Blu Ray drive isn't reading Blu-Rays

[jthorpe]

I have a Sony Vaio VPCF132FX with a Optiarc BD Rom BC-5500H drive (with file version 6.1.7600.16385). The drive plays CD's and DVD's without any problem, and writes to CD-R and DVD+/-R discs. However when I insert a Blu-Ray disc (have tried several) the disc spins, and you hear a sound of it trying to read the disc, but in my computer and the Blu-Ray player program (Corel WinDVD BD), it shows no disc inserted. I have only burned 3 DVD's (the recovery discs), and played maybe 2 regular discs and part of a Blu-Ray disc when I first got the computer. All in total I've used the drive like around 5 times (most of my programs are on a network drive that I install them from). I have recently installed a new hard drive with more space and have tried both the new drive and the old drive with no luck. I have went through the device manager, uninstalled the drive and rebooted the computer and that still doesn't work. The device manager has it listed as "Optiarc BD Rom BC-5500H." I have all the updates from the Sony site and the Windows updates as well. I've even looked for firmware updates on Sony, but it says none are available. Is there anything else I can try before considering replacing a drive that I've only used less than a handful of times (it plays everything except for Blu-Ray)? And if I have to replace the drive, what Blu-Ray read and write drives can I use that is SATA connection and has the eject button in the same spot? Also, if I do replace the drive, will Windows automatically install the drivers for the drive, or will I have to search for and download them?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[hang-the-9]

It's very likely that the blueray reader part of the disk drive is bad, that happens with the multi function devices at times.

A new drive will be automatically detected, I'd get the same part as what it is now though.

 

[jthorpe]

It's very likely that the blueray reader part of the disk drive is bad, that happens with the multi function devices at times.

A new drive will be automatically detected, I'd get the same part as what it is now though.

I was thinking that, but I was also thinking about possibly upgrading it to a BD 5750H or BD 5850H to have the Blu-Ray writing capability. But didn't want to do that if it's something the computer is doing rather than the drive itself (in other words, I don't want to replace the drive if the same problem is going to be there even with a brand new drive). Is there a way to test the Blu-Ray reader outside of using Blu-Ray discs??

 

[sizzling]

Do you have any software to play Blu-rays installed? Unless your system came with Blu-ray player software you will need to purchase one as Sony charge for the use of Blu-ray codec and I never found a free player. I had this on a Sony laptop with a Blu-ray drive, without the codec installed it refused to acknowledge a Blu-ray video disc

 

[jthorpe]

Do you have any software to play Blu-rays installed? Unless your system came with Blu-ray player software you will need to purchase one as Sony charge for the use of Blu-ray codec and I never found a free player. I had this on a Sony laptop with a Blu-ray drive, without the codec installed it refused to acknowledge a Blu-ray video disc

Yes I do. My Sony Vaio VPCF132FX came with "Corel WinDVD BD" software to play Blu-Ray (and it has all the updates), so it has everything it needs to play Blu-Ray's, it just acts like it can't read the disc (and it did once before as I've tried one in it.

The specs on my computer: https://docs.sony.com/release//specs/VPCF132FXB_mksp.pdf

 

[jthorpe]

Do you have any software to play Blu-rays installed? Unless your system came with Blu-ray player software you will need to purchase one as Sony charge for the use of Blu-ray codec and I never found a free player. I had this on a Sony laptop with a Blu-ray drive, without the codec installed it refused to acknowledge a Blu-ray video disc

There are 2 lasers on my drive and I assume that the one for the blu-ray one is bad, but want to make sure it's not just a driver, etc. issue before replacing it with a new one to avoid having the same issue. You know what they say about assume... But other than that, it has everything it needs to play blu-rays and has once before, but isn't now.

 

[jthorpe]

It's very likely that the blueray reader part of the disk drive is bad, that happens with the multi function devices at times.

A new drive will be automatically detected, I'd get the same part as what it is now though.

I'm also considering upgrading to the blu-ray writer if I have to replace the drive as it's only like $20 more and has the same size specs, connections as my current one.

 

[hang-the-9]

Do you have any software to play Blu-rays installed? Unless your system came with Blu-ray player software you will need to purchase one as Sony charge for the use of Blu-ray codec and I never found a free player. I had this on a Sony laptop with a Blu-ray drive, without the codec installed it refused to acknowledge a Blu-ray video disc

There are 2 lasers on my drive and I assume that the one for the blu-ray one is bad, but want to make sure it's not just a driver, etc. issue before replacing it with a new one to avoid having the same issue. You know what they say about assume... But other than that, it has everything it needs to play blu-rays and has once before, but isn't now.

I don't know of any driver issue that would cause it to read DVDs but not Blueray disks, the driver issues I have seen with optical drives are all or nothing. If one part works but another does not, replacing the drive fixed it every time.

You may want to wait a bit though and see if anyone else replies that ran into an issue like this caused by drivers, but doubtful.

 

[jthorpe]

Do you have any software to play Blu-rays installed? Unless your system came with Blu-ray player software you will need to purchase one as Sony charge for the use of Blu-ray codec and I never found a free player. I had this on a Sony laptop with a Blu-ray drive, without the codec installed it refused to acknowledge a Blu-ray video disc

There are 2 lasers on my drive and I assume that the one for the blu-ray one is bad, but want to make sure it's not just a driver, etc. issue before replacing it with a new one to avoid having the same issue. You know what they say about assume... But other than that, it has everything it needs to play blu-rays and has once before, but isn't now.

I don't know of any driver issue that would cause it to read DVDs but not Blueray disks, the driver issues I have seen with optical drives are all or nothing. If one part works but another does not, replacing the drive fixed it every time.

You may want to wait a bit though and see if anyone else replies that ran into an issue like this caused by drivers, but doubtful.

I'm thinking it's the drive as well, but wanted to try and cover every base and idea I could prior to considering replacement of a new drive (as it's only been used a handful of times) with another drive. I also want to try what I can to try and make sure that if I get a new drive I won't have the same issues with that drive as I did with the one I have currently (basically making sure that it is the drive only - i.e.: a faulty drive on the original). I doubt it's a setting, a firmware issue (even though an update for my older Sony desktop firmware that supposed to "Fixes an issue with CD recognition" on it's "Pioneer® DVR-108 DVD±RW Drive", but checking that as well), etc., but trying everything to rule it down to completely just the drive. If that makes sense.

Is there a way of plugging it into one of the SATA ports in my Sony Vaio VGC-RA830G desktop computer and test the drive there, it's running Win XP. That system doesn't have a Blu-Ray player program, but if it's able to connect the drive and get XP to recognize the BC 5500H BD Rom drive, it should allow me to see that there is a disc in the drive when I put in a Blu-Ray movie, correct? Doubt if you can, but just a thought.

 

[jthorpe]

Do you have any software to play Blu-rays installed? Unless your system came with Blu-ray player software you will need to purchase one as Sony charge for the use of Blu-ray codec and I never found a free player. I had this on a Sony laptop with a Blu-ray drive, without the codec installed it refused to acknowledge a Blu-ray video disc

There are 2 lasers on my drive and I assume that the one for the blu-ray one is bad, but want to make sure it's not just a driver, etc. issue before replacing it with a new one to avoid having the same issue. You know what they say about assume... But other than that, it has everything it needs to play blu-rays and has once before, but isn't now.

I don't know of any driver issue that would cause it to read DVDs but not Blueray disks, the driver issues I have seen with optical drives are all or nothing. If one part works but another does not, replacing the drive fixed it every time.

You may want to wait a bit though and see if anyone else replies that ran into an issue like this caused by drivers, but doubtful.

Doing some searching, I found this: http://forums.support.roxio.com/topic/66214-also-cant-play-commercial-blu-ray-discs/

This person seems to have the same problem as me, except hers was apparently cause by a program called Roxio, I don't have Roxio on my system. Which is why I'm wanting to check everything before going a new drive route. This person had a problem with it reading commercial Blu-Rays, however all I have is "commercial" Blu-Ray movies, so I don't know how I can check it with a non commercial blu-ray.

 

[hang-the-9]

The errors in that post you linked http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_145943260736612&key=984ed3ed6aa9a69986f88d56d10e7616&libId=imgcf96n01000a17000DAkk6r5isp&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fanswers%2Fid-3016859%2Fblu-ray-drive-reading-blu-rays.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.support.roxio.com%2Ftopic%2F66214-also-cant-play-commercial-blu-ray-discs%2F&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fanswers%2Fid-2932870%2Fupgrade-gpu-asus-n75sf-laptop.html&title=Blu%20Ray%20drive%20isn%27t%20reading%20Blu-Rays%20-%20CD-Rom%20-%20Storage&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.support.roxio.com%2Ftopic%2F66214-also-cant-p... it not that it can't read the disk, it can't play it. Is that the issue you are having? Playing the disk is a bit different than not reading it. If your drive does not even see that there is a disk in the drive, or get far enough that it tries to play it is one thing. If it tries to play it but errors out because of the software or media rights, that is something else.

 

[The Original Ralph]

I'VE got an earlier sony vaio and had a similiar issue with the Optiarc drive - optiarc is junk, there's a lot of posts on the web from folks reporting similiar issues. If it's only reading, not writing that is your problem then make sure you've got a BD reading program installed, like VLC - VLC is freeware and works pretty decently.

My problems were the drive would occasionaly not read any disc, whether dvd or bd, and it would take multiple opening / shutting the tray for it to eventually recognize the disc. I eventually tired of the random issue and replaced the drive

if you go with a replacement drive, i went with an LG and it ran $22 shipped and haven't had an issue.

 

[jthorpe]

The errors in that post you linked http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_145943260736612&key=984ed3ed6aa9a69986f88d56d10e7616&libId=imgcf96n01000a17000DAkk6r5isp&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fanswers%2Fid-3016859%2Fblu-ray-drive-reading-blu-rays.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.support.roxio.com%2Ftopic%2F66214-also-cant-play-commercial-blu-ray-discs%2F&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fanswers%2Fid-2932870%2Fupgrade-gpu-asus-n75sf-laptop.html&title=Blu%20Ray%20drive%20isn%27t%20reading%20Blu-Rays%20-%20CD-Rom%20-%20Storage&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.support.roxio.com%2Ftopic%2F66214-also-cant-p... it not that it can't read the disk, it can't play it. Is that the issue you are having? Playing the disk is a bit different than not reading it. If your drive does not even see that there is a disk in the drive, or get far enough that it tries to play it is one thing. If it tries to play it but errors out because of the software or media rights, that is something else.

No mines not reading blu-rays at all. My point was to rule out any possible issue/solution to ensure it is 100% the drive. I believe it is the drive as I put it in my roommates HP 2000 notebook running Windows 8.1. Even though he doesn't have a blu-ray program to play blu-rays, at least I'd be able go to My Computer and see that it has at least read the disc and be able to right click and get the properties of the disc. However, even on his computer it doesn't show there is even a disc in the drive when a blu-ray movie is in the drive. All I get is the rumppfff sound you usually get when you put a disc in an close the drive just before it spins up, but with blu-ray discs it repeats that sound like 4 or 5 times and totally quits. I'm pretty sure that it is in fact the drive as it's the same result even on a different o.s. and only a couple similar programs that are on both systems (so that pretty much rules out software conflicts, etc.).

Before I even asked this question, I was pretty sure that it was the drive itself, but it doesn't hurt to look at other possible solutions before going a new drive route (well with the exception of things like going to some off the wall site to download and install some supposedly updated drivers, or something like that). It's not a rush that I need to be able to read blu-rays from this drive, so I can spend a little time exploring other possible solutions, even though it does lean to the side of it being a bad blu-ray laser in the drive. I have tested virtually everything except a non commercial/movie blu-ray disc in the drive, but with the way everything is as it is now, I assume that it wouldn't read that. I'm just looking at all possibilities of a solution as there is no real rush in replacing the drive for the blu-ray portion of it at the moment.

 

[jthorpe]

I'VE got an earlier sony vaio and had a similiar issue with the Optiarc drive - optiarc is junk, there's a lot of posts on the web from folks reporting similiar issues. If it's only reading, not writing that is your problem then make sure you've got a BD reading program installed, like VLC - VLC is freeware and works pretty decently.

My problems were the drive would occasionaly not read any disc, whether dvd or bd, and it would take multiple opening / shutting the tray for it to eventually recognize the disc. I eventually tired of the random issue and replaced the drive

if you go with a replacement drive, i went with an LG and it ran $22 shipped and haven't had an issue.

Well with my drive I can read & write to CD discs, and can read & write to DVD discs. However when it comes to reading blu-ray/BD it doesn't read them at all. The BC 5500H drive is a blu-ray reader only, not a writer. The problem with replacing it with a different brand/model is that I need to make sure the eject button, etc. is in the same place and it is the same size as my current one to be able to attach the railing and secure points for the drive and the face plate from my current drive.

I have like 14 Sony products that I've had little or no problems out of. I even have an old XP desktop that is at least 13 years old (that is a Sony) and is still going strong. It's a little slower compared to computers of today, but the only thing I've done to that desktop is to add RAM and change the hard drives from a total of 500 GB to a total of 2 TB (do a lot with video). The disc drives on this has been used a lot (I've used this computer to rip all my 1,500 + CD's onto a network hard drive using this desktop).

Yes with everything you do get some bad apples and this drive for my notebook seem to be one of them (well on the blu-ray part of it as it still reads and writes to both CD's and DVD's).

 

[The Original Ralph]

I'VE got an earlier sony vaio and had a similiar issue with the Optiarc drive - optiarc is junk, there's a lot of posts on the web from folks reporting similiar issues. If it's only reading, not writing that is your problem then make sure you've got a BD reading program installed, like VLC - VLC is freeware and works pretty decently.

My problems were the drive would occasionaly not read any disc, whether dvd or bd, and it would take multiple opening / shutting the tray for it to eventually recognize the disc. I eventually tired of the random issue and replaced the drive

if you go with a replacement drive, i went with an LG and it ran $22 shipped and haven't had an issue.

Well with my drive I can read & write to CD discs, and can read & write to DVD discs. However when it comes to reading blu-ray/BD it doesn't read them at all. The BC 5500H drive is a blu-ray reader only, not a writer. The problem with replacing it with a different brand/model is that I need to make sure the eject button, etc. is in the same place and it is the same size as my current one to be able to attach the railing and secure points for the drive and the face plate from my current drive.

I have like 14 Sony products that I've had little or no problems out of. I even have an old XP desktop that is at least 13 years old and is still going strong. It's a little slower compared to computers of today, but the only thing I've done to that desktop is to add RAM and change the hard drives from a total of 500 GB to a total of 2 TB (do a lot with video). The disc drives on this has been used a lot (I've used this computer to rip all my 1,500 + CD's onto a network hard drive). Yes with everything you do get some bad apples and this drive for my notebook seem to be one of them (well on the blu-ray part of it as it still reads and writes to both CD's and DVD's).

first - unless you install a blu ray reading software, microsoft does not support BD so it will not naturally recognize a BD disc - try downloading VLC (videolan) - it's freeware and pretty widely accepted. Mine wouldn't recognize BD discs until i did

2nd - the faceplate cover on your drive is interchangeable - when you've got it out of the machine, you'll see how it pops off and you can put it on the new drive going in, in the event you do replace it.

jthorpe - pls don't take this the wrong way, but without knowing about the interchangeability of the tray faceplates, your attitufe of telling me why changing drives "won't work" - it's a negative attitude - which indicates you're not hearing or registering what folks are saying to you. I've been where you are and i've told you what worked for me, the VLC software ( http://www.videolan.org )

 

[jthorpe]

The errors in that post you linked http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_145943260736612&key=984ed3ed6aa9a69986f88d56d10e7616&libId=imgcf96n01000a17000DAkk6r5isp&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fanswers%2Fid-3016859%2Fblu-ray-drive-reading-blu-rays.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.support.roxio.com%2Ftopic%2F66214-also-cant-play-commercial-blu-ray-discs%2F&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fanswers%2Fid-2932870%2Fupgrade-gpu-asus-n75sf-laptop.html&title=Blu%20Ray%20drive%20isn%27t%20reading%20Blu-Rays%20-%20CD-Rom%20-%20Storage&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fforums.support.roxio.com%2Ftopic%2F66214-also-cant-p... it not that it can't read the disk, it can't play it. Is that the issue you are having? Playing the disk is a bit different than not reading it. If your drive does not even see that there is a disk in the drive, or get far enough that it tries to play it is one thing. If it tries to play it but errors out because of the software or media rights, that is something else.

It doesn't even show that there is even a Blu-Ray disc in the drive. All other types of DVD's and CD's it reads without any problems.

 

[jthorpe]

I'VE got an earlier sony vaio and had a similiar issue with the Optiarc drive - optiarc is junk, there's a lot of posts on the web from folks reporting similiar issues. If it's only reading, not writing that is your problem then make sure you've got a BD reading program installed, like VLC - VLC is freeware and works pretty decently.

My problems were the drive would occasionaly not read any disc, whether dvd or bd, and it would take multiple opening / shutting the tray for it to eventually recognize the disc. I eventually tired of the random issue and replaced the drive

if you go with a replacement drive, i went with an LG and it ran $22 shipped and haven't had an issue.

It reads and writes to CDs and DVDs but the blu-ray movies just won't play at all (or even read that there is a disc in the drive). Does the LG one you referred to write to Blu-Ray discs as well or is it just a reader?