drive for all the file names associalted with the program (PowerDVD & Cyberlink). Then I used a Regestry Crawler to do the same. I did check the names to be sure there wasn't anythging that shouldn't be removed the best I could (there was a couple of hundred).

I installed a older DVD program (that I used before), but it won't play any DVD on either drive. These are orginal movies, not backups.

I can read the DVD on either drive, so it's not a hardware issue. I can read other DVDs' and burn DVDs' (including movie backups) with no issue.

Any ideas? (BTW, I don't want to re-install PowerDVD again).

[videobruce]

Come to think of it, I did have a related issue with PowerDVD. I tried to get rid of that nagging registration screen by typing in a fake e-mail address and it locked the program. I couldn't play anything afterwards. It just would keep either freezing up or just not playing the DVD, so I uninstalled it.

[osprey4]

Try VLC Media Player. I'm quite sure they have a version that runs on Win 2K.

[videobruce]

That's not the issue. These programs worked before.

I looked at computer management and found two duplicate optical drives listed with red Xs'.
No idea what this is about.

[osprey4]

Ok, try deleting both drives and the IDE controller. Then uninstall your DVD program (whatever it is). Reboot and let Windows detect and reinstall everything, then reinstall the program.