AVI2DVD freezing

[manyon1]

AVi2dvd is freezing when I try to open an avi file. In fact any avi conversion or fix software freezes. Running xp pro sp2, plenty of ram and hdd space. Is this a problem with windows and/or sp2? Any fixes?

[guns1inger]

More details, please. I am running pretty much the same setup with no problems. Aside from a few teething problems while SP2 updates were produced, I haven't seen any real problems with SP2 in hundreds of installs and upgrades.

Information I'd like to see

1. What software fails ?
2. What error messages do you get ?
3. What type of avi files - g-spot pictures would be good here ?
4. Is this a consistent or intermittent problem ?
5. Has it always been like this, or did it just stop working one day ?
6. If the answer to 5. was 'just stopped working one day' then what did you do prior to this - software installs/uninstalls etc.
7. Do you run a firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware ? If so, what, and do you update it regularly ? If not, are you insane ?
8. When was the last time you defragged your HDD ?

[manyon1]

Thanks for the response, I am a newbie to this process and hope I haven't missed something basic in the dowload and software preparation. Answers to questions as numbered;
1. Avi2dvd; divxtodvd, divxplay
2. No error messages from the above software, in task manager it told me these programs are 'not responding'.
3.I can't anser this one with certainty as I have deleted the avi file through frustration, I believe it was something like Divx5.....
4 & 5. Started as soon as I started this process
6.N/A
7. Run Norton AV which is updated regularly through live update
8. HDD drive defragmented once a week.

Like I said at the beginning, perhaps I haven't got the step by step process down pat, like adding codecs which are missing, etc. Any productive advice would be appreciated.

[guns1inger]

whenever you have a problem like this, start with the latest version of g-spot. It can tell you if you have the required codecs, and if not, what you need (most of the time - nothing is perfect).

Can you open the files and view them in Virtualdub ? (Mod or Mpeg2 version is probably best because they cover mpeg files as well). If so, you have the right codecs. You can also scan for bad frames and corruption and rewrite the index if required.

If it is happening with every attempt at any avi file across a range of applications, it would suggest a more serious problem with windows. But let's get to that one step at a time.

[manyon1]

Ok, installed and ran Virtualdub. When I tried to open avi file (720mbs) Virtualdub froze. Task manager advised program 'not responding'. I did a lot of web searching on this issue and it may be a registry problem with xp. This is one opinion which is as follows,
'Opening a folder containing a large number of AVI file can open quite slowly because the OS has to open each AVI file and extract info from AVIs. If you have a large collection, you can speedup XP's folder access to blocking it from automatically extracting this info. This can also fix problems when trying to rename or move AVI files and you get an error message: "it is being used by another person or program. Close any programs that might be using the file and try again."
I don't get that error message though. I had downloaded and installed a registry fix for this titled AVI Registry Fix. It did allow the avi file to open but I lost my adsl connection settings and Norton would not enable. I am a bit reluctant to muck around with the registry unless I can get some clear instructions on it. Hope this information helps you to help me.
Thanks for taking the time.