WMM 2.1 has stopped saving movies

[MartinB]

PC: XWorks X8i-C2Q; Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600; Western Digital 320GB
Serial-ATA II with 275GB free; 4GB Corsair XMS2 “Dominator†DDR-2 1066MHz; XP
Pro SP3 32bit.

I recently tried to make a simple 5 minute vid (title jpg, avi source file
(no sound) and wav soundtrack). It wouldn't save as wmv with the "usual"
error message. I have had this error before but only on complex vids (split
and re-joined). I've checked the input files, disk space, memory etc.

I reduced it to just the jpg title screen and it still wouldn't save. I
loaded a recent, simple project that had saved successfully 2 weeks ago and
that wouldn't save.
I re-installed WMM from the SP3 folders but it still failed.

I tried saving as DV-AVI and this was successful. Checking my QASF.DLL I
see that I have version 11.x installed but version 9.x in the SP3 folders. I
would expect 11.x to be more recent/better, so haven't swapped it.

I've done my best to research this on the net but not even Papa John's site
covers this problem. At the moment WMM is unusable for me. Any help would
be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Martin

 

[John Inzer]

PC: XWorks X8i-C2Q; Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600; Western Digital 320GB
Serial-ATA II with 275GB free; 4GB Corsair XMS2 "Dominator" DDR-2
1066MHz; XP Pro SP3 32bit.

I recently tried to make a simple 5 minute vid (title jpg, avi source
file (no sound) and wav soundtrack). It wouldn't save as wmv with
the "usual" error message. I have had this error before but only on
complex vids (split and re-joined). I've checked the input files,
disk space, memory etc.

I reduced it to just the jpg title screen and it still wouldn't save.
I loaded a recent, simple project that had saved successfully 2 weeks
ago and that wouldn't save.
I re-installed WMM from the SP3 folders but it still failed.

I tried saving as DV-AVI and this was successful. Checking my
QASF.DLL I see that I have version 11.x installed but version 9.x in
the SP3 folders. I would expect 11.x to be more recent/better, so
haven't swapped it.

I've done my best to research this on the net but not even Papa
John's site covers this problem. At the moment WMM is unusable for
me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Martin

=======================
Have you installed any new software or updates recently?

Are you running IE7 or IE8?

--


John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

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

 

[MartinB]

Have you installed any new software or updates recently?

Are you running IE7 or IE8?

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

_______
John

Apologies for not replying earlier. When I first posted, I got a message
saying the post had failed. I've only just found that it didn't.

I had installed AviScreen Pro. There have been updates to my Norton AV. I
also use Steam for gaming, which was updated in the period. I have
uninstalled AviScreen (as the most likely villain) and reinstalled WMM but I
still can't save. I'm using IE7.

Again apologies for the delayed reply and any further help would be greatly
appreciated.

Thank you

Martin

 

[walter]

_______
John

Apologies for not replying earlier. When I first posted, I got a
message saying the post had failed. I've only just found that it
didn't.

I had installed AviScreen Pro. There have been updates to my Norton
AV. I also use Steam for gaming, which was updated in the period.
I have uninstalled AviScreen (as the most likely villain) and
reinstalled WMM but I still can't save. I'm using IE7.

I've yet to see a detailed explanation of exactly "why", but it's been
reported over and over again that installing IE7 can break WMM.

Your next course of action should probably be to unistall IE7 (your machine
will automatically revert back to IE6) and see if WMM works properly again.

You can always reinstall IE7 if it turns out *not* to be the problem.

Best of luck.

 

[John Inzer]

John

Apologies for not replying earlier. When I first posted, I got a
message saying the post had failed. I've only just found that it
didn't.

I had installed AviScreen Pro. There have been updates to my Norton
AV. I also use Steam for gaming, which was updated in the period.
I have uninstalled AviScreen (as the most likely villain) and
reinstalled WMM but I still can't save. I'm using IE7.

Again apologies for the delayed reply and any further help would be
greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Martin

=========================================
How did you reinstall Movie Maker?

No guarantees...but it may be worth a try to do
a system restore to a time before you installed
the AviScreen software and there have been
several reports that uninstalling IE7cleared up
various issues with Movie Maker.

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

(927177) How to uninstall Internet Explorer 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927177/en-us

--


John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

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

 

[MartinB]

How did you reinstall Movie Maker?

No guarantees...but it may be worth a try to do
a system restore to a time before you installed
the AviScreen software and there have been
several reports that uninstalling IE7cleared up
various issues with Movie Maker.

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

(927177) How to uninstall Internet Explorer 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927177/en-us

________

Thank you both for your help.

I reinstall WMM by choosing "Install" from moviemk.inf and selecting the
version from the SP3 files.

The two most recent restore points before the AviScreen install both fail.
I'm reluctant to go back further because of other system activity.

I see that I will have to uninstall SP3 to remove IE7. Again, I'm reluctant
to do this, given the amount of time it will take me to do the necessary
backups before I reinstall SP3.

It may be simpler to move to a different editor. A great shame as WMM has
served me well for many years.

Thank you again for all your help. I'm sure your advice is sound but a lack
of time and confidence on my part means that alternate software may be the
solution for me.

Regards

Martin

 

[walter]

________

Thank you both for your help.

I reinstall WMM by choosing "Install" from moviemk.inf and selecting
the version from the SP3 files.

The two most recent restore points before the AviScreen install both
fail. I'm reluctant to go back further because of other system
activity.

I see that I will have to uninstall SP3 to remove IE7. Again, I'm
reluctant to do this, given the amount of time it will take me to do
the necessary backups before I reinstall SP3.

It may be simpler to move to a different editor. A great shame as
WMM has served me well for many years.

Thank you again for all your help. I'm sure your advice is sound but
a lack of time and confidence on my part means that alternate
software may be the solution for me.

For whatever it's worth, there is no need to remove SP3. Just IE7. WMM runs
just fine on my machine (SP3-IE6)

 

[John Inzer]

Thank you both for your help.

I reinstall WMM by choosing "Install" from moviemk.inf and selecting
the version from the SP3 files.

The two most recent restore points before the AviScreen install both
fail. I'm reluctant to go back further because of other system
activity.

I see that I will have to uninstall SP3 to remove IE7. Again, I'm
reluctant to do this, given the amount of time it will take me to do
the necessary backups before I reinstall SP3.

It may be simpler to move to a different editor. A great shame as
WMM has served me well for many years.

Thank you again for all your help. I'm sure your advice is sound but
a lack of time and confidence on my part means that alternate
software may be the solution for me.

Regards

Martin

===============================
Maybe your System Restore would work
if you activate it in Safe Mode.

(315222) A Description of the Safe Mode
Boot Options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315222

--


John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

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

 

[walter]

===============================
Maybe your System Restore would work
if you activate it in Safe Mode.

(315222) A Description of the Safe Mode
Boot Options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315222

He seems to be under the impression that in order to get rid of IE7, he
*must* uninstall SP3.

This is NOT the case. While SP3 includes IE7 you can opt-out of installing
it just as easily as you can remove it (IE7) via Control Panel if you DID
install it. Removing IE7 has no effect on the rest of SP3. If you
uninstall IE7 via Add/Remove Programs,

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927177

all that's lost is IE7, (which
automatically reverts back to IE6) there are NO other changes made to the
system. SP3/IE6/WMM get along just fine together on my machines.

 

[MartinB]

He seems to be under the impression that in order to get rid of IE7, he
*must* uninstall SP3.

This is NOT the case. While SP3 includes IE7 you can opt-out of installing
it just as easily as you can remove it (IE7) via Control Panel if you DID
install it. Removing IE7 has no effect on the rest of SP3. If you
uninstall IE7 via Add/Remove Programs,

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927177

all that's lost is IE7, (which
automatically reverts back to IE6) there are NO other changes made to the
system. SP3/IE6/WMM get along just fine together on my machines.

____________

Walter and John

A number of things. First here's a quote from the MS page on unistalling IE7

"If you installed Windows XP SP3 on your computer after you installed
Internet Explorer7, and later you want to uninstall Internet Explorer 7, you
need to uninstall Windows XP Service Pack 3 before you can uninstall Internet
Explorer7."

This is why I assumed I had to uninstall SP3 as well. But this is not so
important, now.

Having given up on WMM, I looked at another editor and downloaded a trial.
That wouldn't save a wmv either. Even I figured out that this must be some
kind of corruption from something I'd installed. I had another go at system
restore but everything was failing. This turned out to be a "problem" with
Norton AV "protecting" itself by stopping the restore! That sorted, I went
back to a restore point before I made my last successful save. Everything is
now working. However, it has taken me a good part of the afternoon to get
the PC back into a "logical" state.

It's good to post a success here. I'm still amazed that other software can
overwrite processes vital to MS software but that's just me being naive, I
guess. Again, thank you both for all your advice leading to this outcome

Cheers

Martin

 

[John Inzer]

Walter and John

A number of things. First here's a quote from the MS page on
unistalling IE7

"If you installed Windows XP SP3 on your computer after you installed
Internet Explorer7, and later you want to uninstall Internet Explorer
7, you need to uninstall Windows XP Service Pack 3 before you can
uninstall Internet Explorer7."

This is why I assumed I had to uninstall SP3 as well. But this is
not so important, now.

Having given up on WMM, I looked at another editor and downloaded a
trial. That wouldn't save a wmv either. Even I figured out that this
must be some kind of corruption from something I'd installed. I had
another go at system restore but everything was failing. This turned
out to be a "problem" with Norton AV "protecting" itself by stopping
the restore! That sorted, I went back to a restore point before I
made my last successful save. Everything is now working. However,
it has taken me a good part of the afternoon to get the PC back into
a "logical" state.

It's good to post a success here. I'm still amazed that other
software can overwrite processes vital to MS software but that's just
me being naive, I guess. Again, thank you both for all your advice
leading to this outcome

Cheers

Martin

=====================
Success at last!

Thanks for the update.

FWIW...software like Norton...would
not affect your System Restore operation
if you launched it from Safe Mode.

--


John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

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

 

[walter]

=====================
Success at last!

Thanks for the update.

FWIW...software like Norton...would
not affect your System Restore operation
if you launched it from Safe Mode.

Are you 100% sure about that? Norton (Symantec) is some of the most
bloated, invasive crap I've ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

Even Norton's own built-in uninstaller won't get rid of it completely. You
need to get a special uninstall 'tool' from the symantec website to half-way
finish the job the built-in uninstaller started. Then you need a decent
registry check/repair program like CCleaner to get rid of the crap that the
"special Norton uninstaller tool" left behind.

AVG and Avast! are tiny free AV programs that are just as good (if not
better) than pay services like Norton et.al.

And nowhere NEAR as invasive.

 

[John Inzer]

Are you 100% sure about that?

==============
Yes,
==============
< Norton (Symantec) is some of the most

bloated, invasive crap I've ever had the displeasure of experiencing.

==============
No argument there but actually the 2009
version is better...personally, I use Avira.
==============

Even Norton's own built-in uninstaller won't get rid of it
completely. You need to get a special uninstall 'tool' from the
symantec website to half-way finish the job the built-in uninstaller
started. Then you need a decent registry check/repair program like
CCleaner to get rid of the crap that the "special Norton uninstaller
tool" left behind.
AVG and Avast! are tiny free AV programs that are just as good (if not
better) than pay services like Norton et.al.

And nowhere NEAR as invasive.

==============
I moved to Avira from AVG because
it was beginning to be troublesome.

--


John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

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