What's going on with my iMac DVD player that the picture is not visible anymore?

[LongTimeMakUser]

We just got u-verse installed on our Imac Desktop too!
We've used our DVD player to play DVDs for years now. We had to get off our old internet, cuz AT&T convinced us to go with their u-verse and we couldn't risk getting fined a $150 from our previous Internet/tv provider, because we'd just signed up and they only gave us a 30 day trial period.
AT&T made us wait 6 long weeks to install the u-verse internet and the U-verse TV which doesn't work in our main room and only worked for like an hour after the installer left our place!
Now the last 2 months we've been using our DVD player religious to watch movies as we had no cable tv at all, and cud only get one station.

Today I go to install a DVD into our DVD player and the sound comes on, but no picture is visible!
I tried 4 different DVDs and it's all doing the same thing.. no picture on the DVD player, though the sound's coming thru fine..
Also the closed captioning is working, mean it will print out the words they are saying, but no picture.
I clicked on the Help Icon at the top of the desktop and the words Supported Features, but this is what it's saying...

Quartz Extreme Unsupported
Transparency Unsupported
Thumbnails Unsupported
Video Zoom Unsupported
Video Color Unsupported
Video Deinterfacing Unsupported
Audio Equalizer Supported
HD Unsupported

Now, the technician who came over to install the U-verse internet, this week, which is on the same computer which is having DVD picture problems also hooked up the u-verse TV in our family room, which only worked for about an hour, then quit!
I'm wondering if he messed up my computer hooking up this u-verse internet, cuz the DVD player and its picture was working perfectly before they installed this U-verse.
Also I cannot get them to even fix the u-verse TV in our family room. They told us to hold power button and such, and push some buttons but it didnt' work!
Now they're saying they'll charge us $55 just to come over and repair the TV possibly!
I'm sick of AT&T already.. I could have gone with the DSL and not had to deal with this problem.
We also have a TV with a TV signal that works, though that's in the same room the computer is in, which is having the DVD picture problems.

What do I need to do to get my DVD player back to playing the picture?
I wonder if the AT&T technician pushed some button or made some adjustments on my computer and that's why it's SUDDENLY not working??

 

[harryb2448]

G'day and welcome to the forums.

It is a fact of life MacBooks and iMacs use a slot loading optical drive and these have a much higher failure rate that tray loaders used in Desktops. For starters try bluing out with compressed air, using a commercial loans cleaner and if fails either another internal which are not easier to fit, or an external optical drive.

 

[LongTimeMakUser]

Did the recall apply to the G4 Imac too? My DVD player is acting up.. but it's 6 yrs

I just posted a thread about my DVD player suddenly not displaying the picture when I play a DVD.... but it's an old IMac, at least 6 years old... and I got it at CompUSA who's gone out of business, and not sure where the receipt is, to be honest!
Gosh.. but we JUST had AT&T uverse installed on the same IMac and the DVD player was working FINE before that!
Now what would make a DVD player suddenly NOT display the picture when you played a DVD after installing u-verse internet? We also have u-verse TV in the same room and the previous cable/tv subscriber told us we could NOT have both internet, i.e. broadband and their cable tv installed in the same room!
I'm wondering if I just unplugged the U-verse machine and tried to play the DVD it would work?

 

[LongTimeMakUser]

but ours is a desktop and it is a tray loading one

what's an external optical drive?
I think something was messed with on my computer, imho... like i said before, the day before the u-verse was installed on my computer, the DVD worked fine...
when you hit the DVD player eject the tray slides out.. wouldn't that be a tray not a slot?
we don't have a "slot" per se for the DVD, a tray comes out of the computer and you insert the DVD into that, then it disappears again into the IMac Desktop!

 

[chscag]

Please don't post the same subject to two different threads. Especially when one of them is 6 years old! Thanks. Merged here.

 

[LongTimeMakUser]

well, it might be 6 years old, but they said they were doing "recalls" on Imacs and

mine wasn't working right! For gosh's sake... How am I supposed to know where I can and cannot post?
I just joined here..
ANYWAY.. when I unplugged the coaxial cable from the U-verse to my computer and hit restart, the computer started up again, and the DVD played NORMALLY again!
So, i'm just wondering if this u-verse isn't messing up my computer?

Never had this problem with the broadband service i used before? I almost took my computer down to a computer store and risked spending hundreds of dollars to get it fixed too!
Not good, not good at all!

 

[chscag]

Have you gotten in touch with AT&T and have them come out and repair whatever it was they may have messed up?

I had AT&T as my DSL and phone provider here in Texas for awhile and their service was so bad, I had to go back to Verizon. We finally got Verizon FIOS when it first came here so things are now much better. A bit pricey but well worth it.

 

[MacDude121]

If your DVD player works without the U-Verse plugged in, and doesn't work when it's plugged in, then obviously the problem is U-Verse!

I hear nothing but complaints about AT&T, be it their phone, internet, etc. If you can, try to switch to a different internet service provider, or don't let the technician leave until you're absolutely sure everything is in 100% working order.

 

[LongTimeMakUser]

Well, for some strange reason, it's hard to find many internet providers and we had one before, that gave us broadband. It was slow, but at least it worked, and we had NO problem with our computer when we had that hooked up.
Unfortunately we bought AT&T fraudulent bill of goods, which told us we'd have EXCELLENT service with the internet (which is so slow you cannot even watch a video on a TV newscast online, it stutters so much) & the TV and neither working out for us.
we do have a 30 day trial period... Just wondering if I shud even TRY to stay with their internet service.. it's not great, but to re-hook up the previous service might cost us $80 again just to get it installed...?
I've thought about making staying with their internet, though going with the DSL service instead. All we need to do is be online, we don't HAVE to have lightning quick internet, though that would be nice for a change... and then possibly going with Netflix.. at least to get the movies and tv stations.
Anyone know if you have to have broadband to get Netflix to work at your home?
Also, we already called AT&T and you know what they told us, after we told them we spent over 5 hours on the phone & the their internet chat sessions, trying to get this problem fixed-Oh, forgot to mention our tv in our main family room AT&T installed does NOT work and only worked for 45 short minutes!
AT&T customer rep told us we "might" be charged a $55 maintenance fee to fix a problem that was not working correctly for over an hour to start with!
Later for that garbage! I am serious thinking I need to get Netflix installed so I won't be hit with huge fees by AT&T and maybe just go with their DSL service, which isn't great but is only $20
Their u-verse internet is $35! That's ridiculous... that's over $300 a year just to be online!
However, we got the Iphone now.. so wondering if we'll need the u-verse internet, so we can get online with our Iphone at home, and not be hit with their huge fees if we go over our data package... ?

God, AT&T has caused me so many problems in the short time I've been with them!
They say they're taking over T-Mobile, but I think T-Mobile needs to take over THEM instead! lol

 

[MacDude121]

Agreed, AT&T does not sound like the ideal internet service at all. If I were you, I'd go with the $20 DSL that you mentioned, as long as you don't have any huge downloading or streaming to do, it should serve you fine.

Also, you have an iMac G4 correct? Is it possible that this "U-Verse" isn't compatible with your older system?

 

[pigoo3]

what's an external optical drive?

This is pretty basic stuff...have you tried an internet search to answer this question?

- Nick