Troubleshooting New WMM Preview and Export Problem

[Guest]

I have been wrestling with this issue for weeks now.

Posting the symptoms here in the hopes that it will help others who might be
having similar problems and maybe even get a conclusion from someone cleverer
than I.

Problem:

Short description: Movie maker won't preview clips. Preview window buttons
are grayed out. Movie Maker won't save movies either.

Longer: In Windows Movie Maker 2 -- version 2.1.4026.0) AKA "version 5.1
build 2600 xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519 : Service Pack 2" -- the playback
window's buttons are always grayed out and the program will not preview a
movie or clip, and it will not export a movie, claiming that there's an error
("Windows Movie Maker cannot save the movie to the specified location. Verify
that the original source files used in your movie are still available, that
the saving location is still available, and that there is enough free disk
space available, and then try again.")

There is a knowledge base article on that error message which basically
claims that this only happens when the file is too large for system RAM, but
this appears to be dead wrong, given that I get this error message from a
working WMVs and AVIs of only a couple of megs size on a system with a full
gig of Ram.

This happens with any kind of source movie file, including WMVs made by
movie maker 2.1 in the past, when it was still working on this machine.

The playback window buttons show a normal (darkened) state briefly upon
program loading, but gray out immediately once the program finishes loading.

System is an Athlon XP 3200 with a gig of memory, running WIN XP pro SP2,
fully up-to-date via windows update, WMP 11, Zune software, tons of disk
space.

Other notes are that old windows movie maker works just fine. (I want the
transitions, etc. I used to get in version 2.1, however.)

I can't do a system restore because I don't know how far back the problem
goes. I believe I've been through all the common problem/fixes at papajohn's…

I've tried the following solutions, one at a time (and none has worked yet):

1) uninstall and reinstall WMP 11, WM 9 codec packs
2) uninstall WMM and reinstall via digging up the method of finding the
wmovie INF file and right clicking reinstall and directing it to the
appropriate file in the i386 folder from an SP2 download
3) reinstall SP 2 (fails because the SP2 install hangs and won't continue)
4) going to advanced options in WMM and unchecking all *.ax codecs
5) installing latest nvidia gforce graphics card drivers
6) lowering hardware acceleration
7) uninstalling IE 7
8) reinstalling IE 7
9) registering all the dlls in the movie maker folder

As another note, wife's computer older, with less memory and a much reduced
processing power in CPU as well as GPU, running virtually all the same
software, runs WMM 2.1 just fine.

Search Keywords: windows movie maker 2; preview doesn't work; playback
buttons grayed out; can't save movie; can't preview; no preview; preview
disabled;

 

[John Inzer]

I have been wrestling with this issue for weeks now.

Posting the symptoms here in the hopes that it will help others who
might be having similar problems and maybe even get a conclusion from
someone cleverer than I.

Problem:

Short description: Movie maker won't preview clips. Preview window
buttons are grayed out. Movie Maker won't save movies either.

Longer: In Windows Movie Maker 2 -- version 2.1.4026.0) AKA "version
5.1 build 2600 xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519 : Service Pack 2" -- the
playback window's buttons are always grayed out and the program will
not preview a movie or clip, and it will not export a movie, claiming
that there's an error ("Windows Movie Maker cannot save the movie to
the specified location. Verify that the original source files used in
your movie are still available, that the saving location is still
available, and that there is enough free disk space available, and
then try again.")

There is a knowledge base article on that error message which
basically claims that this only happens when the file is too large
for system RAM, but this appears to be dead wrong, given that I get
this error message from a working WMVs and AVIs of only a couple of
megs size on a system with a full gig of Ram.

This happens with any kind of source movie file, including WMVs made
by movie maker 2.1 in the past, when it was still working on this
machine.

The playback window buttons show a normal (darkened) state briefly
upon program loading, but gray out immediately once the program
finishes loading.

System is an Athlon XP 3200 with a gig of memory, running WIN XP pro
SP2, fully up-to-date via windows update, WMP 11, Zune software, tons
of disk space.

Other notes are that old windows movie maker works just fine. (I want
the transitions, etc. I used to get in version 2.1, however.)

I can't do a system restore because I don't know how far back the
problem goes. I believe I've been through all the common
problem/fixes at papajohn's.

I've tried the following solutions, one at a time (and none has
worked yet):

1) uninstall and reinstall WMP 11, WM 9 codec packs
2) uninstall WMM and reinstall via digging up the method of finding
the wmovie INF file and right clicking reinstall and directing it to
the appropriate file in the i386 folder from an SP2 download
3) reinstall SP 2 (fails because the SP2 install hangs and won't
continue) 4) going to advanced options in WMM and unchecking all *.ax
codecs 5) installing latest nvidia gforce graphics card drivers
6) lowering hardware acceleration
7) uninstalling IE 7
8) reinstalling IE 7
9) registering all the dlls in the movie maker folder

As another note, wife's computer older, with less memory and a much
reduced processing power in CPU as well as GPU, running virtually all
the same software, runs WMM 2.1 just fine.

Search Keywords: windows movie maker 2; preview doesn't work; playback
buttons grayed out; can't save movie; can't preview; no preview;
preview disabled;

===================================
System Restore might help...if you have older
restore points available...go back a week
....a month...etc...might be worth a try.

(306084) HOW TO: Restore the Operating
System to a Previous State in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=306084

Have you tried downloading a copy of SP2
to your hard drive and installing from there?

Download Windows XP SP2
http://tinyurl.com/6ubys

Generally, users install from the net but this
site allows you to download the complete
file to your hard drive before installing.

It's good for a network administrator because
you can burn it on a CD and install it on as
many computers as you need to.

And it's good for a single machine because
if you ever need to install it again...you'll have
it available without waiting for a download.


--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the ideas, J.

System Restore might help...if you have older
restore points available...go back a week
....a month...etc...might be worth a try.

I've looked at these but none seem to go back far enough to matter. And as a
side note, they don't always work. Just today I made a restore point,
uninstalled IE 7, confirmed it didn't help, then went back to that restore
point. Like magic, IE 7 no longer worked. Had to uninstall it yet again then
reinstall.

Have you tried downloading a copy of SP2
to your hard drive and installing from there?

I have, and SP2 hangs and stops installing at a certain point. I'm not sure
I can get it to reinstall properly. I've tried several times. Perhaps my
download is corrupt and I need to try again, but it appears to be fine and
runs well enough, at least until it hangs and never recovers...

 

[John Inzer]

Thanks for the ideas, J.


I've looked at these but none seem to go back far enough to matter.
And as a side note, they don't always work. Just today I made a
restore point, uninstalled IE 7, confirmed it didn't help, then went
back to that restore point. Like magic, IE 7 no longer worked. Had to
uninstall it yet again then reinstall.


I have, and SP2 hangs and stops installing at a certain point. I'm
not sure I can get it to reinstall properly. I've tried several
times. Perhaps my download is corrupt and I need to try again, but it
appears to be fine and runs well enough, at least until it hangs and
never recovers...

===========================
Sounds like you have system problems...
maybe a reformat is in order.

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk