Everytime I try to play a video file, Errors occur, and Media Players shut off

[P Ross]

Please bear in mind that I am a computer newbie. I am highly unfamiliar with a lot of computer jargon and terminology and am a Layman in that sense. Please bear that in mind.

And I know this is long. I'm sorry. Please bear with me. 


I have a 3 year old Toshiba Tecra. It's got about 52.9 GB of total disc space. I have 3.09 GB space remaining. Among the other specs I discovered by right clicking my computer are:

> 1.73 Ghz
> 512 MB RAM
> Service Pack 2

I hope that's enough info to get started off.

Now here's what happened:

My sister's got an IPhone, and she really wanted to be able to put some music videos she downloaded into her IPhone. I told her that, as far as my knowledge, putting random videos into the IPhone isn't possible.

So what she did, was that she downloaded this program from C.Net called "Videora iPhone Converter". She said that it was a recommended program, and that it wasn't from any random site.

She installed the program, and tried to convert the original MPG video she had so that it could be played in the iPhone.

Now, let me tell you that one thing that happens to my computer, is that it often times overheats and shuts itself down by itself. She tells me that that was what happened as the video was converting. So I reckoned that the program took up so much memory, that the computer couldn't handle it, and it shut down by itself.

She turns the computer on again after the computer's cooled down an hour later. She tries to click on BUT DOES NOT OPEN what she says is the file she converted.

And what happens is that there's this message saying that "an unknown error has occured and Windows Explorer has to shut down" or something to that extent. She clicks on "Don't Send Error Report". And my taskbar apparently disappears for a moment, along with everything on the desktop. Then it re-appears. She finds the 'converted' file and clicks the file, and the same Error report appears again. The Taskbar disappears again. She tries to open the file again and again, and the error report keeps coming. So she deletes the file.

Later, I try to open other video files I have, and whenever I CLICK on the files, the error message appears. And when I OPEN the files in any Media Player (whether it's QuickTime or Windows Media Player), an error message comes up saying that so-and-so Media Player needs to shut down. I always click "Don't Send Error Report". And the media player shuts down.

And this thing happens to ANY File Type. Whether it's .mpg, .avi, or .wmv.

It's strange. I can STILL view youtube videos without problems. I can listen to music without problems. But I can't open video files.


-

I am quite confident it isn't because of a virus, since I did several scans of my entire system using my AVG Anti Virus software and there were no viruses.

I'm pretty sure that an error occured and perhaps some files got twisted due to how my computer overheated and shut down as my sister was converting some files.

-

So that's my problem.
I would appreciate a step-by-step solution.


Thank you.

[patio]

Your empty disk space is dangerously low.
Windows needs approx. 15% free disk space to operate properly andd this is probably why it hangs trying to do music or video.

Take a look at all the programs you have installed and see if some are no longer needed ...if so remove them to free up some space.
Also check My Documents and see what's there as well.
If there is alot of video; music and photos then consider burning them to a CD so you will have them for future use...this is a good idea even if you have a huge hard drive with tons of free space.
Finally consider adding another hard drive for additional storage space.

[P Ross]

Dear Patio,

First of all, thank you for the response.   

Are you sure the error messages occur because of low disc space? Oftentimes, I've pushed my storage capacity, and would fill the hard drive up until there's only 500MB or even 200MB.

And there haven't been any problems with me playing movie files. Not like this.

Again, here's the basic problem:

I can STILL view youtube videos without problems. I can listen to music without problems. But I can't open video files.

But on the other hand, if it IS only because of lack of storage space, I'm glad, because that means that nothing's broken or missing on the computer!

I'll try to clear up to 10GB of storage space, and then I'll keep you up to date as to whether or not there are still video file playing problems.

Thanks again.

[Broni]

Follow patio's advice, just eliminate one possible culprit.
Secondly, I use Videora myself, and as all video tools, it's resource hungry, and it DOES heat up your computer.
When using Videora, my CPU temperature goes up almost 30C.
Download SpeedFan: http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php, and check your temps. Post them back here, along with your processor info.

[P Ross]

Dear Broni and Patio,


I have now a total of 9.60 GB of free hard drive space out of a total of 59.2 GB.


I have tried opening video files and it still causes errors...

And Broni: I have downloaded and installed Speedfan. What information do you want me to post and how do I get that info?

Thanks

[Broni]

That's better...

We need these numbers:



Also, hold Windows key, and press Pause/Break key to give us processor info.

[P Ross]

Here are the Readings:

Win9x:NO  64Bit:NO  GiveIO:YES  SpeedFan:YES
I/O properly initialized
Linked ISA BUS at $0290
Linked Intel 82801FB ICH6 SMBUS at $20A0
Found nVidia GeForce 6600 Go
  Unable to read Video BIOS
Linked nVidiaI2C0 SMBUS at $3D403E3F
Linked nVidiaI2C1 SMBUS at $3D403637
Linked nVidiaI2C2 SMBUS at $3D405051
Scanning ISA BUS at $0290...
SuperIO Chip=SIO1000
Scanning Intel SMBus at $20A0...
Scanning I2CNVidia SMBus at $3D403E3F...
Scanning I2CNVidia SMBus at $3D403637...
Scanning I2CNVidia SMBus at $3D405051...
SMART Enabled for drive 0
Found TOSHIBA MK6026GAX (60.0GB)
End of detection

The text that I bolded concerned me for some reason...should it?



Anyways, here's the readings you specifically wanted:

GPU: 0C
HD0: 45C


Processor Info:

Toshiba
Tecra
Intel (R) Pentium (R) M
processor 1.73 GHz
1.73 GHz, 512 MB RAM



Anymore info that you need?


Thank you

[Broni]

GPU: 0C
HD0: 45C

Do you have only TWO temps listed?

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

GPU: 0C
HD0: 45C

Do you have only TWO temps listed?

Broni, -128C 

I only have 2 as well. Correction, 3.

[P Ross]

Yes Broni. That's all thats listed. The HD0 number goes up and down occasionally and every now and then.

[Broni]

Broni, -128C

I found out, that SpeedFan lists some funny numbers, if it can't find some particular sensor.

Anyway, try RightMark CPU Clock Utility (RMClock): http://cpu.rightmark.org/download.shtml, and see what it says.

[Broni]

Correction, 3.

What is the 3rd one? CPU?

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Correction, 3.

What is the 3rd one? CPU?

HD, Temp 1 and Core.

[P Ross]

Broni,

So I downloaded CPU Rightmark Lite. What info do you want?

It just shows basic info, such as Operating System, CPU, and BIOS.

For CPU, basically the same info as before, but with this added info:

Current Clock: 1729.00 MHz
Features: MMX, SSE, SSE2

And for BIOS:
TOSCPL - 6040000 Ver 1.00PARTTBLx (10/25/06)


Any more?

[Broni]

Click on CPU info: