Suddenly no video but only audio on almost all video players

[haku7]

To whoever might solve this:

Today, after normally booting up my main computer, all installed video players could only gave audio but no video. Only exception: IrfanView, which had no problem in any format. On the other hand, even the always reliable mplayer (earlier and new version), which swallows about everything, was subjected to this sudden defect.

I can see no reason for this up to now inexplicable occurrence. The latest Windows 7 update was February 13 while I have not installed or updated anything in the last weeks - except for a few and far between updates that are executed automatically - although I regularly do some maintenance cleaning up. Of course, I have by now done whatever is needed within my limited capabilities: restarting several times, checking health of the machine and all start-ups, etc. I even (much against my wont because Win 7 restore plays havoc with programs that have been installed between the current and restore dates), I did a System Restore back to 5 days earlier. Indeed quite some havoc as expected, but no change whatsoever in the almost general, described video vs. audio problem.

Naturally, despite the many precautions I take, something might have been erased inadvertently when cleaning up the system. However, that seems quite impossible. I haven't cleaned up anything for more than a week while, up to yesterday, everything was still working perfectly: I looked at a *.flv video file on mplayer as well as a *.wmv file with Windows Media Player and in both cases viewing went without a hitch. Moreover, between yesterday and this morning no updating or uploading operation had occurred. When checking, the only (automatic) update close to the mishap has been a new version of Chrome on February 24. But surely that could not have anything to do with the problem at hand?

So, what's going on? I am at a loss!

Of course I have filled in the 7Forums System Specs as instructed and, for good measure, I attach a full Speccy Specs txt file to this thread.

Thanks for helping me solve this annoying situation.

haku7

 

[haku7]

How very strange! It used to be that every thread was answered swiftly at Win7 Forums. Now... zilch. What's going on? Meanwhile tried various solutions on offer, like installing Shark codecs and suchlike. Nothing changes the problem!

Thanks for trying to answer this one!

haku7

 

[Arc]

Try to update the video codecs.

 

[haku7]

Hi Arc,

Been there, done that - several times, in several variations (uninstall, update, new codecs (Shark7... K-Lite Codec... etc.) Nothing doing. Shark7 even destroyed several links beyond repair (even on the players that were able to display video) - making a full restore necessary! The only programs that seem to escape the blasted curse are IrfanView (with all its plugins installed), Real Player (in part) and QuickTime (in part).

Windows Player won't play anything anymore (not even the native wmv Windows format) - except audio.
The up to now omnivorous and stable Simple player (earlier and new version) - same thing.
VLC - same thing.

However:

As far as I could assess, IrfanView keeps playing everything with no problem whatsoever.
Real Player plays its native flv format and many others, except wmv.
Quicktime plays its native formats, but - as expected - no others.

Well that's the situation - for whoever who might help me to resolve this mystery - all similar posts on the Win7 forums having of course been consulted, while none has offered a working solution. When checking on the Internet, I see that scores of users are, like myself, suddenly and for no apparent reason confronted with the problem on Windows 7.

Looking very much forward to resolve this vexing situation.

haku7