Are you connecting the unit to your computer or a TV? If it's the former, what OS does your computer have? Can you access the DVD to read the contents of any optical disc or play back audio CDs? If you can't get any content, then try a different Y USB cable (shorter cables are best). If you still don't get a response, try a different optical drive. The LG GP40NB40 may be faulty. If it is under warranty (1 year), contact LG or return it to the store where you purchased it (usually a 30 day return period). If you have Windows 8, it doesn't come with the Codecs to play DVDs. (Some new Windows 8 machines will include a program like Cyberlink's PowerDVD. However, not all will.) In that case you need to install an appropriate program to play DVDs. The Win8 Media Player requires an upgrade to Win8 Pro and then the purchase of the Media Center. VLC will play most DVDs
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html . Some DRM issues may interfere. There are other DVD playback programs you can try. (As far as I can tell, the software that LG included with this model is not Win8 compatible for playback of movies.) If you had an older version of Windows and upgraded to Windows 8 Pro, you just need to purchase Media Center. (At least with some machines, the DVD playback software before the upgrade wasn't Win8 compatible and has to be upgraded.) If you have a different OS, please indicate which one. (XP, Vista and Windows 7 all came with media player codecs for DVDs. Before that, the feature wasn't included.) If you are connecting to a TV, it isn't designed to play commercial movies. It acts like a flash drive to play videos, display photos, etc. (Thus the limitations are due to the TVs file Codecs. Check the TV documentation.)I hope this helps. Cindy Wells
