problem playing vids pls help

Dell Dimension B110
2.53GHz celeron D
1024MB ddr ram
windows XP home SP2
256MB NVidia GeForce 6200OC PCI
HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW 16x
HD temp ~39c
250w power supply


i just recently ran into this problem, so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know..

*i talk about the computer freezing in here.. and its really a weird sort of freezing.. it just seems like it boggs everything down to the point where its almost not moving at all.. not completely frozen. ctrl+alt+del for the task manager will still work.. it just takes like 2 minutes for it to load up and show on the screen. also seems as though everything on the screen tries to reload over and over and over.*

everything was running perfectly fine up until a few days ago, when all the sudden my computer won't play any type of video files anymore. if i use winamp i get the best results (only audio, no picture) but it halts the system after less than a minute. if i use WMP it just says 'connecting...' at the bottom and causes the whole system to stop responding (no audio or picture). the computer freezing also occurred when i tried Twins Video Player and Media Player Classic (came with the k-lite codec pack). DVD won't play either with cyberlink powerdvd, it also freezes the system. I uninstalled all the codecs i had and reinstalled brand new ones from this k-lite pack that was recommended to me.. no luck.

the first file i remember this happening for (and it was just the audio only w/ no pic, not the computer freezing) was a movie i had just gotten off BitTorrent..a Grandma's Boy DVD rip. (MPEG-3 XVID). it seems like ever since then my computer wouldn't play any video at all.. except inside games they work and i just today saw a streaming vid on a website (don't know what format it was.. possibly flash or something)
i also tried doing system restore using system checkpoints provided by XP, going back to a date before i dl'd that movie, but no matter what day i go to it says system restore failed.
i'm about ready to just say f*** it and do a full system restore.

sorry bout such a long post, just trying to cover all the info you mite need to help.

* i only have a 250w power supply and i think im drawing about 275-285w of power from it, so i underclocked my video card to ony run at about 300mhz core / mem .. which has solved any problems i was having previously.. but videos/dvds would always play before & after i made that change. that was awhile ago & this problem is very recent. -im a broke ass MF
please help me out if you can, thanks
dixon

 

i know this but i'm broke as a joke man.. also, videos have always worked up until just last week.. and i've been overdrawing power for about 3-4 months

 

Hmmm, we meet again. I saw you elsewhere this morning and posted:

pvwolfgang420, apparently you added the PCI video card as an upgrade. That Dell B110 came with onboard video. I suggest you pull the video card out, going back to onboard video, and see how it runs.

Did you try that?

 

I agree! Ovedrawing power is a BAD IDEA. If your PSU goes, it can take alot of your hardware out with it. Not only that, but Dell puts the bare minimum in for the system, so your new GPU is taxing it plenty, I'm sure.

Bottom line is, don't do what you are doing, or one day you WON'T beat the odds, and you will be a broke ass MF without a computer.