The previous poster is right that there are two types of disk: DVD-R and DVD+R. My experience is that some older players will play one type and some will play the other and some won't play any. Find out what type the laptop was and try the other type. On the other hand. DVD players are so cheap, nowadays, that it might be cheaper to buy a new player which will probably play all types, including the -RW and +RW (ReWriteable types).