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General discussion

Video keeps re-booting and freezing computer

Sep 26, 2005 9:27AM PDT

Hey I was wondering if anybody could help me out. For a very very long time my computer has been very weird with video files, It mostly happens with AVI files but it has happend with other file types before. Basically when I play video files my computer will either completely freeze or just restart all of a sudden. I am pretty sure my codec's are up to date and there are times when I seem to fix it and it won't do it for a little while but then it will start doing it again. So does anybody know what my problem is and how to fix it?

I have XP

Discussion is locked

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The CPU may be overheating.
Sep 27, 2005 1:03AM PDT

Are the vents and fans clean? Have you removed the dust that builds up around them? This includes any fans that are located on video and other cards.

If so, you should probably open the computer's side panels and run a fan pointed directly into the machine. If not, clean everything so that air can circulate freely as was intended.

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Video keeps freezing computer
Oct 8, 2005 4:21AM PDT

Hi, I seem to have the same issue as you, from what it sounds like, except my pc does not reboot. I just get freezing up situations when i try to access or select any type of video file on my pc. and it even does this when any movie players i open try to play a movie file, it's really driving me crazy this problem, as i've been trying to figure it out for ages, without havin to backup files and re-master my system. as i would like to avoid that situation due to the setup of my system, and this really seems to be a weird issue too, as i've never come across it, when repairing PC's i've done before. Any ideas, let me know thx.

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Also Same problem
Oct 13, 2005 12:02AM PDT

Any time my computer tries to open any king of video It slows to a crawl mouse refreshes every 5 seconds or so. I have to ctrl alt delete out of whatever app had tried to load the video. I have the latest video card drivers and I have most video codecs installed. This problem however is with all video formats in all players.

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freezes up with media files
Oct 14, 2005 11:12PM PDT

yeah, me again, i still ain't found anything about sorting out this dam issue i'm havin, i see that u have the same issue as me. it's crazy, i don't understand why it does this with just those movie files, and any player u use to try and play them. But i had noticed something else to, that when i jump to the logon screen, i can feel the mouse movin without jerkyness again, and also the movie playing properly in the background whilst on the logon screen, but as soon as i log back in to the desktop, it does the samething again. anyone got any ideas?

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Here is what I and probably WE have tried
Oct 16, 2005 2:20AM PDT

I have, installed all new codes, updated to wmp10, updated real, updated quicktime, downloaded latest video drivers from Nvidia, Turned down acceleration under the advanced display properties tab, scanned for viruses, scanned for spyware, changed color/resolution settings.

Just using google you can see that there are quite a few people having this problem but nobody has found a solution to it yet or why it happens. CNET should have a peek at this thread.

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You seem to have done everything except check the temp
Oct 16, 2005 4:58AM PDT

of the machine. If a CPU overheats, it will either shut the system down, or reboot it. Clean all the fans. Pull the panels of the machine (assuming it's a desktop), and direct a fan into the interior of the machine. Other possibilities are a bad PSU or bad memory.