# Windows Media Player. Black screen, sound only.



## acrazycanuck

Hi all.

I have the most frustrating issue.

I have never ever had problems viewing vid files off the net. I click the link, and it downloads the clip, wmp opens and it plays.

This all changed after I installed my most recent vid card. My comp came with the crappy ATI 9200 series. I upgraded to an nvidia 6200 card about 18 months ago. No problems at all. But a month ago or so, I installed an nvidia 7800 oc vid card. This is the fastes agp card I could find.
After installing it, everything seemed okay, till I tried to dl a vid, so I tried upgrading my version 10 of WMP to ver 11. This worked. But after a few days, the same issue happened. Blank screen. 
To fix that I downloaded the most updated drivers for the 7800 card. That fixed the problem. But only for a few days....(what gives?) This time I tried rolling back my version 11 of WMP to ver 10. Guess what? It worked, but only for a few days.....

It gets better, I upgraded to version 11, and it worked for a day, then I rolled back 2 nights ago, and it worked for a day, and now I am sitting here about to push my pc off the desk...

I cannot imagine what the hell would cause an issue to happen over and over again...

My wife also uses this comp, but I don't think she has done anything.
She uses Windows Explorer to surf the net, and I use Netscape...
She checks out news sites, and stuff, and I play games and surf vids, and stuff...

Anyways....I hope that you fine folks can help me on this.

Thanks very much.

corey.


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## cancon

Have you tried to use any other Media Players on your PC?

VLC Media Player is very reliable, doesn't use up too much memory, and plays almost every file format.


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## fairnooks

Sounds like some strange interaction with other software since it works for a while and then seems to get "turned off."

That part is too difficult to diagnose here but have you tried going into display properties and turning down (or off) the hardware acceleration for your graphics? If not its under Settings/Advanced/Troubleshoot in Display Settings. 

I find I have to turn it down about half way on some systems where I'm running two monitors in order to see the video on the secondary monitor.

Give it a try anyway, you can always set it back to Full, no harm done if it doesn't do anything.


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## acrazycanuck

Thanks for the replies...

Yes, I did try another media player. I have Realplayer on my pc as well, and tried making my defaul browser,but same thing. Also, I downloaded windows media player classic, but also to no avail.

As for the other idea, yer I did try reducing or turning off hardware accelleration..it seemed to make no difference. Even when I rolled back, or updated WMP, the position of the harware acc, made no diff.

I can try VLC...

Thanks for the link.....

Corey.


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## acrazycanuck

Hi again...

okay, I noticed that there was a new driver available from Nvidia. It is the version 6.14.11.6371.

I installed the new driver, and tried a vid file. Now, instead of all black, or very very dark and distorted, the picture comes out all over exposed, and poor quality. Its like the brightness is turned all the way up...but if I turn down the brightness, you can see how poor the image is.....This is the first time I have seen this type of playback. Up to now, all the problems have been dark, or dark and distorted....

I updated WMP back to version 11 again to see if this fixes it, but it didn't......

Sheesh,

ps.....

I noticed VLC exe file in my folder, I guess I did try that before as well....it did not play any better......

Having the same issue on diff players would suggest a problem with the vidoe card, or perhaps, a conflict with the vid card and the players....

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Corey.


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## acrazycanuck

Out of impatience I have rolled back to version 10 again, but this time it made no diff.....I have emailed to the support team at Nvidia, but expect that to take a week or so...

I hate the fact that something is wrong with my comp...I obsess about it.

I don't get how a 3 year old comp can all of a sudden develop a problem like this.

It started with the new vid card. It has to be that...

I suppose I could put my 6200 card back in to test that theory, but I thought that some of you fine folks might be able to help with this so I don't have to do that.

Keep the replys coming...I am in dire need.

Thanks

Corey.


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## acrazycanuck

Ouch......still no response.

I apologize if I seem impatient...

I am hoping that some of you might be able to point me in the right direction here.

Right now, when I play a vid of the net...it runs with an overexposed picture. The quality is a bit poor as well, but it isn't too bad...

It does thin on any player...I have Windows Media player 10/11, tried both. Real player, Windows Classic, and VLC. All show the vids the same, which makes me think its my comp, or vid card....

Keep in mind, everything else runs perfect. Games, applications etc....just this issue when playing vids....

Please help me.....

Thanks

Corey.


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## cancon

Don't worry you're not impatient... 5 days is a very long time to wait. If I don't get a response in 5 minutes I start whining. 

If you've got a thread which hasn't been answered on THIS forum, it means it's a very good question 

This post has bumped it to the top again. Should be noticed. I can't help you though


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## acrazycanuck

Thanks

Here is the funny thing.

I ended up getting some help through the clan I am in.

My buddy suggested looking at the advanced settings for the Nvidia control center.

Sure enough, somehow, and I don't know how, the settings for video playback were cranked to the top. This gave me the washed out playback...

I never adjusted those settings, and its a brand new card, and new drivers....maybe a virus...?

Anyway...a quick "restore to defaults" click, and all is good again..

Thanks for the helpful suggestions I got.....add this fix to your list for the next person.

Cheers.

Corey.


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## JamesR404

Hi there! I found your post because I have a similiar problem which is bugging me. Windows Media Player 11 is just giving me a black screen during playback, but with sound.

For me though, it's the only player exhibiting the problem. Since you have it on all applications, it may be something more generic. Like with the video codecs installed on your system or Direct X. If that's the case, maybe you can use Gspot to help you. Run the program when you have the problem, and also run it when you don't. Maybe in the background something is changing your codecs back and forth... I know, it sounds weird, but I can only guess as to why your problem comes and goes.

Download link for Gspot:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/GSpot.htm

Also, once you have it fixed, you may want to disable Windows update temporarily and make a system restore point. That way there won't be any wonky windows updates to make the problem return (if that happens to be the cause) and furthermore, you can restore your system if the problem reoccurs again (of course realize you will lose other settings & programs installed since).

Tricky one. If I get any better idea's, I'll come back to you.


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