Hi, first time posting. I have a Pentium 133, 8X CD-ROM computer that I got in 1996 from Dell. Anyway, I recently bought a VCD and tried to play it through Media Player. I clicked on the CD-ROM drive to get to the file to play, but the message E:drive (my CD-ROM drive) not ready, pops up. The CD-ROM drive can't read anything on the VCD. Is there something I can do to the settings under Multimedia? How do I get it to work?

-- David Yang (yangdj@hotmail.com), December 08, 1999

Answers

It maybe a greenbook video-cd (mostly detectable by the text "digital video on cd" on the cover). Then you will have to activate the dos device driver to be able t read the video-cd

-- Stephane (pliskens@yahoo.com), December 08, 1999.

This is a known problem of Dell computers from a earlier time. I have the same problem with my Dell. This computer is not able to read CD's in VCD or joliet format. Maybe it is an issue of the drivers or the rom drive itself. For the latest computers and labtop's from Dell it's not a problem they are doing ok.

-- Ab Mantel (mantel_a@combuserve.com), December 11, 1999.

The answer might be your cd-rom drive. VCDs are recorded in what is called mode 2 format (compared to most cds which are recorded in mode 1). Your cd-rom might not be able to read mode 2 formatting ( Older cd-roms have this problem). You might try borrowing a newer cd-rom drive from someone and see if the VCD will play then.

-- poppy tart (poptart88@hotmail.com), December 12, 1999.

It is surprising to hear that DELL machines have this problem, but in any case all CDROM drives on and after 1998 have full compatibility as far as I know, particularly if they are more than 20X, which usually means good CD hardware inside. You might be able to buy a 20X or 32X drive on a deal for around $19.99 or so from Hitech Electronics stores like the FRY's electronics in the Bay Area.

-- Manivan A. (mavika@telebot.net), December 13, 1999.