Okay, perhaps not obscure, but it might as well be because the source of the problem is nearly impossible to narrow down!

It's simple. My computer randomly locks up while watching videos. The format doesn't matter. It can be .wmv or .mov or .avi or whatever. I've used different video drivers, used different programs besides just QT and WMP, formatted twice, and still... my computer just locks up. It's not a BSoD or crash or random restart syndrome. It just stops. A cold hard lock. Sound stops (no stuttering repeat) and video stops, and the mouse cursor is frozen too. Games do not lock up on me, though, and the movies in games haven't ever locked my computer up either.

Anyway, help would be appreciated if anyone has any clue as to what this might be. I have a HP Pavilion ZV5000 notebook.

---> WMouse

What are you using to watch the videos with?

Winamp, WMP, something else?

If, as you say, it happens when you're running several different media programs, then that would seem to point to a hardware issue thing like a problem with your RAM... but, games give the RAM even more of a workout than video does, so I don't think that's it.

You know what I think? HP, just like Compaq before them, saddles their comps (especially their laptops, it would seem) with all sorts of native, pre-installed, always-on software, most of which is crap. I'd use Task Manager to try checking to see if the laptop has some kind of HP 'media management' program running, and see if that's conflicting with the media players you're running somehow.

If so, turn it off (End Process) and see if that stops your problem. If it does, I'd just use run/msconfig/startup to make sure that program doesn't load when you start Windows, and that would be the end of your problem.

OK, yeah. Did some reading and it looks like your model shipped with some typically hideous HP garbage called "HP Image Zone". It's described as an application "for managing digital photos, scanned images, and video clips." A quick Google search showed that HP Image Zone had created conflicts with WinXP SP2, and several other problems.

Try killing that and see if it helps.

I sincerely doubt that HP Image Zone survived all three formats that I've run since I got my computer last year, 'Card.

I've used a number of different media players. I can't even remember them all. No help.

I'm not watching more than one video at once, nor running any other programs in the background besides the default system services, and it will lock up after a cold boot or a reboot. I've noticed that it really _hates_ me to fiddle with the video. Resizing or moving the window will often cause it to lock up, but other times I don't touch a single thing and it still freezes. Other times I can watch video perfectly the 1st time, but if I load a second then it'll lock up within seconds. If not, then I can often watch a few before I have a problem. Running any other programs at the time, though, is an invitation for disaster.

---> WMouse

In that case, I have no idea.

It is almost certainly a corrupted codec. You may need to do a reformat to get rid of this one, but try updating and replacing your sound drivers, video drivers, and DX installation first. Good Luck!

Actually, from what you describe, it sounds like something to do with the graphics card or its drivers. That would explain the cross-player, cross-format issue, and it would be sensitive to resizing or "fiddling" with the video.

It should also happen with games, but they often have optomized ways of dealing with the g-card designed in, so they might be bypassing the issue. Is this a built-in graphics card? Might be fighting for resources, too.

Just a thought. I like 'Card's idea of streamlining to see if that helps. Even if the HP Media image thang hasn't survived the formatting, plenty of OTHER stuff is probably in there.

Getting a good codec pack like K-Lite might solve things too

I'm very strict about what gets onto my hard drive. Nothing can creep past my all-seeing eye.

My video card is a Radeon 9000 -->IGP<-- and so I bet it's a resource conflict. Drivers have done little to fix it.

---> WMouse