Freezing DVD/Blu Ray playback and Disappearing Drive

[Vandelay]

I've been having a bit of a strange issue recently that is one of those things that is really awkward to pinpoint as to the fault and almost impossible to find help for online.

I guess it began a few weeks back, where I was watching a blu-ray disc and the playback froze. Although the computer did not completely lock up, I would then be unable to close the program (PowerDVD 9), forcing me to restart the whole computer entirely. This happened a few times, but not on a regular bases. My original assumption being that it was down to some dirt on the discs and a fairly shitty software package (how I wish VLC could run blu-ray!)

However, since Sunday, every time I try to watch a DVD, I get continual pausing on playback, every few minutes. It will usually pull itself back from it after a few seconds and a have a moment of going a bit weird as the sound and image sync back up again, but eventually it will pause and crash the whole thing. This happens in both PowerDVD and VLC, although I've not seen VLC ever recover from a pause. Worst of all though, the drive completely disappears from "My Computer." I can still open and close the drive and I can also hear the drive spinning the disc when I first put it in, but nothing happens after that, with neither Windows nor any media program picking up the disc. A restart returns the drive, but the samething repeats as soon as I try to play a DVD. I've also had the drive disappear without trying to watch a DVD too.

Not to sure what to try to solve the issue. I've updated the firmware on the drive and checked that all the connectors are in properly, but neither has made a difference.

However, something did strike me this evening. I am currently running a Sandy Bridge processor and motherboard. Was there not an issue with the SATA2 connectors on those boards? I was under the impression that the fault does not emerge for some years and only effects a small proportion of motherboards, but I can't really think of any other explanation at the moment. Has anyone had any experience with the fault and does it sound like the above?

Any other thoughts?

System specs are:

Operating System
MS Windows 7 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 2500K @ 3.30GHz
RAM
4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
MSI P67A-C45 (MS-7673)
Graphics
AMD XFX Radeon HD 6950 2GB
Hard Drives
977GB SAMSUNG SAMSUNG HD103SJ ATA Device (SATA)
Optical Drives
(Samsung) TSSTcorp DVDWBD SH-B123L ATA Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio
PSU
Coolermaster 600w Silent Pro M

[DarkNoghri]

There was a recall on those boards, and new ones went out in ~April. If you purchased your board after that, you should be fine. I'd lean towards a bad drive, though.

[Vandelay]

No, it was before the recall. I read about the issue a few days after building the system, but (foolishly) didn't think much of it, as it seemed to have minimal effect on a small proportion of boards after a long period of time.

I have tried switching ports, although it was just to another SATA2. The problem didn't go away. I'll try putting it into a SATA3 port tonight.