Crash in thumbnailing .MPG files

[OldAmateur]

I'm running under Vista Home Premium (not my choice -- it came with the new computer). When Vista displays the contents of a folder in thumbnail mode, when the folder contains video files, the op system creates a thumbnail for each file containing a frame from the underlying video. Recently, whenever that process begins for a .mpg file, it stops with an error message referring to rundll32.exe. (If I can figure out how to include an image here, I'll show a screen grab of the error message.) When I click on "Close the program", the system goes on to create the thumbnail. Other video files, like .avi, get thumbnailed without error.

Big deal, you say; but it is a big deal if I'm working with a folder that has a lot of .mpg files: the error repeats with each file that needs a thumbnail, it steals focus from the window I'm trying to work in, and it just generally annoys me. Don't use thumbnail mode, you say. Right, I would prefer to use detail mode, but when I try that, Vista keeps switching back to thumbnail.

Because it happens only with .mpg files, I'm guessing that the system is trying to use an MPG2 codec that is defective or is not appropriate in order to decode the frame from the video. I suspect that when the first codec fails, the system uses another codec that works, and the thumbnail results. (I'm sure I have at least half a dozen MPG2 codecs installed, because I have tried out many video viewer apps.)

So, can anyone help me figure out how to identify and to fix or bypass the uncooperative codec?

Many thanks.


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[Soopafresh]

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic304930.html?highlight=regsvr32

[OldAmateur]

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic304930.html?highlight=regsvr32

Nope, the solution suggested there doesn't work in Vista. There is no shmedia.dll file.

[Soopafresh]

Damn. Sorry...Nevermind.

[Ai Haibara]

Try this:

1. In Windows Explorer window, click on Organize button on the menu/shortcut bar.
2. In the pull down menu, click on Folder and Search Options.
3. Folder Options dialog window will appear. Click on View tab.
4. Under the Files and Folders tree heading, check (tick) the checkbox next to Always show icons, never thumbnails option.
5. Click the OK button.

(derived from this page)

[OldAmateur]

Try this:

1. In Windows Explorer window, click on Organize button on the menu/shortcut bar.
2. In the pull down menu, click on Folder and Search Options.
3. Folder Options dialog window will appear. Click on View tab.
4. Under the Files and Folders tree heading, check (tick) the checkbox next to Always show icons, never thumbnails option.
5. Click the OK button.

(derived from this page)

Thanks. That's a good practical solution . . . although I would still like to track down the source of the rundll32 error.

Thanks, too, to Soopafresh, who had the right idea and the right method for XP.

[hech54]

Damn....this happens in Vista too/still?
I had it happen to me in XP(Pro) and it was a bad version
of Divx. I uninstalled Divx and kept Xvid and all was well again.

[OldAmateur]

Damn....this happens in Vista too/still?
I had it happen to me in XP(Pro) and it was a bad version
of Divx. I uninstalled Divx and kept Xvid and all was well again.

So, how did you determine that DivX was the problem?

[Ai Haibara]

One thing that might work is to load one of the MPEG files that triggered the crashes into GSpot, then use the Video 1/2/3 buttons at the lower left to see what the system's using to decode and render it. (I say 'might,' because I'm not sure offhand how well GSpot works with all forms of MPEG.)

[hech54]

Damn....this happens in Vista too/still?
I had it happen to me in XP(Pro) and it was a bad version
of Divx. I uninstalled Divx and kept Xvid and all was well again.

So, how did you determine that DivX was the problem?

I found it on another message board after a week of searching.
Most of the replies stated to simply turn off the Windows "preview"
but I personally love that feature so that was a NON ANSWER...and it
involved some tricky(for me) registry modifications...also NOT for me I'm afraid.

I'm not convinced the problem is tied to a specific version of Divx....there are
still some recent posts about this problem on boards...as recent as 8 months ago.

I'm on a new computer now(still XP Pro)....with the Xvid codec only.

[fritzi93]

I recently had something similar happen, i.e. explorer crashing trying to generate thumbnail previews. (Running XP). Turned out I had copied an old DivX file from a backup to a folder on the hard drive. Open the folder and BAM! You know the rest. Turned out it was a DivX3 file. I had XviD set to decode all DivX files, but it didn't like that one; had to install a DivX3 codec.

I would guess something wrong with your MPEG2 decoder. At least you should rule it out before proceeding. Try rendering the file as suggested, also see if CodecSniper says something is "broken".

Good luck.