Trying to play .avi

[plz help!]

Guys I am trying to play a .avi file but it just does not work. When I open the file a seperate window opens up with a black display and it says on the title bar VLC (hardware YUV overlay DirectX output)

What do I do......Please help!!!

[Summer]

DirectX is sometimes a problem in itself....
one of my favorite games has tons of problems with it, so I'm going to give you the advice I've got from there....

"go to microsoft's website and get the latest version/update of DirectX, and install it. this often works.

Still Not Working?
If, after installing this update, you continue to have video or sound problems, please proceed as follows.

Somewhere on your computer will be a folder where DirectX is installed (usually C:\ProgramFiles\DirectX\Setup). Go to that folder and run the file called DXDIAG.EXE. This will test your system and report to you on its DirectX compliance and whether or not it is working. Please note that, on most systems, it is quite normal with 2D video cards for your Primary Video driver to be your usual driver, not the DirectX driver."

it is a little old, but it almost always fixes directX issues.... if it isn't that *shrug*
I don't know what YUV is.

[Guest]

When I play the file using media player, it shows me the divx logo and two blocks on the right and left and a screen as if the movie will start- but nothing happens.