[Sam07]

Hello there!,
First of all, my apologies if this is posted in the wrong forum.

I have been having a very frustrating problem with my pc ...it freezes almost every time I run a wmv file ,whether its a file I've downloaded or streaming,and it doesnt matter which media player I use( WMP, MPC and VLC) ,Although when using vlc player , it doesnt freeze right away like when using the other 2 players(WMP and MPC),but it will freeze eventually It also freezes most of the time I try to view a youtube video,and even when using some of the msn messenger features like the sending a nudge.This problem,however, doesn't occur when I play rm,mov or avi files.

I didn't have this problem before,but at some point this started to happen...I thought my pc could be infected with some virus or malware, so I formatted my pc,installed new win xp pro and downloaded motherboard drivers,directx 9.0c(full package) and VIA_HyperionPro_V513A ...And after all of that ,the same problem still exist

- this is a link for my motherboard http://www.gigabyte.....ProductID=1306

-And these are the drivers I downloaded : http://www.gigabyte.....ProductID=1306

Note* :I had a problem installing the audio driver( motherboard_driver_audio_realtek_whql.exe )..half way through installation progress, the pc shuts off and restarts by itself.

Help is appreciated and thanks in advance.

my pc info:
AMD Duron™ processor
1.31 GH , 992 MB of RAM

OS: Win xp pro sp3

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Can anyone help please ?

[Sam07]

Can anyone help please ?

[makai]

So, were you ever successful at installing the audio driver?

Go to Start> run... type in devmgmt.msc, click OK. In the Device manager window, do you see any yellow or red marks?

[Sam07]

Thank you for replying ,makai.

The short answer is I don't know

Please bare with me because my knowledge in this is very minimal.
Now, I have a CD that came with the motherboard http://www.gigabyte....rd/Default.aspx Model : GA-7VKML .But after I started to have this problem , I tried to google my problem to find similar cases .I understood from what I read that I need to update driver and other things ,such as direct x. so I went the motherboard manufacturer's website and found 4 updates.All installed fine except one of them( Realtek AC97 Audio Driver).As I mentioned in the previous post ,halfway through installation the pc just restarts by itself.Same happens every time I retry.I tried to do that in safe mode and the installation progress just stops half way, but the pc doesnt restart.So I really don't know if the complete installation was done or not.

I attached a snapshot for my device manager
I hope I made some sense

[makai]

Thank you for replying ,makai.

No problem! There are considerably less people helping than those asking, so sometimes it takes a while to try to get some help. You've been patient... thank you!
(hmmm... I must sound like Tech Staff... I used to be one here, a while back! )

In any case, from the looks of it, it doesn't appear that any drivers are missing from your installation. Howerver, from your first post, it appears that you are running XP Sp3. I hate to say it, but Sp3 is capable of killing drivers/computers... although some may disagree. I've had to redo a number of computers due to Sp3, and while I don't know for sure if that's your problem, it very well could be.

Since you say you can run in Safe mode without your computer crashing, I'm going to assume it's not a hardware problem. Safe mode, as you probably know, only loads what's necessary for Windows to run. So, it looks like a driver problem, or a conflict.

When you reinstalled Windows, did you update to Sp3 right away, or did you experience the problem, then install Sp3 hoping it would fix it? I guess what I'm trying to find out is if your computer will work fine with Sp1 or Sp2.

[Sam07]

Hello again makai,

you sound to me like someone who knows what he's talking about

Now that you mentioned it, I was trying to remember if the crashing started when I updated to sp3,and I'm pretty sure it was around that time.Furthermore, When I formatted my pc ,I installed a new win xp with pre-installed sp3.

Can I some how uninstall sp3 and drop back to sp2 to check?

[makai]

If Sp3 came as part of the new XP disc, the only way to test with SP2 is to use another XP disc that only has Sp2 in it.

Although... try going to Control Panel and checking Add/Remove programs to see if there are any options to remove Sp3. Put a check mark in "Show Updates". If for some reason Sp3 was somehow installed "separately" from your new disk, maybe there will be something there.

[Sam07]

Nothing there,Unfortunately .I guess I'm gonna have to install a copy with sp2 to check if that is whats causing it to crash.I have a strong feeling that sp3 has something to do with it.But before I go and do that,I just wanna know when I install Win Xp sp2, can I still get other updates without having to install sp3?

[makai]

<snip> ... I just wanna know when I install Win Xp sp2, can I still get other updates without having to install sp3?

Good question! I don't have an answer for that as I don't do updates. All my computers run Sp2... with Automatic updates turned off. Something I choose to do due to my own cognizance of safe surfing. I also use only third party software for protection, so my Windows firewall and Security Center are also turned off.

However, I found this posted on the net...

Suppressing individual Windows Updates - Shenan Stanley
04-Dec-07 12:23:50

- Visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
- Scan (Custom)
- Find the update you would *not* like to see anymore and UNCHECK it.
- That should 'expand' it's description (if it does not - expand it) and
check the box to not show it anymore.

I couldn't open the page because I don't use IE, and since automatic updates are turned off, it wouldn't matter. Try going there and see what you find.

[Sam07]

makai, Thank you very much for your time and help ,sir..I really appreciate it.

I'm going to install a new win xp sp2 and check to see if sp3 was the problem, and I'll come back and share the result with you.

[makai]

Ok! Let me know what happens.

[Sam07]

Hello again makai,

I installed Win XP sp2 and tested the problem, but unfortunately the computer still freezes as soon I run a wmv and mp3 files ...This is really appalling ,to put it nicely.

Any other suggestions?

[makai]

Were you able to successfully install the sound driver? Is device manager still clear of marks?

Can you do a test. Launch Task manager, then open a mp3 file while monitoring the Process tab in Task manager. Try to see if something hogs CPU usage.

Also, look in Control Panel>Admin Tools>Event Viewer to see if any errors are being identified.

If AC97 is really the culprit, then it may be either the bios or the motherboard audio circuit itself. Maybe a soundcard may need to be installed.

Edited by makai, 25 December 2008 - 04:59 AM.

[Sam07]

Hi,

- Device manager still looks fine.
- I have an on-board sound card,so installing the driver from the disk works fine..But when I downloaded a newer driver from the manufacturer website ,about halfway through installation process, the computer shuts off and restarts( not the same situation when playing wmv's and mp3's where it freezes and I have to power off) without seeing a message saying that installation complete like the case with the other drivers..This newer version of Realtek AC97, for some weird reason it will also install a media player called AvRack.And when the pc starts again ,there is no sound ,and the speaker icon (bottom right of monitor) is gone..but still device manager looks fine and no yellow ! ..so I use the motherboard CD again .....So I"m not sure if the new sound driver was completely installed or not at all.

- did the task manager test and nothing looked up normal when it froze( cpu usage 25%)

-In Control Panel>Admin Tools>Event Viewer ,found 3 log folders (Security, Applications and system).Security is empty.
Application has 7 yellow warning signs from 2 sources (Userenv and WinMgmt).
System has 24 red error signs
, sources ( atabi , SideBySide).............and I have no clue what these are .


plz ask if u have any other questions

[makai]

-

I have an on-board sound card,so installing the driver from the disk works fine..But when I downloaded a newer driver from the manufacturer website ,about halfway through installation process, the computer shuts off and restarts( not the same situation when playing wmv's and mp3's where it freezes and I have to power off) without seeing a message saying that installation complete like the case with the other drivers..This newer version of Realtek AC97, for some weird reason it will also install a media player called AvRack.And when the pc starts again ,there is no sound ,and the speaker icon (bottom right of monitor) is gone..but still device manager looks fine and no yellow ! ..so I use the motherboard CD again .....So I"m not sure if the new sound driver was completely installed or not at all.

Ok, I'm a little confused now.

Just so I get this straight...
1) you installed XP Sp2
2) you installed the sound driver from the original motherboard CD and it installed fine
3) you then installed a downloaded sound driver and halfway through the computer shut off/restarts
4) since you had problems, you uninstalled the downloaded sound driver, and reinstalled the driver from the CD, and now you are not sure about the sound driver installation again.

Is that the gist of it?

I have to ask... Did you try to play wmvs and mp3s before you did number 3 above?