My laptop is acting weird!

[moviebuff2]

My laptop uses Win 98SE and has 96MB ram. It automatically reboots itself after it plays an MP3 or WMA or WAV file.

What could be the reason(s)?

[Jayhawk]

What program are you using to play the music. If it's Windows Media Player I would start by reinstalling it.

Another alternative would be to download XMPlay, Foobar2000, Quintessential Player or any other good free player and see if they cause the same problem. As always, it's either the hardware or the software. Start by finding out which one. If another player works you can probably elimnate the hardware. If none work, I suspect a hardware problem although it may be as simple as a driver issue.

[moviebuff2]

I tried several different softwares (Windows Media Player, Cowon Jet Audio, Real Audio, etc.). None worked. Same problem. I noticed that after an MP3 file is played, my computer starts making some soft humming sound before it reboots itself.

Someone told me it could be that one of my RAM chips had gone bad. What do you think?

Anyway, I appreciate your taking time to help me.

p.s.: my laptop has this problems only with compressed files like MP3, WMA, Real Audio. No problems whatsoever with playing an conventional audio CD.

[mujahid7ia]

maybe something to do with audio hardware which has to decompress those formats? maybe you should try driver upgrade...

not really sure

[Jayhawk]

I suppose bad ram is possible but I would think that would show up with other applications (viewing jpgs, mpg's, quicktime are all compressed files). Actually, WAV isn't compressed. If it's only happening during compressed audio I suspect a sound card (chip) driver problem or possible an audio codec, or Microsofts DirectX. A lot of the the players use existing codecs, and almost all use some DirectX components. I'd start with the sound card driver and even if there are no new drivers it might pay to delete the existing device in "My Computer" and letting Windows "rediscover" it. Next I'd reinstall / update DirectX (free from Microsoft). Lastly, I remove all the players including Media Player and then reinstall Media Player.

After that, I'd probably format and reinstall Windows. Only then would I start looking at hardware. Everything else mentioned is esentially free except for your time.

[moviebuff2]

Thanks. But i have tried all of your suggestions. Still, after the last sound of an MP3/WMA/Real file...zzzzzzzz....black screen....beep....detecting primary IDE...blah blah blah...

What a mystery!

[Greg12]

reformat and re-install.

[Jayhawk]

Roger that. I'm out of suggestions.

[moviebuff2]

Thanks for all replies.

I did reformat (fdisk, partitioning,etc.) and reinstalled Windows. Same old, same old

The only things I have not been able to touch are those RAMs. I am trying to firgure out how to lift up the keyboard in order to change them. I can lift up only 1/2 of the keyboard; the other 1/2 seems stuck.

Thanks again. You are great!!!!

[gmatov]

What kind of laptop?

Some have a panel on the bottom of the machine that you remove, slip out the added ram, put the board back in.

With 96 MB, you probably have 32 MB onboard, 64 added. Can't touch the onboard.

Cheers,

George

[moviebuff2]

Here's what happened lately.

I ran a test with a software called "PC Doctor". It told me that I had several applications pointing to a missing file "pcximp32.flt" and that could cause a prgram to crash or to run improperly.

"program to crash..." interesting, exciting, isn't it?

I searched for the file and found it located in my hard drive under "Program Files/Accessories/". I suspected the file was corrupted and ran a Norton Antivirus Check on the file. It seemed OK. Nonetheless, I copied the file "pcximp32.flt" from another computer which runs the same OS 98 SE and does not have this auto-reboot problem. Then I pasted the file to my laptop.

After that, PC Doctor still tell me that I had problem with this missing file. And, I still have this auto-reboot problem!!!

What could be the problem(s)?

[mujahid7ia]

It seems like a hardware problem. Still have a warranty on the laptop?

[moviebuff2]

No, it's an AMS (out of business) laptop that my brother gave me. It's not something that I have to use since I have another laptop and a PC to use. I just want to solve this "mystery" since I have been seeking advice for months but nobody seems to be aware of the kind of problem that I am facing.