same file plays on VLC @ work, not @ home

I have had problems recently playing all sorts of files (.avi .asf .mp4 mostly) in my VLC player at home on my laptop. Older .avi files I have on my hard drive played fine when I did a check to see if it was a problem with VLC.

So, some .avi files play fine, some don't.
Also some recently downloaded .asf and .mp4 files have played fine on my laptop in VLC (the newest, I just uninstalled and re-installed it, 8.0.6f I think) while other .asf and .mp4 files don't play properly.

"OK, so maybe it's codec related or a problem with those files that aren't playing" I figured. Burned them to disc, took them to work, installed the latest VLC on a PC at work and.... both .mp4 and and .asf files that hadn't worked at home played absolutely perfectly on the same vesion of VLC!

Problems with the VLC player at home are...
-Starts out fine.
-Picture severely slows down, becomes pixilated and eventually freezes
-The audio continues to play fine

I have gone in and deleted all other media players on my laptop and co-dec packs that had been previously installed. Thinking that there may be a conflict between players and/or codecs.

Is it safe to rule out my VLC player and the files as the problem?

I'm starting to think it's a problem with my laptop.

I run a microsoft XP OS. Recently (for a few months now I guess) it sometimes freezes up on me and I have had to bring it down hard several times. Other times its response is VERY slow. Yet other times it seems to work just fine.

Where do I go from here?

Sorry for such a long post, but I figure details are a good thing.

Many thanks in advance to anyone can help me out.

 

Check this then consider re-installing the video drivers.


http://www.deskshare.com/Resources/articles/dmc_turnoffhardwareacceleration.aspx

 

Yeah, I stumbled on that a bit after I had posted. I went home, tried it and it still didn't work.

Thanks for the link though.

As my username suggests...

If I was to re-install the video drivers had I may as well go ahead and re-install the OS and everything?

A friend changed my original OS from Japanese to English. Only problem was (as I understand it) this laptop was meant to ONLY be used with a Japanese OS. A week later after searching everywhere, he finally found drivers for most everything.

Would re-installing the drivers be another ordeal?

Thanks again

 

Generally download appropriate drivers for the card.
Uninstall the existing drivers from the Control Panel and install the download.
Doesn't take long.

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

 

Thank you.

Would I search for and download updated drivers, or just re-install the same drivers after un-install?

I have the current drivers on a back up disc.

If I should download and update, where on my computer do I find the information I need about what drivers I have?

 

The 'Help' tab of the Nvidia control panel should list the version.
You can uninstall and reinstall from the CD.

 

OK, I'll give that a shot when I get home.

Thanks.

 

I thought I would check back in to let people know that my problem is solved. Unfortunately there were severe hardware problems. Not the answer I wanted to hear, but now I have a new desktop.