In the past, when I inserted a CD or DVD into the drive, I was always asked what I wanted to do, such as play DVD with Windows Media, Save to a Folder, and other options. These options always came up on my desktop in a box. For some reason, I no longer get this option. I liked that feature and somewhere along the line, I have deleted this function. Now, in order to play a DVD, I have to go to My Computer and click on the DVD drive itself and then it works OK. If I go to Windows Media Program itself and try and play the DVD, the movie comes up garbled and blinking at a high rate of speed. Funny, it will play from My Computer but not from the program itself.

I am using Windows XP Home w/SP3 I recently had a Motherboard failure and I replaced same. Installed a completely new Hard Drive. I am not sure whether the above function worked since that upgrade or not.

You've somehow turned "AutoPlay" off.

Open Windows Explorer by double-clicking "My Computer", or by pressing the Windows + "e" key.

Right-click the CD-ROM that isn't working and select Properties from the pop-up menu.

Click the tab marked "AutoPlay"

Select each item from the drop-down list at the top. For Action to perform, select "Take no action" to disable AutoRun, or pick the action you want to take. Select the "Prompt me each time to choose an action" if you wish the pop-up list to appear.

Close the window by clicking the "OK" button.

I found everything you stated and tried same. You are correct. That is the box I am looking for... but even after following your instructions, The options box does not appear on my desktop when I have inserted a CD or DVD so I can select what I want to do, Any more suggestions?

I got it repaired. I continued to search on Internet and found that Microsoft has a fix online at Download details: Autoplay Repair Wizard

The autofix.exe file downloads quickly. If you have more that one DVD or CD Drive, save the file as you have to run the autofix .exe for each drive. After you run the Autofix on each drive, you have to shut down for changes to become effective. Then go to My Computer and right click on your drive and select autoplay tab, from the drop down menu, select DVD, Music or whatever, and select how you want to play the Disc. It worked for me. Hope it helps someone else.