Problems viewing video in media player

[krnp01]

Hello,

I have been having some problems with my new laptop and it's driving me up the wall. I was hoping a clever person here might be able to help. I tried to watch a dvd and got the error message "wmp can't play dvd, try lowering screen res" etc.
Some internet research led me to try the folowing solutions

1) Check dvd region (mine is set to region 2 and I am in sunny England so no problem there)

2) Install a codec - I don't have net access at home so downloaded the windows media codec pack from cnet, put it on a usb stick and installed it.

3) update drivers for my nvidia gt540m card.

4)install vlc media player as an alternative.

None of these have worked; vlc.exe stops working whenever I try and play a video of any kind, as does wmp; the formats I have tried so far are avi and mpg. I feel like I must be missing something obvious but is harder to diagnose and fix without internet access. Any advice would be appreciated.

nb for reference I have 64 bit windows home premium, an I5 processor, 6gb ram, 8xdvd r/w- drive.

 

[boohbah]

have a look at this tutorial and see if it is of any help to you

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/57348-windows-media-player-troubleshooting-guide.html

 

[krnp01]

Thanks. I will try the solutions suggested when I get home from work and no doubt will come back whingeing if it doesn't work. The fact that VLC player seems to be having the same problems suggests to me it might be somthing deeper but we'll see I guess.

 

[boohbah]

good point, its worth running sfc scan.

SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker - Windows 7 Forums

 

[krnp01]

Ok, will do. It annoys me that it doesn't work straight out of the box like microsoft claims.

 

[krnp01]

Well, I tried the msdt.exe but it just says enter the passkey provided by your support professional. No idea what this is.

 

[boohbah]

yeah i get that message too, bit odd as there is no mention of it in the tutorial, i think i will message the tutorial writer to ask. try the repair utility fix and see if that helps.
Fix & Repair Windows Media Player with Fix WMP Utility

though it will clash with the windows codecs you installed as i just discovered, resseting the codecs back to sharks reccomended settings worked.
also have you tried the sfc scan i mentioned a couple of posts ago.

 

[Invader440]

Try this codec package:

Codec Pack Advanced

 

[krnp01]

OK I will. I used cole 2k codecs in xp so know they work. The others I tried did not. Once I have installed the codecs do I need to do anything else, or will wmp/vlc know automatically to use the installed codecs?

 

[Invader440]

It will automatically know.

 

[krnp01]

Hehe, forgive my ignorance. I just wanted to know, if this codec doesn't work I will know something else is wrong.

 

[boohbah]

the beauty of sharks oo7 windows codec pack is that shark007 is a member here and gives excellent to the point help.
also i have never had any problem playing any media filetype whilst using sharks007 codecs

 

[Shark007]

Forget/uninstall other codecs, install the x64Components addon and the 32bit Win7codecs
After installation, open both Settings Applications and select the checkbox for [x] SUGGESTED settings

All your files will be playable in whatever player you choose to use.

 

[krnp01]

I am fairly certain this is not a codec issue. WMP and VLC constantly crash irrespective of which codecs are installed.

 

[boohbah]

did you try this

http://www.sevenforums.com/media-center/222738-problems-viewing-video-media-player.html#post1867261

 

[krnp01]

I have tried the diagnostic tools as you suggested: they flagged up a couple of things and applied fixes but my problem still persists; I no longer get the message from wmp saying can't play dvd, try changing screen res etc. The Program simply stops working immediately after I tell it to play a dvd or video file. Same for VLC. Audio works fine (can play cd's, mp3's etc). I am going to install VLC on my ubuntu VM and see if that works .

 

[krnp01]

I have taken your advice Shark and installed your codecs, used recommended settings. No dice. I also used windows features to remove WMP and then re-install it. Again, no joy. All the advice is much appreciated, perhaps my efforts in this are destined to fail.

 

[Shark007]

If my software failed, you are down to 2 possible causes.

The most likely cause, you have disabled UAC.
If this is your case, uninstall the codecs, set UAC to its 'Default' position,
reboot the computer and re-install the codecs.

The 2nd possible cause, you need to install drivers from the graphics chipset manufacturer, not the PC manufacturer

 

[krnp01]

Thanks for all your help Shark.

The UAC settings are correct, and the graphics driver was from the nvidia site.

Maybe it has something to do with a conflict between the nvidia card and the intel hd graphics. I tried to uninstall the intel hd driver but the screen just went black and I had to do a hard reset. When I powered back on the intel driver was still there.

 

[Shark007]

now you're getting somewhere.

you need to enter the BIOS setup (usually accessed by pressing del during the boot sequence)
and set the PCI graphics to innitialize before the iGPU (integrated graphics)

you will also need to physically move the monitor connection away from the motherboard connection and onto the graphics card connection.