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Earlier today I was watching a video on VLC 0.8.4 when it suddenly froze. I don't remember having done anything, I was sat away from the machine. It was a DivX .avi.

I quit, and when I started it up again it just wouldn't play anything. It had the pause button showing (meaning it was in the playing state) but there was no video or audio. Nothing out of the ordinary is shown in the status bar, the timer doesn't count up either, but it does show the video's total time.

I then tried installing the latest version of VLC (without deleting preferences) and the same happened. I have also manually reset the preferences from within the program, to no avail.

System:
XP Pro SP1
A64 3700+
1GB DDR400
AGP 6800GT Golden Sample - outputting to two Dell P1130 monitors, however the video is trying to run on the primary monitor so it shouldn't be a problem (at least it never has been)

Anyone know what I can do?

Thanks

Edit: here's the log from the messaged window with verbosity set to 2:

main debug: CPU has capabilities 486 586 MMX 3DNow! MMXEXT SSE SSE2 FPU
main debug: looking for memcpy module: 4 candidates
main debug: using memcpy module "memcpymmxext"
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: thread 3616 (playlist) created at priority 0 (playlist/playlist.c:184)
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: thread 3632 (preparser) created at priority 0 (playlist/playlist.c:210)
main debug: looking for interface module: 1 candidate
main debug: using interface module "hotkeys"
main debug: thread 3656 (interface) created at priority 0 (interface/interface.c:231)
main debug: adding playlist item `M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\Futurama - S04E09.avi' ( M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\Futurama - S04E09.avi )
main debug: looking for interface module: 3 candidates
main debug: using interface module "wxwidgets"
main debug: thread 3688 (manager) created at priority 0 (interface/interface.c:216)
wxwidgets debug: Using last windows config '(-1,0,0,1600,1200)(0,44,48,355,98)(2,910,128,418,582)(6,0,0,-1,150)'
wxwidgets debug: id=0 p=(44,48) s=(355,98)
wxwidgets debug: id=2 p=(910,128) s=(418,582)
wxwidgets debug: id=6 p=(0,0) s=(-1,150)
main debug: nothing requested, starting
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: waiting for thread completion
main debug: creating statistics handler
main debug: thread 3784 (input) created at priority 1 (input/input.c:261)
main warning: drive letter M: found in source
main debug: `M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\Futurama - S04E09.avi' gives access `' demux `' path `M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\Futurama - S04E09.avi'
main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\Futurama - S04E09.avi'
main debug: looking for access_demux module: 1 candidate
main debug: creating access '' path='M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\Futurama - S04E09.avi'
main debug: looking for access2 module: 5 candidates
vcd debug: trying .cue file: M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\Futurama - S04E09.cue
access_file debug: opening file `M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\Futurama - S04E09.avi'
main debug: using access2 module "access_file"
main debug: pre-buffering...
main debug: received first data for our buffer
main debug: pre-buffering done 1408981 bytes in 0s - 530234 kbytes/s
main debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\Futurama - S04E09.avi'
main debug: looking for demux2 module: 44 candidates
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:46464952 (RIFF) size:182673078 pos:0
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'AVI '
avi debug: <list 'AVI '>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:8898 pos:12
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'hdrl'
avi debug: <list 'hdrl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:68697661 (avih) size:56 pos:24
avi debug: avih: streams:2 flags: HAS_INDEX IS_INTERLEAVED 576x432
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:4312 pos:88
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'strl'
avi debug: <list 'strl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:68727473 (strh) size:56 pos:100
avi debug: strh: type:vids handler:0x64697678 samplesize:0 25.00fps
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:66727473 (strf) size:108 pos:164
avi debug: strf: video:XVID 576x432 planes:1 16bpp
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:4b4e554a (JUNK) size:4120 pos:280
avi debug: </list 'strl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:4234 pos:4408
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'strl'
avi debug: <list 'strl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:68727473 (strh) size:56 pos:4420
avi debug: strh: type:auds handler:0x00000000 samplesize:0 41.67fps
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:66727473 (strf) size:30 pos:4484
avi debug: strf: audio:0x0055 channels:2 48000Hz 0bits/sample 117kb/s
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:4b4e554a (JUNK) size:4120 pos:4522
avi debug: </list 'strl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:260 pos:8650
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'odml'
avi debug: <list 'odml'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:686c6d64 (dmlh) size:248 pos:8662
avi warning: unknown chunk (not loaded)
avi debug: </list 'odml'>
avi debug: </list 'hdrl'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:28 pos:8918
avi debug: found LIST chunk: 'INFO'
avi debug: <list 'INFO'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:54465349 (ISFT) size:15 pos:8930
avi debug: ISFT: software : Nandub v1.0rc2
avi debug: </list 'INFO'>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:4b4e554a (JUNK) size:1278 pos:8954
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:5453494c (LIST) size:181275278 pos:10240
avi debug: skipping movi chunk
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:31786469 (idx1) size:1387552 pos:181285526
avi debug: idx1: index entry:86722
avi debug: </list 'AVI '>
avi debug: found Chunk fourcc:4b4e554a (JUNK) size:314 pos:182673086
avi debug: * LIST-root size:182673408 pos:0
avi debug: + RIFF-AVI size:182673078 pos:0
avi debug: | + LIST-hdrl size:8898 pos:12
avi debug: | | + avih size:56 pos:24
avi debug: | | + LIST-strl size:4312 pos:88
avi debug: | | | + strh size:56 pos:100
avi debug: | | | + strf size:108 pos:164
avi debug: | | | + JUNK size:4120 pos:280
avi debug: | | + LIST-strl size:4234 pos:4408
avi debug: | | | + strh size:56 pos:4420
avi debug: | | | + strf size:30 pos:4484
avi debug: | | | + JUNK size:4120 pos:4522
avi debug: | | + LIST-odml size:260 pos:8650
avi debug: | | | + dmlh size:248 pos:8662
avi debug: | + LIST-INFO size:28 pos:8918
avi debug: | | + ISFT size:15 pos:8930
avi debug: | + JUNK size:1278 pos:8954
avi debug: | + LIST-movi size:181275278 pos:10240
avi debug: | + idx1 size:1387552 pos:181285526
avi debug: + JUNK size:314 pos:182673086
avi debug: AVIH: 2 stream, flags HAS_INDEX IS_INTERLEAVED
avi debug: stream[0] rate:25000 scale:1000 samplesize:0
avi debug: stream[0] video(XVID) 576x432 16bpp 25.000000fps
main debug: selecting program id=0
avi debug: stream[1] rate:48000 scale:1152 samplesize:0
avi debug: stream[1] audio(0x55) 2 channels 48000Hz 0bits
avi debug: stream[0] created 32521 index entries
avi debug: stream[1] created 54201 index entries
avi debug: stream[0] length:1300 (based on index)
avi debug: stream[1] length:1300 (based on index)
main debug: using demux2 module "avi"
main debug: looking for a subtitle file in M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\
main debug: looking for decoder module: 27 candidates
ffmpeg debug: libavcodec initialized (interface 3344640 )
ffmpeg debug: postprocessing disabled
ffmpeg debug: using direct rendering
ffmpeg debug: ffmpeg codec (MPEG-4 Video) started
main debug: using decoder module "ffmpeg"
main debug: thread 3864 (decoder) created at priority 0 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: looking for decoder module: 27 candidates
main debug: using decoder module "mpeg_audio"
main debug: thread 3884 (decoder) created at priority 2 (input/decoder.c:159)
main debug: meta information:
main debug: - 'Setting' = ' HAS_INDEX IS_INTERLEAVED'
main debug: `M:\Movies 3\Futurama Season 4\Futurama - S04E09.avi' successfully opened
avi debug: old:0 < new 0
avi debug: old:0 < new 0

Try erasing the preferences directory. C:\Documents and Settings\Owner (this is you)\Application Data\VLC Erase VLC.

Application Data is a hidden directory so you will need to make it visible.

What version of VLC were you using before the update?

Thanks for the response.

As I said in my initial post I was using 0.8.4, but I'm on the latest one now. I'm trying your suggestion now.

Edit: I deleted this folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\<MyName>\Application Data\VLC

...but the problem continues.

Sorry! Most of the time I write these from memory rather than do quotes that are time consuming. I did miss it!

Did you reboot your machine after erasing the preferences file?

Another possibility is, sometimes Windows hangs on to modules after a crash and if you didn't reboot your machine before the uninstall the new install may not have rewritten some of the necessary files leaving you with mixed versions.

So it may be best to reboot, uninstall, check the VLC folder is missing or empty, erase the preferences folder. Then reinstall and try again.

When trying to solve a problem in any program it is not always best to do an update for the program without rebooting the machine first.

No, I hadn't done a reboot at all. To be honest I never really try that - this machine has been up for 30 days and 20 hours

Trying that now and ending my record uptime.

Excellent, problem solved.

It is funny because I know that rebooting is always the first thing to try, however as someone with a machine whose boot time is astronomical it is the last thing I ever try.

Thanks for the help

According to Microsoft max is 29 to 30 days and some things begin to fail this is common knowledge for ITs and the reason to switch to other operating systems in commercial applications. My experience is media players are the first to go at 29 days.

That, and after 49.7 days, some programs that use timers will fail due to timer wraparound (system uptime reaches 4,294,967,295ms, the max 32-bit value).