Windows Media Player Crash

[Jerry Wong]

Hey all, I've been having this problem for weeks, and it's
really starting to annoy me.

I recently reformatted and reinstalled, and I discovered
that Windows Media Player was crashing when opening .mpeg
files. So, time for some updating, I thought.

After updating to the most recent version, WMP now crashes
on load for ANY file (mp3, avi, mpeg, you name it). It
gives absolutely no error, and in fact just hangs there.
Task Manager can't kill it, and it eventually dies in a
few minutes (access denied), after sucking up 200+MB of
RAM in the process.

Anybody had this problem before, or know what's going on?

Any help appreciated, this problem is driving me nuts!

 

[zachd [ms]]

Which version of WMP?
http://www.nwlink.com/~zachd/pss/pss.html#isolate
may help you pin things down a little better...

--
(speaking for myself and doing this in my free time)
See http://www.nwlink.com/~zachd/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
Following up to your post with the resolution is good netiquette.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
All e-mail to this account will bounce or be deleted - *use the newsgroups*.

 

[Jerry Wong]

It's WMP9 (9.00.00.2980)

I decided to reinstall DX9 yesterday to see if that solves
the problem, since I installed it originally from a game
disc. Lo and behold, the problem disappeared.

But, 3 reboots later, it's back with a vengeance. Same
problem as before. I'm starting to think it's a video
driver issue, but I'm using the latest drivers from ATI.

Here's a problem exactly: When opening files through WMP,
the program hangs at the "Opening media" prompt, though it
still responds until one tries to shut down WMP. Attempts
to shut down the program will cause it to hang, and
attempting to kill the process through Task Manager will
give you the "Access denied" message. When previewing
files (single-clicking in explorer, the media player pane
should come up on the left), explorer hangs instead.

Both wmplayer.exe and mplayer2.exe give the same problem.
MP3s play fine with WinAmp's waveout plugin, but hang also
when using the DirectX output option.

Note: After leaving WMP on at the "Opening media" prompt
for ~10 minutes, the file eventually loaded. Partial
solution, really, since I'm not keen on waiting 10 minutes
for a file to load. I take it this is extremely abnormal
behavior.

 

[zachd [ms]]

Wellllll... if WinAMP is locking up using the waveOut output, then
http://www.nwlink.com/~zachd/pss/pss.html#dsound
may actually be more helpful... ?

--
(speaking for myself and doing this in my free time)
See http://www.nwlink.com/~zachd/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
Following up to your post with the resolution is good netiquette.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
All e-mail to this account will bounce or be deleted - *use the newsgroups*.
--