[Tom-boy]

Wonder what happened to all my media files and players:
Running Win2k Pro+SP4+ all updates
Until now, everything has been running fine, then a series of problems occured on a string.
- At first, movies in Silent Hunter 3 seized to play; Ubisoft intro screen, option menu background movie etc. No biggie, sometimes this happens and solution is to delete Movies folder but nevertheless...
- I install Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood which installed Media Player 9 codecs without an option to passing it (already having them and working fine).
- Also, I installed Detonator 81.94 because of it's compatibility fix to Call of Duty 2.
Now the problems start. None of the avi's, mpeg's etc won't work, the players (Irfanview latest, MP 9, Quicktime 4, DiVX Player)completely stall when attempting to play the files and can't even ctrl+alt+del back to desktop but have to hardboot instead. BiA:EiB & CoD2 in-game movies work, as well as MP3's. Tried rolling back to Detonator 77.xx, ran a virus scan, defragged, ran a system clean up (CCleaner)and nothing works. Now, when trying to burn the media onto CD's, even the selection menu of Nero stalls when clicking a media file to be added to the quey. It can't be that all the movies are corrupt all of a sudden and reinstalling the players dont' work either. Hopefully someone has an idea to what is going on, since I rather not do a complete overhaul at the moment and since I don't know what gives, there's no guarantee the problems wouldn't reoccur anyway.

[Sampson]

While I have read that the 81.95 drivers had some media problems, the 81.94 seemed not to have the same problems. However, it looks like it is a video driver problem on your machine. Rolling back to a previous driver does not always work.

Uninstall the 81.94 drivers and let the machine reboot, but bring it up in safe mode. Install driver cleaner: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3214 and run it to remove any residue from previous drivers. When done, reboot again and come up in normal mode and then install the nVidia drivers of your preference. You didn't mention what kind of card you are using and this can determine which are the preferred drivers for your system. The older the card, in general, the 77.xx series is often recommended. This isn't always the case since I have a fairly old card and am running the 81.94's without a hiccup.

[Sampson]

By the way, be absolutlely sure that your Anti-virus is shut down before installing the video drivers. So many times have I seen the drivers not install properly because the A-V was left running in the background.

[Tom-boy]

OK, let's try that. I've GeForce 6600GT 128MB so the drivers should work properly. I also did have A-V turned off. Cross your fingers

[Tom-boy]

No dice Ran it twice, also did the same thing to sound card drivers and nada. Even the Sound Blaster flash screen failed to play. But what I did notice, is that when attempting to play some files, my virus scanner icon switches on and off (F-Secure 5.41). This is rather odd, since last night I updated the definitions and ran the scanner without finding anything. It must be something inside the media codecs that is seriously conflicting with Windows or then I've actually been bombed by a virus. However, since I uninstalled/reinstalled all the players and codecs, and using CCleaner to get rid off the keys, I can't for the love of god figure out what it is.

[Relic]

Try uninstalling Quicktime, which is a chore in itself. I stay very far away from it, it causes all kinds of problems with my system, yet doesn't affect my wife's at all.

[Sampson]

You might try downloading the program G-Spot at this address to let you view your codecs: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_tools/gspot.cfm

[Tom-boy]

OK, I uninstalled (again) and cleaned regisrty of all QT related. Sma results, except that once a movie started to play with 85% of processing power being used, very choppy playback too. Since I really can't make heads or tails what codecs are needed (they definitely should be up-to date). I guess the only thing left to do is to have a complete reinstall,goddammit.
Cheers for help though, appreciate it. Got some new ideas too in case something like this happens again.
Tom-boy

[Relic]

Can you not reinstall over top of W2K Pro? I'd rather try that first, just in case it's a prob with a Win system file or dll.

I just ordered an eVGA 6600GT AGP, should be here in a week, I'd like to know what happens, even though I'm running XP.

Keep us up to date on the drivers, and what works, if you could, it would be much appreciated by me, that's for sure.

[Tom-boy]

Well, I just finished with a complete reinstall of the system and files and I'm glad to say everything runs just fine again. The most likely culprit is the 81.94 Detonators. Even though I switched back to 77.72 and used the tool Sampson recommended, something was probably still left behind or then some files became corrupted due to 81.94 because the problems remained. After the clean install I first installed 77.72 again- worked fine and then switched to 81.95, with same media players+ codecs. Still working fine if not better So stay steer clear of 81.94!

to Relic:
As you can see from above, you'd se safe with 77.72 and 81.95. I've MSI GF 6600GT 128MB AGP and been very happy with it. Can't run everything on max, cause my processor is a bit weak but as far as the card is concerned, there're no complaints here. Of course, it'd be nice if it had more oomph with it but so far it'll have to do. FEAR ran great in 1024x768x32 AAx2, minus soft shadows, no fps issues whatsoever. COD2 was another story, in one level had to drop AA off and turn rez to 640x480 just to pass it. 81.95 has a compatibility fix for this, though I haven't tried it yet. So yes, 6600GT is a nice card and I'm sure you'll do fine with it

[Relic]

Originally posted by Tom-boy:

Quote:

to Relic:
As you can see from above, you'd se safe with 77.72 and 81.95. I've MSI GF 6600GT 128MB AGP and been very happy with it. Can't run everything on max, cause my processor is a bit weak but as far as the card is concerned, there're no complaints here. Of course, it'd be nice if it had more oomph with it but so far it'll have to do. FEAR ran great in 1024x768x32 AAx2, minus soft shadows, no fps issues whatsoever. COD2 was another story, in one level had to drop AA off and turn rez to 640x480 just to pass it. 81.95 has a compatibility fix for this, though I haven't tried it yet. So yes, 6600GT is a nice card and I'm sure you'll do fine with it

Thanks TB, much appreciated. I'm currently running the 77.77 drivers with my ti4200, which work great with it, no DX9 support with the ti4200 though.

Had a beer with a guy from work at his place tonite, he has an 850XT, fired up the FEAR demo, awesome graphics, I'm very impressed, I'm gonna like this game. I'll be sure to run with the 77.72's first, then try out the 81.95's. I'm curious to see what eVGA will have on the CD.

As a side note, the new 6800GS PCI-Express, is soon to have a sister card, the 6800GS AGP! Yeah baby!!! With eVGA's "step up" program, I'll be able to scoop this for cheap, if I upgrade within 90 days, they take the full purchase price of my 6600GT off the cost of the 6800GS, that just rocks. The 6800GS AGP is set to be released in mid-December, I just ordered my 6600GT on Monday, so that leaves me a good 2 months for eVGA to come out with their version. I have my fingers crossed.

I'm plagued by a weak processor here myself, but I'm replacing the caps on my DFI, so that should allow me to OC my unlocked Tualatin to somewhere around 2ghz. Yeah, not much cache there, but hey, good enough till I upgrade this spring.

Once again, thanks dude.