Media players still freeze....aaargh

I have some mpegs in Windows Media Player 9, using Windows 98 se, and the player still freezes on startup. Says "connecting", but nothing happens......never plays at all. (Though it DOES in Safe Mode !)
Reinstalled twice and also went back to version 7, but nothing. Installed Realplayer and the same thing happens. Installed VLC player and it sometimes works in a limited way, sometimes not at all. Got rid of it. Downloaded updated drivers for my video card (a COMPAL V700 on Intel(R) 82815 Graphics Controller.Computer itself is Compaq Deskpro EN). Used CCleaner to delete all junk files. Ran AVG and A-Squared anti-virus.
I installed Codecs, but not sure at this moment if I put them in correct place.
Player WAS working OK for the installed mpegs previously though.
Downloaded and installed "wmadmod dll", but no change. I can only try the player once, then it won't even come up on the screen till I reboot.

 

Oops....I forgot to mention....
1/ I have a message coming up occasionally that I have a problem with Explorer: "This program has performed an illegal function and will be closed down"......though all it does is close that window.
2/ After installing Media player the last couple of times, a message came up saying that it wasn't installed properly. Any suggestions, anyone?????

 

No Media Player experts out there, by any chance????

 

What does this mean, please?

Upon downloading WMP codecs, when I try to install them, I get the following 2 messages:
1/ Error starting program
The SETUP_WM.EXE file is linked to missing export KERNEL32.DLL:GetSystemWindowsDirectoryW

2/ Windows Merdia Player Setup
Error creating process <C:\Windows\Temp\IXPOOO.TMP\setup_wm.exe/Quiet/R:N>
Reason: a device attached to the system is not functioning

What does this mean, please....anyone..?? My video card has stopped working? I did get a program which told me it WAS working. Or something else???

 

FIXED !!!!!!!!!!
All I did was reinstall Media Player in Safe Mode

This was a pain for such a long time ! Thanks to all who posted in my previous thread