My computer freezing during DivX movies playback

[Florance]

I have a serious problem! Fortunately, I've found a solution. Unfortunatly, I'm not happy with this solution.

Phenomenon:
My computer's freezeing during DivX movies playback. The freeze is total. Only hard reset can solve it.

So, here's the whole history:
I've changed the codecs (3.11, 3.2,... 5.07). The same.
I've changed the player (Media player, 6.4, 7, 7.1, 9.a, 9, MicroDVD, etc). The same. In fact, several "players" use Media Player object class to play the movie(!), so, if your Media Player works fine in your system, 99% of any other players will work just fine.
I've even tried those anti-freezing stuffs from the net. The same.
I've reinstalled my Windows 98. The same.
I've upgraded DirectX up to DirecX 9. The same.
I've suspected my motherboard has problem to correct control the AGP. Nope, it is perfect (SUPER 370SLM).
I've suspected that my CPU is overheating. Nope, 43C, all voltages in ranges (CELERON, 400MHz).
I've suspected that the standard nVidia's driver for my ASUS GeForce2 MX400 it is not 100% compatible. So, I've got the latest driver corresponding to my graphcard. The same.
Etc., etc., etc. I think that in last month I've restart my computer as many as in last 10 years.

Freezing's happening:
1. regardless the movie, except some are more predictable to freeze than the others;
2. not at the same frame of the movie;
3. both in windowed and in full screen mode.
4. not because of audio decoder (I've removed audio codec and it is still freezing);
5. more predictable when you try to jump to another position in the movie;
6. even if you let the player do its job;

Freezing's not happening, or is happening very rare:
1. if you preview it in VirtualDUB (I've checked the integrity of the movie with vDUB and it was ok ;

Now, here's the good part.
My researchs arrived at graphical performance. And I've downgrade the hardware acceleration. It's time for . On 0 and 1 level of hardare acceleration the freezing doesn't happened. I can take the horizontal scroll bar and play with it reverse and forward a lot. My computer doesn't freeze anymore.
I've moved forward and I've disabled the DirectX DirectDraw and all 3D stuff. My computer doesn't freeze.

The bad part of the good part is that I've lost the overlay and, of course, my image is interrupted, both in windowed and in full screen mode.

So, if anyone can help me, please give me a hint to have DirectDraw enabled while my computer plays DivX movies.

Thanks in advance,
Florance

[Enchanter]

Try using a different graphic card and see if it improves things.

By the way, is your CPU a Socket 370 type or Slot-1 (which I believe it should be)? What chipset are you using?

[UncasMS]

since you said this does not happen regularly with the same files at the same frames you might want to install latest chipset/mainboard driver.

[Florance]

Originally posted by Enchanter
Try using a different graphic card and see if it improves things.

By the way, is your CPU a Socket 370 type or Slot-1 (which I believe it should be)? What chipset are you using?

It is a good ideea to try another graphcard but unfortunately I don't have one, at list at this moment. But I'll try to get one.
Regarding to CPU socket I don't have information about how exactly is its name and all I can tell is that (conforming with SuperMicro motherboard specs) they refer about it as "Celeron Processor (PPGA package)".
The chipset is Intel’s 440LX.
The motherboard is about 4 years old and Win98 already has perfect drivers for it and its chipset.
The only thing I've could done was to upgrade my BIOS version from R1.35a to (the latest on the net) R1.4. No changes at all.

[Enchanter]

Do try to get another graphic card and see whether the problem goes away.

My other question was asked out of curiosity only.

[setarip]

"(CELERON, 400MHz).

On 0 and 1 level of hardare acceleration the freezing doesn't happened."


Although you haven't mentioned two additional factors (memory and hard drive size), with your system configuration it may very well be that you're overtaxing its capabilities. For this the usual suggestions are as follows:

1) Turn off all non-essential background tasks
2) Reduce DESKTOP color depth
3) Reduce DESKTOP resolution to 800x600 (or 640x480, if necessary)
4) Defragment your hard drive

[Florance]

Originally posted by setarip
"(CELERON, 400MHz).

Thank you for your hints, but, unfortunately, my problem is still in place.

I've 168MB of RAM and 40GB of HDD. Everything you've recomanded me I've already done, and much more (the lower resolution, even 16colors). Nothing changed. The freezing still takes place.
(with hardware acc on)

[Florance]

Originally posted by Enchanter
Do try to get another graphic card and see whether the problem goes away.

Now, regarding the graphcard. I don't think that changing it can be the solution here. Why? 'Cause, at the begining, my graphcard works good enough, (which means that the density of freezings was zero) and have depreciated in a very strange way, in time. In fact, first time I've installed MicroDVD and some DivX codecs, in order to playback a movie, MicroDVD haved crashed till I've installed WMP 7. For a while, everything was just fine, good quality and overlay, etc. I've seen a few movies in this way and I've encountered a movie which have generated freezing. I've said, ok, its the movie or the codec, but when I've tried to playback the movies I've played before, nothing was as at begining. Strange! I've changed the codec, and this "war" have started.
Tacking into acount all of this, it seems that in the movie playback chain (graphcard, DirectX, codec, player) something it is changing its runing parameters. "It is alive!!!"

Yesterday after I've posted this thread here, I've just follow the hint of someone from here and I've done a search. I've searched for "hardware acceleration". It is amazing how many problems posted here found its solution in disabling the h.a. Strange. Different OSs, different graphcards, different PCs (speed, CPU, RAM, chipset, etc.). All more or less different, but all with problems and all problems with a very simple solution: "disable h.a."
I believe that, somewhere between graphcard's CPU - graphcard's hardware - MS DirectX - DivX codecs - MS Player "Something is wrong in Denmark" .(no ofense to Denmark)

So, my new question is this:

What is wrong with Hardware Acceleration?

[UncasMS]

"Something is wrong in Denmark"

i'd rather use this quotation:

*though this be madness, yet there's method in it*

[PCaravan]

Florance,

I used to have the same problem. All of your simptomes are surprisingly identical to mine and I even tried all the same things to fix it until I just gave up and excepted that my computer had some sort of inherent instability that I could not fix (I even took it to a computer shop to have a tech look at it but to no availe.)

I had learned some ways around the problem, it was by no means satisfactory, but at least it kept me interested in divx. One day after installing the Tsunami Filter/Codec pack version 3.9.6 all freezing problems ended. It has been several months now and I haven't seen a computer freeze since while playing divx.

Just so you know, I did try installing codecs in various ways before coming accross my fix to include:

-installing just the codec needed for the video.
-installing various version of the codec needed for the video.
-installing various versions of Nimo.
-installing a previous version of Tsunami (Which ever one was
just before version 3.9.6).

Also, my way around the problem was that I would never have a crash from a video with the FCC MP43 or XVID. So I would change the FCC from DIV3 and DIV4 movies to MP43 and they would work, no freezing. I would change the FCC in DIVX movies to XVID and they would work, no freezing.

I hope any of that helps.