Can't play a freakin' DVD

**pajamabama** · 07-28-2005

Here's what I've got:

Code:

> ls -l /dev/dvd /dev/cdrom
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 3 2005-03-06 07&#58;24 /dev/cdrom -> hdb
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 3 2005-03-06 07&#58;24 /dev/dvd -> hdb

> ls -Ll /dev/dvd /dev/cdrom
brw-r-----  1 sean users 3, 64 2004-12-03 10&#58;50 /dev/cdrom
brw-r-----  1 sean users 3, 64 2004-12-03 10&#58;50 /dev/dvd

> egrep 'cdrom|dvd' /etc/security/console.perms
grep&#58; /etc/security/console.perms&#58; No such file or directory

(I didn't find this file anywhere on my system)

Code:

> ls /var/run/console
/bin/ls&#58; /var/run/console&#58; No such file or directory

> ls /proc/ide
drivers  hda  hdb  ide0  piix

> grep ide /proc/modules
ide_cd 38176 6 - Live 0xe1181000
cdrom 36508 2 sr_mod,ide_cd, Live 0xe1177000

> dd if=/dev/dvd of=/dev/null bs=512 count=1

'dd' never exited and not even Ctl-C or 'kill' would get rid of it. I'm not sure what it was supposed to do but there is a '/dev/null' labeled by Konqueror as a 'Character Device' and containing 0 bytes.

As for the last one:

Code:

Iago&#58;~ # pam_console_apply
-bash&#58; pam_console_apply&#58; command not found

And as for trying 'MPlayer', I always get this weird error (I'm trying to install a newer version but that's turing into a nightmare too. Is there no end to the maddness!?)

Code:

sean@Iago&#58;~> mplayer /dev/dvd
MPlayer 1.0pre7-3.3.4 &#40;C&#41; 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
CPU&#58; Intel Pentium 4/Xeon/Celeron Foster &#40;Family&#58; 8, Stepping&#58; 4&#41;
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
CPUflags&#58;  MMX&#58; 1 MMX2&#58; 1 3DNow&#58; 0 3DNow2&#58; 0 SSE&#58; 1 SSE2&#58; 1
Compiled for x86 CPU with extensions&#58; MMX MMX2 SSE SSE2


Linux RTC init error in ioctl &#40;rtc_irqp_set 1024&#41;&#58; Inappropriate ioctl for device
Try adding "echo 1024 > /proc/sys/dev/rtc/max-user-freq" to your system startupscripts.
Setting up LIRC support...
mplayer&#58; could not connect to socket
mplayer&#58; Permission denied
Failed to open LIRC support.
You will not be able to use your remote control.
Playing /dev/dvd.

If anyone would like to help out on this one too I'm open to ideas.

Thanks.

Sean

**Dolda2000** · 07-28-2005

Huh?! Doesn't SuSE 9.2 use pam_console?!

Excepting that, which shouldn't matter in the end, your results you got didn't look out of the ordinary at all, up until the point at which you ran `dd', that is. If it doesn't die even when you kill it, then it seems as though it would be in uninterruptable sleep (disk sleep), which usually (but not always) means that there's some hardware error.

`dd' was supposed to test reading for the dvd. When called like that, it reads 512 bytes from the beginning of the disk and writes them to /dev/null, which discards the data.

It is weird, however, that `dd' disk sleeps, while DVD player programs such as ogle and xine say that they cannot read the disk. This could indicate that your drive isn't capable of unlocking the CSS encryption on the disk. I don't think that should affect the first 512 bytes on the disk, though.

Anyway, try this: Run `dd' like that again, and after it has run for a minute or so, check the output of this command:

Code:

dmesg | tail -n 25

That will output the last 25 lines of the kernel log. If there is a hardware or driver error, it will be logged in there.

As for mplayer, you're supposed to call it as `mplayer dvd://', not `mplayer /dev/dvd'. If you need to specify the device explicitly (it uses /dev/dvd by default, though), run it as `mplayer dvd:// -dvd-device /dev/otherdev'.

**fingal** · 07-28-2005

One thing to be aware of is, when you're checking to see if your dvd player is working or not, try it on more than one disk. I've noticed that some dvds won't play properly even when everything is set up well.

I think that these disks have unusual menu structures, because the awkward ones *will* play with mplayer 100% of the time (but obviously without menu support).

This might not be your problem, but it's just something to keep in mind.

**LondoJowo** · 07-29-2005

Installed my new CD-RW/DVDRom drive in my Thinkpad T40, SuSE automatically recognized and configured it. I can play DVD's as well as burn CD's inK3b with no problem.

**pajamabama** · 07-29-2005

LondoJowo: Glad to hear your dvd is working. Enjoy.

fingal: Thanks for the idea but I have tried many dvds.

Dolda2000: Thanks to you too for helping me troubleshoot this. It seems that dd is now working fine. It could be that the /dev/dvd was somehow locked up by some other process I'd started in my attempt to play a movie thus causing dd to block. But now here's what I get from it:

Code:

sean@Iago&#58;~> dd if=/dev/dvd of=/dev/null bs=512 count=1
dd&#58; opening `/dev/dvd'&#58; No medium found

And yes, there is a dvd in the drive.

Here's what the kernel log has to say:

Code:

sean@Iago&#58;~> dmesg | tail -n 25
ATAPI device hdb&#58;
  Error&#58; Not ready -- &#40;Sense key=0x02&#41;
  Incompatible medium installed -- &#40;asc=0x30, ascq=0x00&#41;
  The failed "Read Cd/Dvd Capacity" packet command was&#58;
  "25 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "
ATAPI device hdb&#58;
  Error&#58; Not ready -- &#40;Sense key=0x02&#41;
  Incompatible medium installed -- &#40;asc=0x30, ascq=0x00&#41;
  The failed "Read Cd/Dvd Capacity" packet command was&#58;
  "25 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "
ATAPI device hdb&#58;
  Error&#58; Not ready -- &#40;Sense key=0x02&#41;
  Incompatible medium installed -- &#40;asc=0x30, ascq=0x00&#41;
  The failed "Read Cd/Dvd Capacity" packet command was&#58;
  "25 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "
ATAPI device hdb&#58;
  Error&#58; Not ready -- &#40;Sense key=0x02&#41;
  Incompatible medium installed -- &#40;asc=0x30, ascq=0x00&#41;
  The failed "Read Cd/Dvd Capacity" packet command was&#58;
  "25 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "
ATAPI device hdb&#58;
  Error&#58; Not ready -- &#40;Sense key=0x02&#41;
  Incompatible medium installed -- &#40;asc=0x30, ascq=0x00&#41;
  The failed "Read Cd/Dvd Capacity" packet command was&#58;
  "25 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "

If I could actually interpret that it seems like it could be relevent. hdb is my cd-rw/dvd combo drive.

Again thanks for your help.

**pajamabama** · 07-29-2005

Also, I can't get MPlayer to run period. No music, video, dvd, nada. I consistently get the error I posted above. And I've tried installing the latest version and was immediately subjected to Death by a Thousand Dependencies. I'm still working on it.

**Dolda2000** · 07-30-2005

Hmm... I don't know what to say -- that's your DVD-ROM hardware itself reporting that it cannot read the disk (because it is an "incompatible medium"). Have you ever gotten those disks to work in it?

It could still be some CSS authorization stuff, but I really, really don't think so, because even then it shouldn't be blocking the first sector.

**LondoJowo** · 07-30-2005

Have you got DMA enabled on the drive? You can do this in the Hardware section of YaST. I don't know if this will affect the drives ability to read the disk but once you get them going it will make a major difference.

**pajamabama** · 07-31-2005

This is my /etc/fstab:

Code:

sean@Iago&#58;~> cat /etc/fstab
/dev/hda3            /                    reiserfs   acl,user_xattr        1 1
/dev/hda2            swap                 swap       pri=42                0 0
devpts               /dev/pts             devpts     mode=0620,gid=5       0 0
proc                 /proc                proc       defaults              0 0
usbfs                /proc/bus/usb        usbfs      noauto                0 0
sysfs                /sys                 sysfs      noauto                0 0
/dev/cdrecorder      /media/cdrecorder    subfs      fs=cdfss,ro,procuid,nosuid,nodev,exec,iocharset=utf8 0 0
/dev/fd0             /media/floppy        subfs      fs=floppyfss,procuid,nodev,nosuid,sync 0 0

I don't see any references to /dev/dvd. I don't know if this is required becuase /dev/cdrecorder is actually the same physical drive.

Also, no love trying a non-encrypted (home-made) DVD nor a data DVD (Myst IV - Revelation). 'ls /media/recorder' (/media/cdrecorder being the only actual mount point for /dev/hdb) tried for a long time but finally returned 'no medium found'

I'm starting grad school soon so maybe I'll meet some Linux geeks out there who can help in person. I appreciate all y'alls help so far.

**pajamabama** · 07-31-2005

Thanks for all your help. I think I just figured out that this is probably just a dern hardware problem like Dolda2000 suggested

. My mom, whose hand-me-down this is, just told me that she began having trouble with the drive under XP too. And, I plugged in an external DVD-RW that mounted easily and was able to play DVDs no problem.

Well thanks again for the input. And I certainly did learn a bunch about my system. I guess DVD's just might be out of the question on this one.

Sean

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