Cannot play VCD/dat file in Win2000! Please help...

[tkd]

Hi all!

I got no problem to play VCD in W2K two months ago...But
recently, I found that two of my W2K system can't play VCDs!
All the VCDs can be played in these two W2K system before.
But now, all won't play...I have tried to use Media Player
6.4, WMP 7.0, PowerDVD and WinDVD...all fail to play those
VCDs...

After a little inspection, I found the following facts:

I can play all the *.dat(Copy from VCD) and mpeg files
which were downloaded from the Internet.

I can play all the other type of media files without any
problem. Such as wav, midi, avi, DivX's avi, asf, wmv...etc

I found that all the dat files that store on a CDR(not VCD)
can be played through Windows Media Player.

I can't play only VCD disc. Whatever I play the VCD disc
through PowerDVD or just double-click the dat file on the
disc through Windows Explorer, it's just report
"Cannot play back the file. The format is not supported."

I have tried to copy the dat file from the VCD disc to the
Harddisk, but windows won't allow me to do so! It report
"Cannot copy AVSEQ01: Invalid MS-DOS function."

I 100% sure all of my CDROMs are normal! Since I got no
problem to copy or read data from any data CD!


Anyone got the same problem as me??? I really don't know
why I can't play VCDs...Please help...

[Martok]

Check your player(s). might be a hardware problem.
My CD-RW won't play VCDs...even the ones it burned. The DVD will. Go figure.

[tkd]

When I use another Harddisk that contain a copy of fresh installed W2K, I got no problem to play VCDs with Media Player.
So, I 100% sure the problem is not related to hardware.
Any idea?

[Orson]

I'm having the same problem with win2000.
If i'm playing a vcd in win98/ME on wmp6.4/7.0 it plays fine and even copies the .dat file from the vcd to my hard drive.
When i first installed win98/ME it didn't want to play them, then i copied scsi1hlp.vxd to c:\windows\system\iosubsys\.
After that it played fine.
But in win2k it tells me: invalid ms-dos function
when trying to copy the .dat file to my hard drive.
And win2k doesn't have the iosubsys folder....
does anyone know how to FIX this...???

[PerfMan]

Nope.. but your not alone.. my Win2k system is doing the exact same thing...

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-11-23 12:33:03, tkd wrote:
Hi all!

I got no problem to play VCD in W2K two months ago...But
recently, I found that two of my W2K system can't play VCDs!
All the VCDs can be played in these two W2K system before.
But now, all won't play...I have tried to use Media Player
6.4, WMP 7.0, PowerDVD and WinDVD...all fail to play those
VCDs...

After a little inspection, I found the following facts:

I can play all the *.dat(Copy from VCD) and mpeg files
which were downloaded from the Internet.

I can play all the other type of media files without any
problem. Such as wav, midi, avi, DivX's avi, asf, wmv...etc

I found that all the dat files that store on a CDR(not VCD)
can be played through Windows Media Player.

I can't play only VCD disc. Whatever I play the VCD disc
through PowerDVD or just double-click the dat file on the
disc through Windows Explorer, it's just report
"Cannot play back the file. The format is not supported."

I have tried to copy the dat file from the VCD disc to the
Harddisk, but windows won't allow me to do so! It report
"Cannot copy AVSEQ01: Invalid MS-DOS function."

I 100% sure all of my CDROMs are normal! Since I got no
problem to copy or read data from any data CD!


Anyone got the same problem as me??? I really don't know
why I can't play VCDs...Please help...




</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

[w00kiee]

its not w2k .. its wmp 7

once you install it it kills the ability to play .dat vcd files.. doesnt matter if you have win 98

and even running wmp 6.4 through the command line doesnt help either...

get vcdgear and convert the dat to mpeg... or use a software dvd player. you can try the mpeg2 codec (its basically a software dvd player driver)- available in the tools section of this site around where tmpgenc is - that might help wmp 7 play the mpeg1 .dat files

[anengineer]

I use wmp 7 to play the dats on my VCD's.

No problem.......win2k installed.

[spidey]

I play dat's in Win 2k, but I use WMP v 6.4. My advice is to use VCDGear to convert as mentioned above, or get rid of that WMP 7.0

[SINIDA]

okAY WELL IM TOTALLY FRUSTRATED BECAUSE I CANT PLAY THE DARN VCD I HAVE POWERDVD EVERYTIME I TRY TO PLAY IT IT SAYS AN UNSUPPORTED FORMAT IN DRIVE E IM TOTALLY COMPUTER DUMB SO PLEASE REPLY IN LAMENS TERMS :evil: THANKS I HAVE W2K AND I HAVE WMP 0??

[arasaki]

Has anyone figured out a solution to this problem? I just installed Win2k recently and am finding myself in the same situation as PerfMan. I know my drives are working fine. I know my VCDs are not damaged in any way. I'm fairly sure it is not a Windows Media Player issue (I uninstalled it and the problem remains). Could this be a Nero issue?

[arasaki]

I just did a clean install of Win2k on a separate drive to see if the problem is caused by other software. Apparently, Win2k is not able to recognize vcd DAT files properly, so it is impossible to copy them from a VCD nor play them using any software (whether it be MP, PowerDVD, WinDVD, etc...). Does anyone have any leads on how to fix this? If not, I'd hate to do it, but I'll be forced to switch back to WinMe.

[ZAP!!]

I have run into the same problem with both my work computer and my home computer which are both running Win2k. Some VCDs I've burned from MPEG1 will let me copy the .DAT file to my hard drive with no problem. Then all I do is change the name to <name>.mpg and I can play it in Media Player 7. Then some VCDs I've burned will give me the "Invalid MS-DOS function" message. I have been using Flask with bbMPEG and the only thing I have found I have done differently is I always use TMPGEncoder just to split the .mpg file. When I tell the TMPGEncoder Merge & Cut tool the type is a "MPEG-1 Video CD (non-standard)" and then use Nero to burn, everything works fine. When I select any other MPEG option and then use Nero I get a warning from Nero that the file is in an invalid format, that VCD format does not support streamed files, and it asks if I want to re-encode or turn off the compliance. For me the re-encode option fails, but turning off the compliance lets me burn a VCD that will work in my standalone (Pioneer 440) but will not work in ANY other PC I put it in. I have not taken the time to explore this issue further, but if anyone figures out what's up I hope you will post it here so all us problemed people can fix things.

[Tyler007]

The same exact thing appens with WinXP (from a clean install).... stupidity passed along to this version !

[JasonQG]

Anybody try getting tech support from Microsoft about this problem?

[JasonQG]

I figured out what the problem is for me; it's my VIA southbridge. I heard that some people had this problem with Intel chipsets and were able to fix it with a drive update. I tried different drivers, but none worked. The only way for it to work is for me to bypass the VIA chipset completely and plug my CD drives into my Promise card. Hope this helps some of you.

[posdnya]

Youn need MPEG2 decoder. Elecard MPEG2 Player comes with MPEG2 Decoder and make available to watch SVCD movies with any DirectShow-based player, say with MediaPlayer

ftp://ftp.elecard.com/pub/mpeg/player/EMpgPlay_135.zip
http://www.elecard.com/download/mpeg/player/EMpgPlay_135.zip

[JasonQG]

Youn need MPEG2 decoder. Elecard MPEG2 Player comes with MPEG2 Decoder and make available to watch SVCD movies with any DirectShow-based player, say with MediaPlayer

ftp://ftp.elecard.com/pub/mpeg/player/EMpgPlay_135.zip
http://www.elecard.com/download/mpeg/player/EMpgPlay_135.zip

It would have been nice if you read the thread before answering...

[posdnya]

This picture shows all filters needed for correct VCD playback under Win2K.
Source filter - the first one reads data from VCD. It is a part of the sytem. It is located in win2k/system32/quartz.dll. Last two are part of the system as well.
Three filters in the middle are distributed with Elecard Player.
There are three microsoft filters Mpeg-1 Stream Splitter, Mpeg-1 Video Decoder and Mpeg-1 Audio Decoder, which can do the job. But they can't work with MPEG2 (i.e. SVCD), Audio Layer 3, and AC3. And sometimes it causes incorrect VCD playback.
You need Microsoft GraphEditor tool, it is a part of MS DirectShow SDK, in order to understand what goes on your system. The picture above was captured from it.
Try to make the next: Menu->File->Render Media File and choose your avseqXX.dat. GraphEditor will try to do exactly the same as MediaPlayer do, and you can see what kind of problem do you have.
You also can insert by hands File Source Async, Mpeg-1 Splitter, and Dump filters. With this graph you may dump mpeg video from VCD .dat file to mpeg file on your hard drive. If this works, then the problem is in your decoder filter, if do not work, then in splitter or source[/img]

[Clint]

I'm having this same problem too. Has no one been able to find a solution?

**ATTN. POSDNYA** - please don't tell me to download the Elecard Player. I tried it already just to ensure that it didn't have the magic missing component and it gives the same error as all the other players I've tried. So PLEASE stop posting that that's the answer to this problem in the MANY threads in this forum where people are having this problem!

The DAT can't be copied to the hard-drive even without encountering an error ("Cannot copy AVSEQ01: Invalid MS-DOS function."), so it is obviously the problem that is described in the VCD playing HOW TO, but the solution offered (copy scsi1hlp.vxd to windows/iosubsys) doesn't apply to Win2k because that directory structure doesn't exist on Win2k. (nor does the vxd)

Someone mentioned hardware and a specific chipset for Intel motherboards - I can't accept those solutions as the only possibility since the problem is solved on Win98 with only the correct installation of a virtual driver file.

Some people have stated that they have Win2000 and they can play DAT files on a VCD. Would one of those people be kind enough to search their windows folders for scsi*.* and see if you have some other VXD's that I'm missing maybe? I have scsiport.sys, scsi.inf, scsi.pnf, scsidev.inf and scsidev.pnf and that's it. Maybe scsi1hlp.vxd is superceded in Win2k by another virtual driver???

[Clint]

UPDATE: I am able to copy the DAT file to my harddrive using a program I found called IsoBuster. I still aven't found a way to just PLAY the VCD without copying it first with this program. However, this proves that the CD can be accessed on my hardware.

I also found this in the Micr$oft Knowledge base:

SYMPTOMS
When you are using Windows NT Explorer to copy a file from a CD Interactive (CD-i) CD-ROM to the hard disk, you may receive the following error message:

Error Copying File

Cannot copy AVSEQ02: Invalid MS-DOS function.

CAUSE
Windows NT 4.0 does not fully support the CD-i format.

STATUS
This behavior is by design.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q155120

This would seem to indicate an OS level inability to access VCD / CDi discs at least for WinNT4.0

But some people have reported success in playing VCD's under Win2k. So the task is to find out what is installed on those machines that isn't on the machines that don't work. Since it's file-system related, I'm guessing either a service-pack or CD-burner software or ASPI drivers, etc...

So what do you think? Are we getting anywhere?

[jay.dee]

Some people have stated that they have Win2000 and they can play DAT files on a VCD. Would one of those people be kind enough to search their windows folders for scsi*.* and see if you have some other VXD's that I'm missing maybe? I have scsiport.sys, scsi.inf, scsi.pnf, scsidev.inf and scsidev.pnf and that's it. Maybe scsi1hlp.vxd is superceded in Win2k by another virtual driver???

Hi Clint and all, greetings from the UK!

I had this very same problem until the other day (Win2K wouldn't even recognise the .MPG file), I had a search for those files you mentioned and found the very same five. So I downloaded WinDVD and hey presto, it worked! Still can't play the file through Windows Media Player though (So WinDVD doesn't install any codecs then.) Also checked all the file associations, still all registered to WMP, so how does WinDVD play 'em?

Compaq Deskpro PIII 866
On board graphics/sound (yes it still plays the SVCD)
384 MB RAM
OS - Win2K Professional
NO DVD drive, only CD ROM

[dumwaldo]

i have never had a problem like this with win2k so i thought i would try to offer some help...

Some people have stated that
they have Win2000 and they can play DAT files on a VCD. Would one of those people be kind enough to search their windows folders for scsi*.* and see if you have some other VXD's that I'm missing maybe? I have scsiport.sys, scsi.inf, scsi.pnf, scsidev.inf and scsidev.pnf and that's it. Maybe scsi1hlp.vxd is superceded in Win2k by another virtual driver???

search results for scsi*.* in winnt folder
scsi.inf c:\winnt\inf
scsi.PNF c:\winnt\inf
scsidev.inf c:\winnt\inf
scsidev.PNF c:\winnt\inf
scsiport.sys c:\winnt\service pack files\i386
scsiport.sys c:\winnt\system32\dllcache
SCSIPORT.SYS c:\winnt\system32\drivers


search results for *.vxd in winnt folder
dsound.vxd c:\winnt\system32
VIAGART.VXD c:\winnt\temp\win9x
VIAGART.VXD c:\winnt\temp\winme


this is windows 2000 with service pack 2 installed and the latest VIA 4 in one driver. i only mentioned the VIA drivers because the VIAGART.VXD files.

[Clint]

Thanks for the response. I don't guess the answer lies with scsi*.*

I'm still unable to play VCD's under Win2k, but I have a nice dual-boot with Win98 now, no it's less of an emergency. I'd still like to figure this out, though. I haven't gotten around to trying WinDVD yet.

Anyone playing VCD's under Win2k (not millenium) successfully with WMP on a CDROM drive (not DVD)?

[ZAP!!]

I'm not sure what I did but I'm not having any problem playing VCD's under Win2k. I was for a while but I don't remember what I did to get Media Player playing VCD's again. There is a reg update for Win2k on mobo's with VIA chipsets. Check TechNet.

I also had to download a Win2k patch from AMD for my Athlon 1000 Mhz.

Win2k does not need the VIA 4in1 update. I do know that before I used it Media Player would play every thing. But after I did my media stuff just wasn't right. I have an 8KHA+.

[Dave_man]

I just want to drop my 2cents in please dont flame me but did you try to install ASPI drivers on this system? ASPI helps to reconise other filesystems.

[Lula1]

As I face the same problem ( the VCD I burned with Nero plays on computer running Win 98 and also on standalone DVD player, but does not play on computer running Win XP , nor let's me even copy the DAT file to the hard disk ), I have done some tests.

I am now sure that the problem has to do with how the CD was burned.
Why do I say that ? Because I found a VCD that a friend of mine burned at the begginning of this year. When I put it on the computer running Win XP it works perfectly and also, I can copy the DAT file to the hard disk.

Any ideas ?
I will experiment other burning options on Nero .

[Lula1]

So guys, no ideas ?

[Prospero424]

I also am using Windows XP with a Via KT333 chipset. I can play VCDs just fine as well as copy the DATs to disk and as far as I know, have always been able to do so.
I have installed:

Lite-On LTD163D DVD-ROM
Nero Burning ROM
Via 4-in-1 drivers
WINDVD!!!
ATi Multimedia center (can play DAT files fine)

So it looks to me like either there is an OS-hardware incompatibility endemic to some people's optical drive-OS combinations (i.e. MS's fault)

it might help if people having this problem would post what optical drive makes and models they are using along with their OS and IDE controller chipset and what programs dealing with the IDE subsystem (such as cd writing programs, media players, etc.) have been installed.

There is a small chance that the installation of WinDVD could solve the problem since the several people that have installed it on this thread seem to be able to play the VCDs.

If this problem is really that widespread, we should be able to get enough responses to be able to see what hardware-os combinations are exhibiting the problem.

Prospero

[Lula1]

Please take a look at the post SOLUTION FOR PLAYING VCD ON WINDOWS XP , on this forum.

[Sane]

Ok this is what I have found if I burn a vcd with Nero 5588 all is good I can copy the AVSEQ01.dat to the hard drive and watch the vcd on windows 2000, But then I upgraded to Nero 5599 all was bad any vcd made with Nero 5599 I could not play the move or copy the AVSEQ01.dat to the hard drive, but when I unistalled Nero 5599 and reinstalled Nero 5588 all was good again

Hope this Helps