Before I do this... DirectX

[BaldEagl]

How's this one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148143

If you have a SATA port I'd get a SATA drive but if you only have ATA then that's one's good.

[Denholm]

If SATA was released within the last 2 years I most definitely don't have it. VERY old motherboard here.

Edit: How would I be able to determine if I have a SATA port or if I only have an ATA?

[BaldEagl]

Click on My Computer, then View System Information, Hardware, Device Manager and see if there are any SATA controllers listed.

If not you've only got (and probably only do have) ATA.

To reiterate, going with a new hard drive won't be the fix for your current problem but it will help stave off problems for you in the future.

[BoilerDown]

Boiler, the hardware acceleration tab is at full. Earlier today when talking to a homeschooling tech support guy he had me move the notches down to possibly resolve the issue. It did not help in any way. I have used Windows Media Player 6.4 in the past to try to play some of these videos but it didn't work, same problem. And just to confirm... Yes, I downloaded and tried the same media player you asked me to use.

I tried reinstalling DivX before to resolve the issue, and will try again. If that doesn't fix it is there a way to specifically install the ffdshow codec?

Well crap, I'm running out of ideas.

You can get ffdshow here:  http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDshow.htm

Hopefully installing it will overwrite any old/bad files.  I've stopped using ffdshow because I found it better to just run everything in Media Player Classic instead.  So I don't have the latest advice to give to you on this one.

The only other thing, is if you could link to an example file that won't run.  I can try it out on my W2k box.

[Denholm]

BaldEagl. I looked in the Device Manager, no SATA drivers are listed. The only ones there were ATA.

BoilerDown, thanks for the download link! I installed ffdshow and it eliminated the error message I was receiving for it in the Video Codecs page of the Device Manager. I figured this might have resolved the issue, it didn't. I also downloaded another film to see if maybe the film I was testing was corrupt. The film I downloaded also didn't play.

Here's the link to the film I downloaded: http://www.mediafire.com/?va3dzjj4xo9

Both the film I was testing (which has been on my desktop for quite some time) and the film I just downloaded are .WMV.

[Roscoroo]

wmv9vcm  is what you need and go get the free Divx player . im using 6.8 currently .it works fine with my early version of wm9 <-- the one without the always checking in garbage .

If you want Denholm I can set you up with my w2k program disc , dx9.0c ,wm9,divx ,most of the working codec's .(i only have problems when i convert in some avi to dvd formats. but thats a different program .
I also have the 4.12 omega's and cats on it for the 9000 series ati cards.and it has a few other good programs .
all freeware stuff.  i also have service pack 3 and 4 for w2k.

[Denholm]

I already have the free DivX codec, player, converter, and web player. Just to be certain, are you suggesting I get the wmv9vcm.dll file or a codec named, "wmv9vcm?"

[Roscoroo]

WMV9_VCM   thats what it is on mine.

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/WMV9_VCM

[Denholm]

Installing it did not resolve my video problem. It did however mess up all my BIOS settings and my date/time. Haven't found everything it messed up yet, but my system isn't running normally at the moment.

[Denholm]

Now I'm stumped!

Apparently its the Windows Installer disc that was used to install my system. I just had one of my friends install my new HD and install Windows 2000 on it. I still have the same problem.

[BaldEagl]

Have you checked to see if there's a new BIOS release and drivers for your motherboard and new drivers for your graphics card?

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Any software installation should not mess anything up on Bios. If your bios went bad you have a hardware related problem.

[BaldEagl]

Any software installation should not mess anything up on Bios. If your bios went bad you have a hardware related problem.

I suggest it because his problem sounds almost exactly the same as the Nvidia 700 series chipset problem which was fixed with a BIOS release.  Some of those boards ran along fine for months then just started acting up.  Some experienced problems right away (like mine), and others never did.

[Denholm]

I was actually looking for a new BIOS recently, haven't downloaded it yet though. This is because my motherboard is rather old and only sees 117 GB of my 250GB drive. I don't think its the video card though. I'm using the same drivers and same card that I used when this wasn't a problem on my system.

[BaldEagl]

I was actually looking for a new BIOS recently, haven't downloaded it yet though. This is because my motherboard is rather old and only sees 117 GB of my 250GB drive. I don't think its the video card though. I'm using the same drivers and same card that I used when this wasn't a problem on my system.

That's your version of Windows that's limiting what you see available on the HD, not your motherboard.  I have a Win98 machine that's the same.  It won't see more than ~120 Gb.  I had forgotten about that when we started discussing HD's.  XP and later aren't a problem.

There's also another issue I forgot but the old version of Defrag also has a HD partition limitation but it's also in that 120 Gb range IIRC.