DVD will not play

I had a bad DVD-RW drive in a Dell XP 1710. Dell sent me a
replacement. After a deletion from the registry and restart, I could
play audio CDs and get to data CDs. However, I cannot play a DVD
(first time I tried it since getting laptop).

Dell recommends doing a PC Restore, which will mean I lost the
data, software and user accounts on the laptop. Anybody have a better
idea as to what I might try before such drastic measures?

Thanks, Alan

I double clicked on its icon from Computer, and it asked if I
wanted to prepare a blank disc. When I do this on data or audio CDs,
I see their contents.

I heard that perhaps my edition of Vista (Business) does not have a
DVD decoder. Alan

Justin,
Thanks for the links. Alan