video playback

[boywonder]

recntly,my videos(avi,mpg)have been freezing on my media players(windows media9,ultraplayer,vlc,dvix)but the sound continues on normaly.this has only started in the last 3 days,before then no problems at all,amd im pretty sure i have all the required codecs.anyone have any idea whats causing this or have a solution.my operating system is windows 98 se.

[phalkon30]

Well, I can think of a few things that might cause this.

-Defragment your hard drive. Maybe it can't read the video fast enough because its too scattered, or if its on cd, copy it to the HD.
-Use compressed air to dust out your case. Make sure to clean all cooling fins on the processor, power supply, and video card. This is just standard maintenence, but if the video card is too packed with dust it may be overheating.
-Close unused programs. Don't run anything else if possible (that includes file sharing). If it makes no difference, run away...
-Don't overclock. Overclocking is good for gaming, but can decrease or even lock up normal video. Its not like you're trying to raise the FPS of a video file ;)

[wonderboy2005]

-Don't overclock. Overclocking is good for gaming, but can decrease or even lock up normal video. Its not like you're trying to raise the FPS of a video file ;)
really? i never knew that. thanks Phalk... i have my GFX card overclocked quite a bit, and i have noticed the video skips on occasion... but that could also be from using my CD drive as the source. anyway, i will take it into consideration next time i watch some video.

[Malicious Intent]

Hey boywonder, you really do have all the problems don't you? :-(
I would suggest uninstalling your current codecs (from add/remove programs) and downloading the codec pack from www.kazaalite.tk ("K-lite Codec Pack", under "Downloads" on the left hand side). It has a program called "anti-freeze" bundled in which should stop videos from freezing.
If you already use this then I'm stuck.

[boywonder]

what is overclocking?

[Malicious Intent]

Don't worry boywonder - its something that advance users can do to try and get some extra speed out of their computer. Its not the sort of thing that you can do accidently.

[phalkon30]

Overclocking, in short, is making something go faster than it should. This usually makes the device perform better/faster and unfortunately hotter. Heat is usually the limit for overclocking.

Its an advanced thing that I really don't recommend getting into. Its addictive, and destructive in some ways (shortens the life of the component)