Divx movies crash on laptop

[mike143_97]

My laptop (sony vaio, 1.2ghz, 256mb ram, 30gig HD) loaded with XPpro crashes (blue screen) then restarts automatically. I have all the new codecs for Divx, tried every player I can think of including WMP corona... Anyone else know of a possible cause for this?

[Batman]

What version of WMP have you tried. If you already haven't tried, try WMP 6.4

[mike143_97]

I haven't tried 6.4... only what comes with XP and i've tried WMP 9. I've also used the Divx Player 2.0 and it did the same thing. and it's only while playing avi format. VCD's and mpeg play fine (i know they are practically the same). I'm thinking it may be more on the video card ( ati rage mobility w/ 8 mb ) They play fine on my desktop pc.

[Batman]

I would then suggest you try WMP 6.4. Many people experience problems with the latest versions of WMP.

[mike143_97]

I just downloaded it... I will try it out this afternoon. Thankx for the help

[Batman]

You're welcome

[Enchanter]

WMP 6.4 is built into WindowsXP already. Run the command 'mplayer2.exe' from the Run command.

Aside from that try making sure that you have got the latest and stable versions of your motherboard and graphics card drivers installed.

[mike143_97]

still NO go. I've already installed all the latest drivers from sony for all the latest drivers. It does it randomly into the movies, but it usually does it within the first 10 minutes or so.

[PCaravan]

same problem here

I've got the same problem though my computer fails in some various ways and not all AVI files cause problems and the ones that do cause problems (about half of them) will vary on how often they crash in the video. These failures occure in every player I've tried excpet RealPlayer. For some reason RealPlayer will play them all with no problems but the quality is greatly reduced and the motion is jercky. The players I've tried that fail include the latest version of Windows Media Player, The Playa, DIVX Player 2.0 Alpha, and WinDVD. I've also tried a number codecs but it didn't help. Here are the scenerios when they fail:

1. The screen freezes on what ever frame is on the screen and nothing will work. I have to hold down the power button to get the computer to turn off so I can restart. This is the most common and happens on all of the players that have problems.

2. The video stops and I get a window saying the program has encountered a serious error and must close. At least this one does not crash the computer. This happens sometimes in The Player and DIVX Player 2.0 Alpha but is somewhat rare and it never happens in Windows Media Player.

3. The computer drops off to a blue screen with a lot of text, though it doesn't stay there long enought see what it says, then goes to screen that looks like a dim version of the Windoes XP loading screne and freezes there. I have to hold down the power button to turn off the computer to get it to restart from there. This happens in all of the players but mostly in Windows Media Player.

I'm now in the process of trying to figure out what the difference is in the files that fail and the files that don't. If anyone has any suggestions I'm open. My computer is a Compaq Presario laptop with a Mobile AMD Athlon 4 processor, 996 MHz, 320 MB of RAM, 20 GB hard drive, and ATI RAGE Mobility. If I figure it out before you do, I'll post hear again.

[mike143_97]

I'm wondering if it's something with the ATI Rage Mobility... That's the only similarity we have with our computers besides WindowsXP. I will do some research on if anyone else has found a fix for this. I might even try reinstalling an older driver for the video card. I'll keep it posted.

[PCaravan]

I've already been working on that though on ATI's website I can't find anything ragarding ATI RAGE Mobility though there is a lot of ATI RAGE stuff. Is Mobility just a generic term for all of ATI RAGE stuff? I don't know. I sent them a problem report using the software from their website and I'm waiting for a reply.

[mike143_97]

Cool.... please keep me posted on what their response is.

thankx

[PCaravan]

Just keeping you posted

I haven't gotten a reply from ATI yet but I finally did find something on their website regarding the RAGE Mobility. Apparently they do not offer 'generic' downloads for the RAGE Mobility driver because they are tailered to the laptop they are installed in and therefore the computer manufacturer is responcible. I sent a message to technical support with Compaq... you might do the same with Sony.

Also, another thing that might help you, though it didn't help me. I saw on a website for a game that for this game RAGE Mobility cards most of the time would not work. However, the page did say that on some laptops there was an option to disable 'ATI Enhanced Features' which would usually make the game work. I thought that there might be some connection with our problem and set out to look for this but couldn't find it on my computer.

[mike143_97]

I finally got mine to work right without crashing... It was the driver. I'm using the XP driver that identifies it and it's working great, but the only drawback to that is the XP driver does not support OpenGL (most games us this) so that might explain why you found what you did. I guess I need to address Sony about this issue and see if they have another update for this driver with this fixed.

[PCaravan]

Where did you get that driver... I'm not interested in the games so if that will work for me, I'll be set.