Video/avi Playback problems on computer

[afterhour]

I bought a used Dell GX150 Desktop - 1Ghz / 512MB Ram, did a fresh install of Windows XP.

When using VLC Media Player or Windows 11 the video struggles, I get still pictures every second instead of continous video. I can only get good video when I reduce the size to about 25%. I know the source file is good.
I think the problem is the size of memory assigned to video. In BIOS it tells me that memory assigned to Video is 1MB. I cannot change that number like in any other computer.
I tried to upgarde the BIOS using DELL's instructions (from A09 to A11) but it will not do it.
When I insert the floppy with the BIOS it just says to remove the media to continue.

This computer has an asset tag number and belonged to a corperation. I don't know if it has a custom BIOS.

1. Is there anything else that I can try to get a good video playback?
2. How do I change/upgarde the BIOS, so I can change memry assigned to video. -- I got the files on the floppy. In BIOS have it set to boot from A drive. When I restart a message appears to remove the media to continue. I cannot type or get to the "A:"

Thanks!

[guns1inger]

It sounds like you didn't create a bootable floppy with the system files on. You need to format the floppy again. If you use the command prompt, type

format a: /s

The /s will install the system files needed to boot to the a:

[redwudz]

If it has on board video, you might consider getting a PCI or AGP video card that doesn't use system memory. I have worked on 3 Dell Optiplex GX150 computers and they were somewhat underpowered for video. They had a 5GB hard drive, 128MB RAM and were set up to work from a corporate LAN system using Win 2000, really more of a terminal than a regular standalone computer. They were around 1999 vintage.

I had a hard time finding much of any info from Dell about the motherboard, but I did upgrade the BIOS and there is a online manual available at the Dell site. After upgrading the BIOS and having many problems, I finally pulled the BIOS battery for about 3 minutes and that seemed to be the best resolution for resetting everything.

That seems to take all the custom programming out of the BIOS. The ones I worked on seemed to have a second set of BIOS instructions not visible when going into BIOS. And they are particularly sensitive about memory. They should use Dell compatible memory, but I was able to get away with some generic brands.

[Krispy Kritter]

The avi specs would also be useful. If you are trying to watch an HD 720p avi file for instance, there isn't much you can do to fix it.

You could also open task manager while attempting to play the file and watch the process tab to see which process (if any) is using the most cpu. You can also open the performance tab and check cpu usage.

[afterhour]

Thanks for all suggestions.

1. The floppy disk I tried using does have the correct files for a BIOS upgrade. I think the BIOS is custom as the computer was bought from a large corporation. Maybe setup to prevent people from doing that exact thing -

2. It had system onboard memory. This is my second computer and I do not want to spend any money on it. My friend has the same GX150 computer and it works fine for playing video. I think the probelm with my computer is that in the BIOS 1MB is assigned to VIDEO and I cannot change that.

3. The movie I'm trying to view i snormal 1 hour 700MB--This is a 1GHZ 512MB so it should have no problems playing a simple avi file.

I'll try to remove the battery and see what happens.