Windows XP Crashes for MPEG2 file

[Flame10]

Suppose, I have a MPEG2 and an AVI file in a folder and I play the Mpeg2 file, next when I select the files in explorer XP crashes without any warning and the machine restarts just like a poweroff.

I have recreated this for more than 3 times and its quite a problem, can any of you ppl check it out if it is a real bug or I'm only having this problem.

I've Win XP SP1, the MPEG2 file is 640X480 and the AVI is DivX format.

[Animaniac]

Hmm, I have a similar problem too that I haven't been able to find any information on. When streaming MPEG files over the internet either Windows Media Player or Internet Explorere crashes. The file needs to be downloaded first and then played. In addition, if it's embedded in the HTML, there's little that can be done. This may be a general problem with Windows Media and the handling of MPEG files.

[chemmajik]

Theres yah problems windows media infected player & internet infected viewer... Seriously it is sounding like a virus infection... Use Spybot.. If it doesnt fix it get better ram, get a better PSU...

[Flame10]

I'm quite sure about it as I'm having this problem even after a fresh install of XP Sp1 and I do have ADAware and Norton Sysworks 2003 all updated to the latest updates.

Another thing can anyone tell me how do I turn off the Movie files preview feature, which is shown in explorer, I don't wan't to Switch to Windows Classic desktop, Any Tweaks any Ideas ?

However the crash is not for this as I've even switched to classic mode and face the same reboot.

[Flame10]

Here's another problem with XP, when I play an AVI/MPG, it cannot be deleted until next logon, sometimes until next restart, it seems that the file is somehow locked by the system, I think I saw somewhat similar problem and solution in some website, but as I didn't use XP at that time I didn't give any heed to it. But I can't find out the page now. Anyone here know the solution? It'll really be a great help.

PS. Strangely if you rename the .avi file to .divx or anything else then this problem doesn't happen.

[SVCD4Me]

I've had the same type of problem before. I'm sure it has something to do with the way Windows or Media Player handles the file. I believe it has something to do with prefetching the file/codec/playback details then getting hung up. I have been able to stop the problem from happening by unassociating the file types in WMP. I have to choose which program to use to play DVD's and MPG's, but at least explorer doesn't crash now.

[Flame10]

I tried associating all AVI\MPEG\MPG files with bsplayer, however the problem still existed, like you can't delete\rename the files if you're unlucky enough to have clicked on that file through explorer, it seems that whenever explorer tries to show a preview it opens the file but simply forgets to close it.

Its worse than this, I did some inspecting using Iarsn Taskinfo (http://iarsn.com) and I found out that as many times as explorer needs to show the preview, it loads it into memory and never unloads it. So suppose you select and deselect an avi file in explorer 10 times, then 10 instances of the file remains loaded into the memory, this seems to be really some error that should be patched immediately 'coz sometimes of all files AVI files tend to have the biggest size and if the size goes over 1 GB and if explorer tries to store 10/20 instances of it in memory [Well I don't know how it will be possible]. Strangely even when I switch to classic view, [when explorer needs not show the preview] this problem persists.

The only way I found out to avoid this is to rename all my AVI files to something like .MYEX/.anything and associating the file type with Video player of one's choice, Or even better stop using Explorer and switch over to other Filemanagers like 2Explorer (http://www.netez.com/2xExplorer).

[Atamido]

I'll just copy and paste the fix from here. (http://www.everwicked.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1427)

Windows keeps every avifile registered to an always running handler... just delete that regkey/branch and all work fine again

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D
94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}]
@="Avi Properties Handler"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{87D62D
94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}\InProcServer32]
@=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00
,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,\
00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00
,32,00,5c,00,73,00,68,00,\
6d,00,65,00,64,00,69,00,61,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c
,00,00,00
"ThreadingModel"="Both"

The first is the branch the second the key.. delete the whole branhc and your fine... for all people that are afraid of... just export the branch before deleting for reconstructing purposes cheers

[Flame10]

Thanks for the prompt help, I'm not near my own machine right now, will check and let you know.

Thanks again

[Flame10]

That Registry Tweak did work fine for me, I'm linking a zip file with 2 .reg files for other users need.
1. AviHandler Remove.reg -> Use this for solving the Avi problem.
2. Restore.reg -> Use this for restoring [The Problem as MS intended :]
Download (http://home.graffiti.net/flame10/forum/avi_reg.zip)


BTW, I'm still stuck with the actual problem this thread was started for. I'm stating the steps if anyone else want to recreate the crash.

i. Capture 2 MPEG 2 format files with your capturing software. [Remember its Mpeg 2 Format]
ii. Select & Play any one of those files from Explorer. [Both files must be in same directory]
iii. Close the player.
iv. Now select the 2 files [The Explorer should remain open from Step i.]

My PC blacks out and reboots at this stage, either starts scandisc and deletes the 2 Mpeg2 Files or throws an error message about the crash on the next start [This happened 2 times only and so I cannot give the error message]. My Mpeg2 Files' details are:


Audio:
Format: MPEG-1 Layer II
Sampling Rate: 44.1 kHz 16-bit Stereo
Bit Rate: 224 KBits/sec

Video:
Size: 640x480
Frame Rate: 25.00 frames/sec
Bit Rate: 4000 KBits/sec

Total:
Bit Rate: 4387 KBits/sec
File split size : 4063 MBytes.

However they don't matter as any type of mpeg2 files give this problem

[BaRRoS]

Hi Flame10,

I've tried reproducing your problem but ...nothing....
Have you tried it without the SP1?
Are you only using WMP (what version)? (try with MP v6.4)
What's the CPU?

I know that in some systems 2000/XP, sometimes explorer crash with ffdshow and preview but I only noticed with AVIs.
Also, sometimes my PC just restars without any explanation and I've found that is related with the IDE access (HDD,DVD,CD or Raid), but haven't found (yet) the reason that triggers it.

[Flame10]

I earlier didn't have SP1, I had also noticed this problem at that time, so I don't think its associated with it, and about WMP, I still use the old classic one, and thanks to test the steps out, I'll still request if some other guys will help me out.