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allanmark

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Windoiws Media Player won't play AVI files

Greetings all

I am a little confused by this issue .... yesterday I tried to play a couple of AVI clips from Windows Media Player (10). None of them would play - "Windows Media Player encountered a problem while trying ....".

This is particularly strange, as a week ago they were working fine. I also tried the AVI clips on 2 other machines and it worked fine. I then downloaded and installed WMP 11, but still no go.

Any thoughts?


In advance, thanks!!

   allanmark
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PUNKY
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Use VLC free program and that can play most formats:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/  
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AVI is a folder, and not all avi files are equal.  Sometimes these problems surface when you have conflicting codecs installed.  What changed or what did you install/remove/modify since the avi files worked and now don't?
OOps, sorry, meant to add more and hit submit too soon.  There are a lot of conversion routines/apps out there when you google for avi convert, and one I've found that works for AVI to many and Flash to many is shown below.  I first ran their free app to test and found it quite useful, but there are MANY out there that claim to work without problems...
Here's one I've used and found helpful, but again, one of many.   http://www.movavi.com/videoconverter/
Microsoft used to have an application interface which tested for codec and encoder compatibility issues which I will return to add if/when I find it.  But you may luck out by searching directly.  
If your issue remains unresolved, it would help to know a bit more about your environment in regards to your environment, which authoring programs you have installed that "may" have over-ridden your codecs or replaced them .... or .... conflict with them.  Operating System and update levels is also useful to add.
":0)  Asta
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Asta Cu
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And yes, astaec raised a very valid point in asking for more specific information about the Media Player error from the Event logs.

Can you please also capture a screenshot of the error dialog (Alt and PnintScreen keys), paste into an image editor as a new image, Save As a *.jpg, *.gif, or *.bmp, and attach it to your next comment.

The error you quoted:
"Windows Media Player encountered a problem while trying ...."
doesn't tell us much.  While trying to do what?
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allanmark

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Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

Below are the results from the steps suggested by BillDL :


(1)  regsvr32   /i   c:\windows\system32\quartz.dll  gave this:

     c:\windows\system32\quartz.dll was loaded, but the DIInstall  entry point was not found.


(2)  DirectX Diagnostic Tests (DXDIAG)

     This gave no errors; 100% clear


(3)   GSPOT - System; List Codecs

Gave the following errors:-  See attached CodecErros.Txt


(4)  I then loaded the avi file as instructed - came up with Codec(s) are installed. Now I was stumped,  
         so I decided to carry on with BillDL's instructions, as if there had been no codec error.


(5)  GSPOT -  Click the "1" button in the "GSpot" column

Gave no errors


(6) GSPOT  - If it passes, then the "2" button should try to play ...

Clicking the ""@ gave this: See attached Button2Error.jpg


(7)   Clicked the "3" button - video played!!


(8)   GSPOT - Do the same for the lilac buttons under the "MS A/V" column alongside the GSpot ones.

Video played and I could hear the soundtrack


(9)    As an experiment, I clicked the GSPPot  Aud "1" button -- no problems


(10)  Next, I clicked the GSpot Aud "2"  -- please attachment Aud2_Error.Jpg

(11)   Attachment WMP-Error.jpg is the origimal WMP Error, as requested.
WMP-Error.jpg
CodecErros.Txt
Button2-Error.jpg
AUd2-Error.jpg
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FFDSHOW fiuxd it up! Many thanks to all for the excellent support!!
Thank you happy to hear it
cheers M
Thank you Allan (or is it Mark?).  Glad to see that the codec fixed the issue.  Sorry not to have been back sooner after looking at your screenshots and report.  I was checking out the various available AVI/DivX related codecs, and reading feedback, to make sure that they wouldn't screw up your system before providing links.