My Windows Media Player won't recognize almost any extension it sees. Movies, songs...it just says "can't play this file" all the time. I want a different player because Microsoft's stuff is the pits. Is there a free player that's better?
VLC, one of the best media players out there and it's pretty good at reading a lot of different extension: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/vlc.cfm Media Player Classic is also pretty good: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/media_player_classic.cfm
Hmmm. Well VLC works nicely for my .m2v files but when I try to play an audio file, any audio file, the computer reboots. Anyone?
That's a bit odd, have you tried updating your sound drivers? Also right click the "My Computer" Icon and select properties then go to "Advance" and were it says "Start up And Recovery" click "settings" and under "System Failure" untick the box that says "Automatically Restart" then try playing the audio file and see if it still restarts.
Thanks for the continuing assistance p4-tt. Unticking "Automatically Restart" did not solve the problem-I got the blue screen and the HD shut down requiring restart anyway. I tried updateing the audio codecs and the Legacy devices but the Wizard said it could find no better match.
When you untick the box rather than it restarting automatically you get the blue screen (of death), it should tell you the problem, do you remember what it said? Also find out the model of your sound card and go to there site for the updates as the update wizard is not very good at finding them.
Well, for what it's worth, here it is: STOP: 0x0000008E (0xc0000005, 0xf7cf2675, 0xf4b0b758, 0x00000000 STOP: smwdm.sys - adress f7cf2675 base at f7cc0000, DATESTAMP 3cab8117 Microsoft's error reporter says it's a device driver but their "solution" seems to point to everything and nothing. Also, I have onboard sound, not a seperate card.
Is it when you try to play a audio file with VLC or with any application? Do you know what make/model your motherboard is that way you can find out what the on board sound is then update it. Also try looking at the Event Viewer in administrative tools (in control panel)to see there's any more info on what might be causing this problem.
