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**#Hashx#** · 03-20-2004, 04:20 AM

Is this streaming Video?

**Fiercest** · 03-20-2004, 05:05 AM

No, this is not streaming video. This is a stored video file on my hard drive.

The only thing remarkable about these video files is that they were once stored on my 40G FAT32 HDD which also housed my previous Windows 98 SE installation. After I bought a new 80G HDD and a Windows XP Professional CD, I installed it with the NTFS format on the 80G HDD and then transfered the files from the old hard drive to the new.

I had some doubts about the durability of data under a FAT32 to NTFS transfer, but I was assured that such issues didn't exist as I was simply "moving my clothes to a bigger better closet" and I "shouldn't expect your clothes to change" to quote a helpful forum member.

Had I burnt these files with Nero, I would've used Data Verification to ensure they were burnt correctly against their original copies. However, lacking such an option using a raw HDD to HDD data transfer, the only data verification I can offer is that the number of bytes that made up the copied collection of video files was the exact same number against the original collection they were copied from. I checked this even before I played a video after the OS installation, so Windows XP was essentially a virgin when it came to playing videos under Windows Media Player, and the byte count was identical.

These video files are standard AVI files using the Mpeg-3 Audio Codec and the DivX Video Codec. And yes, I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the DivX Codec. These videos were totally watchable using my current hardware config under Windows 98 SE, but are totally gimping for a few minutes before dying on Windows XP Pro.

The process has begun. I can feel a solution getting slowly closer. Keep the suggestions up guys!

-Fiercest

**Yawgm0th** · 03-20-2004, 02:51 PM

Just to be 100% sure it isn't just a software issue, try downloading a different media player, such as Winamp. I can't remember if it even supports DivX though, so you could also try downloading the actual DivX player. I'm not sure, but I think it comes with spyware. Just remove it when your done testing.

Download updated drivers for you motherboard and video (in that order) if you haven't already.

Update Window Media Player. Download and install the latest version (9, I think) over your current if it isn't updated. When playing files, remain connected to the internet. WMP automatically downloads codecs, which could (I admit it isn't likely to) solve this probelm.

And really, there's almost no chance that transfering over different file systems damages the files. Transfering over network, to a CD, to a floppy, often means transfering to a different file system. And hard drives are the most reliable transfer out of those.

Three guides worth of tweaking? Persian Immortal's XP tweaking guides?

**asklepios** · 03-20-2004, 04:30 PM

Originally posted by Fiercest

I had some doubts about the durability of data under a FAT32 to NTFS transfer, but I was assured that such issues didn't exist as I was simply "moving my clothes to a bigger better closet" and I "shouldn't expect your clothes to change" to quote a helpful forum member.

yes that was me..."The Moron" :rolleyes2
i wonder whether you have ever downloaded stuff where loads of data might be stored on Linux specific file systems like ext3 or someother one. :?:

**Fiercest** · 03-20-2004, 04:42 PM

Yuck, I don't like the DivX player. I can't put my finger on it, it's just one of those programs that once you see on your desktop, you're just itching to uninstall it for some unknown reason. :rolleyes2 But I'm willing to try it so I'll do that and post my findings.

As for updating my motherboard and videocard drivers, I did the motherboard before I installed Win XP and as I stated before, I was using the latest 4.3 Catalysts when these problems started to happen. As of now, I'm using 4.1, which isn't any better at solving my problem mind you, its simply the driver version I was testing before I gave up and started posting in this forum.

I also stated before that I was using the current version of Windows Media Player. An update is not available either through Windows Update or the manual update search within WMP via "Help > Check for player updates..." Furthermore, checking "Help > About Windows Media Player" returns a version number of "9.00.00.3008." If anyone out there has a version number higher then this, by all means tell me where you got it. :P

Here's a thought. Is there a link where I can download the entire Windows Media Player program and not the Web Setup program? Maybe if I uninstall WMP and reinstall it using the Redistributable version of the setup program off my HDD I might get better results.

And finally, yes, I believe the three guides of tweaks were Persian Immortal's. The WinXP Tweaking "Reformat to Relax" and "Relax to Righteous" as well as the oldie but goody "System Optimization Guide." Whenever I change Catalyst version, I'm also using the "Catalyst Installation" guide.

Any more suggestions while I test a few things out? Also, anyone out there know a link where I can get the Windows Media Player redistributable setup program?

-Fiercest

**Fiercest** · 03-20-2004, 04:48 PM

To asklepios:

No, I've not downloaded anything like that. In fact, before you posted about it, I never knew a program with that name existed.

So you can correctly assume that I've never used an programs along those lines.

And I never called you a moron either. :D :laugh:

-Fiercest

**Yawgm0th** · 03-20-2004, 04:50 PM

You can't update motherboard drivers before you even install the operating system. :roll:

If you updated your BIOS, fine, but get updated drivers (meaning you'll install them in-OS) for your motherboard (chipset particularly).

I guess you could also try switching back to the newest Catalyst drivers. If the problem still occurs not much reason to use 4.1.

If you want to try reinstalling Windows Media Player, just go to www.microsoft.com. You should be able to find it quickly, so I won't bother with a link.

I agree with you on DivX. I had installed it a long time ago but it didn't stay on my system for long. Just couldn't stand it. But it's worth a shot for testing purposes.

**asklepios** · 03-20-2004, 05:06 PM

1) download any other media player. just like what Yawgm0th suggested. play this video on that player and see if the problem exists. you can also take the HD to one of your friends and play the videos there just to take this "data is corrupted" thought out of your mind.
2) ext3 is not a program. it is a file system just like NTFS or FAT32 but is used on Linux based machines. more than half of the web servers are Linux based and whenever you download something from net there is a huge chance that it is coming from that kind of file system. now if we go on your theory that the data gets corrupted cos it has been copied from one file system to another then i wonder what cyber world will come to.

**Fiercest** · 03-20-2004, 06:05 PM

LOL, I'm taking so many shots from so many directions, suddenly my computer problems aren't the topic of this thread anymore, but the defense of my ego! :rofl: Allow me to clarify.

To Yawgm0th:

What I meant by saying I'd updated the motherboard drivers before I installed WinXP was that using my previous OS, Windows 98 SE stored and run off my "old" 40G HDD, I'd downloaded and installed the VIA Hyperion v4.43 due to my motherboard's older VIA chipset, the Apollo KT133A. I then installed Windows XP on my "new" 80G HDD and upon encountering this problem, I installed the latest v4.51 Hyperions (within WinXP) to see if it made a difference. It didn't. Did anyone even READ my opening post??

As for my BIOS, the last time I updated it was almost a year ago. My motherboard hasn't had a BIOs update posted in a while. http://www.tyan.com/support/html/b_s2390b.html

Your suggestion to revert to 4.3 is a sound one I suppose, seeing as how I have nothing to lose since the problem won't be fixed either way. I might as well do my testing under a Catalyst 4.3 environment to avoid any hidden issues older Catalysts might be causing.

And thanks for the microsoft website link. Wouldn't have known to look there!

Just kidding man. I seriously appreciate the efforts you're making. Thank you. :cheers:

To asklepios:

Really? Ext3 is a Linux based file system and over half the web servers in the world uses it? Far out. I honestly didn't know that. I guess the old saying of "You can learn something new everyday" really is true. :thumb:

As for your assumption that I still have worries about the data transmission from one file system to another causing data corruption, please let me state right now that I DON'T THINK THAT. I don't have any such thoughts on my mind. I DID way back before I bought the WinXP CD and HDD but thanks to you and other helpful peeps, my concerns were put to rest. I'm not even considering that my video files are corrupted because of the data transfer, I just mentioned it earlier to provide background info in response to the "What kind of video files are we talking about?" post. So please, I don't have any "data corruption theories." I know that's not my issue. Let the putting of words in my mouth cease once and for all. :wink:

Now with that clarified, I won't bother taking my HDD to a friend's house and trying it there because 1) I have no need to do so and 2) even if I did, the fastest computer they have is running Windows 95 with a 300mhz CPU and 64 MB of RAM, and that's TOPS. :snip: I need better friends. Preferably ones that LAN Party... : party ha Thanks for the suggestion though.

Alright, now that my ego is safe, I'll put down my shield and conclude this post, lol. First things first. I'm gonna revert to Catalyst v4.3 and then uninstall WMP and reinstall it. If that doesn't work, I'm gonna try disabling options like video smoothing and write combining and see if that helps. Finally, I'll try sharing a single IRQ with all my major devices just for kicks. That'll probably cause more harm then help but I've got nothing to lose by trying. I'll also try going back into my Windows 98 SE installation (its still chilling on my 40G HDD, haven't formatted it yet) and see if there were any options I had selected/deselected in the working Win98SE WMP that I didn't/did have under my non-working WinXP WMP. Lastly I'll try the DivX video player, which I only want to do as a last resort cause of the residual crappiness/spyware aspects of the program.

Lemme try these things and I'll get back to ya. In the meantime, by all means post any new ideas you may come up.

Post again in a few hours.

-Fiercest

**Yawgm0th** · 03-20-2004, 06:28 PM

Just to clarify (getting off-topic now), asklepios was completely wrong about the server statistics. While more than half of web servers are using Apache, only about 30% of them use Linux (inlcuding TweakTown). More use Windows and many use regular UNIX, and there's no telling what file systems they're using (most will probably not be ext3, though). His point that you are likely to download something from a server using a different file system stands, though.
Enough wasted time on that subject. :D

One other thing you could try is downloading a video and watching it. I'll let you find the video (game preview? no idea what you download), but this will tell us whether there actually is something wrong with your video files. It's an alternative to playing it in someone else's computer (which I see will be a problem for you).
I can't think of much else you can try. I suppose a virus scan couldn't hurt (get AVG from my signature if you don't have it).

**Fiercest** · 03-20-2004, 08:37 PM

Update.

Ok, I was typing this long ass detailed post when my system froze and I lost everything I'd typed. That really sucked. So I'm gonna try right now to type as much detail as I can but as quickly as I can so it doesn't happen again. Suffice it to say the problem may be getting worse if its causing my system to freeze when I'm simply typing a forum reply...

Anyway, here I go. I reverted to v4.3 Catalysts properly (using the guide I mentioned earlier) and I downloaded the WMP setup program off the microsoft website. Upon launching the program and passing the EULA crap, the program quickly copied the files needed to install WMP and then launched the WMP configuration wizard. This was unexpected since I assumed it would prompt me with a "WMP already detected" or a "Repair Installation" option or something along those lines, but it didn't. I can only hope the program did the equivalent of a "Repair Installation" option and didn't just scan the files I already had, saw that they were the latest and then skipped the actual installation of any of the files.

So I started WMP and I configured the options as I had before except for two exceptions: I unticked both the "Enable full-screen mode switch" and the "Disable full-screen controls" checkboxes. (Under Tools > Options > Performance Tab > Advanced...blah blah blah, you'll find it) The disabling of the former checkbox was a recommendation Microsoft suggested to people having system freezes during video playback (a.k.a. Me) and the latter was a decision I made upon realized I never had those popup controls that occur when you're watching a video in full-screen mode and you move your mouse in Win98SE. I'd gotten quite used to using ALT+ENTER and THEN doing my video time seeking under my WMP in Win98SE, so disabling this unnecessary option only made sense.

Now here's the meat:

Upon playing a video file (same format as previously used video files, but not the exact same video) I got a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA stop error within two minutes. BUT the error also included this line:

*The problem appears to have been caused by the following file: ati2dvag.dll*

This is the first time this line has appeared and supposedly gives me a name to the ugly face that is my difficulties. One of the major Catalyst drivers appears to be causing my problem.

But this is almost like taking 2 steps back rather then a step forward. If the Catalysts were my problem all along, why didn't this happen when I was using the Catalysts under Win98SE? Sure, the driver is configured differently for different OSs, but their main functions should still be the same. Also, while I was using v4.2 under Win98SE (v4.3 wasn't out yet, it came out after I migrated to WinXP), I STILL tested the WinXP v4.2 of the Catalysts and STILL got my system frozen. And even if all that doesn't matter and the v4.3 Catalyst for WinXP is to blame, how the hell can I be playing games like only a gamer can and receive no issues, but as soon as I play a standard video file, all hell breaks loose?

ARGH! :grr:

I'm going to download an episode of Red vs Blue off http://www.redvsblue.com which also uses the DivX codec and see if I get the same issue when playing a "fresh" video file rather then a "used" one, but I'm sure the error will still occur.

Armed with this new information about the ati2dvag.dll supposedly causing the error, what do I do next???

-Fiercest

P.S. The test that returned the error with the information about the ati2dvag.dll file was conducted under a system environment where the "ATI Smart" service was set to *AUTOMATIC* (rather then Disabled as the guides suggest) and the "Enable Write Combining" checkbox under the Troubleshooting tab of the ATI Control Panel was *UNTICKED.* These settings were supposed to provide a more compatible and sound playback experience, but neither seemed to do much good.

**Fiercest** · 03-20-2004, 08:44 PM

:shock: New thought!!

The stop error that occured was a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA error! Doesn't that mean the problem is probably occuring with regards to my memory???

I know its not my virtual memory cause it has 2 freaking gigs to play with. And my Radeon 9500 Pro, or RAM timings aren't overclocked or anything like that...

Does this error mean either my 512 MB of RAM or my R9500 Pro's 128 MB of RAM are failing!?!? If replacing these components would be the best bet to solving my problems I'd like to know, but damnit it would REALLY SUCK if I had to worry about system RAM and video card replacements right now. I've yet to find that Money Tree I was always told didn't exist but was determined to find when I was 7 years old... :cry:

-Fiercest

**Yawgm0th** · 03-20-2004, 08:54 PM

Read these (top two Google result from a search for PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA):

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmd_stp_ccgm.asp

Page not found – OSR

http://www.osr.com/ddk/ddtools/bccodes_4qsn.htm

Something seems to be going way wrong with these Catalyst drivers. Are you absolutely positive you are using the right ones?

Judging from all this I would say either your mobo doesn't like your card (not likely) or your card is just somehow damaged (assuming you haven't somehow screwed up the drivers). The card is probably the problem.

Assuming we can't find a fix for this, just how much are you willing to spend on a new card?

**PrairieDawg** · 03-20-2004, 09:14 PM

Do you have more than one stick of RAM to play with? Is the 512 on one stick or do you have two 256MB sticks? Can you remove one stick at a time or buy/beg/borrow another stick to try? Did a bit of searching as well ... just because the error mentions the ati file that it is trying to acess does not eliminate the fact that the message also points to memory issues. It's quite possible that if your memory is failing that it will not be able to access certain pertainent files when they are needed. Have you tried memtest? http://www.memtest86.com/

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Windows XP + R9500 Pro = Apparent Video Playback Issues

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