Playing .avi keeps freezing computer

[StogeZ]

Ok I will try to explain and give as many details as possible. I know its long but I just cant figure out whats wrong.
I have a PII 500 with 512mb ram running winxp set up with tv-out on an ATI AIW 9200 to play avi files on my tv. I had it up and running perfectly and used it to store and play all my avi movies/tv shows. One day I tried to play something and it just froze the pc. I tried a few more times and it kept doing the same thing.
So finally I decided to format and install everything over. I installed xp and upgraded to sp2. Installed the drivers for vid card and ffdshow codec. using gspot it says that it can render the video. So I tried again. It keeps playing the sound but the video freezes on the first frame. It wont let me end the program. After a while it just freezes the comp.
Couldnt figure out what it was so I tried uninstalling the vid card drivers and play the file. It plays but its really jerky on the tv.
Now I dont understand how it started freezing all of a sudden if the prob is because of the vid card drivers. And if the drivers are the prob, where can I find an older version of the catalyst drivers.
I am willing to install linux (Fedora Core3) on it but as far as i know it doesnt fully support ATI AIW cards.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out.

[Skith]

Have the problematic video files played smoothly before? What type of file is it? (MKV, OGG, AVI). Is the file Divx / xvid / other? Is the audio MP3 / AC3 / other? The video is not AAC / h.264 encoded by any chance, is it? You also might want to mention what release of FFDShow you are using.

You might try using a different version of FFDShow, or using the specific codecs needed.

In my experience, FFDShow often causes me more headaches than using individual codecs (mabey I just do now understand how to configure it properly).

I am not to familiar with ATI, but my guess it is not the video card drivers. If if you do muck around with the drivers, take a look at DriverCleaner. If is a great tool to clean up the mess left behind by uninstalling/updating video card drivers.