media files and media player crashing my system

[Guest]

I hope this is the right forum for my problem:

When I try to access a media file (e.g. .mpg or avi) from media player - or
just by selecting the file in windows explorer my PC immediately crashes - no
warnings or shutdown - just lights out and reset. It used to be just windows
explorer crashing until I had an windows error pointing to a Data Execution
Prevention eroor (a feature in SP2. After excluding Widows Explorer, it
suddenly would load thumbnails for my video clips. But the pleasure was
short. Selecting one would cause an immediate crash. Microsoft told me to
uninstall SP2, update my processor driver and reinstall SP2. After updating
all my drivers and reinstall SP2 (and all the software that got messed up in
the process, I am no further. I now run media player 10. If I drop a media
file in it, it shows up nicely in my play list. When I hit play - Adios! -
restart. Same if I access a mediafile from another application

I have no viruses and no spyware (according to Norton and adware)

This is driving me nuts! Any suggestions?

System specs:
GigaByte K8NS-Pro AMD 64 3000 / 1GB Patriot Dual Channel 3200 / Audigy / ATI
Wonder 9600XT / 16xPioneer DL DVD+-RW / XP Pro SP2 / 2x120GB WD in raid 0,
250GB Maxtor SATA, 200 GB Seagate IDE Ultra 133 /Antec Sonata

 

[Guest]

Do you have any major codec packages installed such as Nimo or one of those
101 codec packages? If so try uninstalling them.