Video freezes system

[scubadub]

My system is freezing any time I try to play any kind of video clip, including youtube, avi, mpg, wmv etc.
I am using win xp pro.
I have reinstalled divX and the video card drivers (nvidia geforce 5600).
I tried running avast antivirus an it froze that aswell.
Can anyone else think of anything? Thanks a lot.

 

[oynaz]

Sounds like either your XP installation or your video card is busted. Try and boot with an Ubuntu live CD, and see if you have the same problems.
Have you tried with another video card?

 

[scubadub]

Hi Oynaz,
I've never used Ubuntu before. Which version - 5.01 or 6.06 should I download? Is it easy to figure out the hardware test utility?
Haven't tried a different card either, I'll see if I can get one somewhere.
Thanks for the input.

 

[erickj92]

This may sound dumb but the solution i can think of is getting a different version of your sound card...

 

[scubadub]

Originally posted by: erickj92
This may sound dumb but the solution i can think of is getting a different version of your sound card...

sorry erickj92, but I don't understand what you mean?

 

[oynaz]

Originally posted by: scubadub
Hi Oynaz,
I've never used Ubuntu before. Which version - 5.01 or 6.06 should I download? Is it easy to figure out the hardware test utility?
Haven't tried a different card either, I'll see if I can get one somewhere.
Thanks for the input.

Get the newest version. Download it and burn the image. Put some video clips on an USB stick, preferably using different codecs. Then let your computer boot Ubuntu from the CD, and play the clips from the USB stick. Performance will probably be abysmal, but the point is to see whether or not the clips will crash your computer.

 

[scubadub]

Ok, I'll try that tonight. Thanks again