xp sp2 issue? Windows Media Player error message - driving me nuts

I recently upgraded my XP Home OS from SP1 to SP2 . After the upgrade I was promptly met with the installation wizard for wmplayer 9 which i installed, assuming the upgrade was necessary. I previously ran version 8.

However,now I keep getting the same error message "windows media player has experienced a problem and needs to close" - there are more details below. There's no pattern to these error messages, for instance, while posting, i'v had to wait ages for the error to inevitably pop up.

I've tried installing wmp 10 and wmp 11 but keep getting the same error message with both versions. my OS was in good nick, no malicious software etc. The only other program constantly runnung is utorrent... I'm wondering if it is a compatibility issue with sp2, or maybe there is a fix for this somewhere? any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

error signature:
AppName: wmplayer.exe AppVer: 11.0.5721.5145 ModName: ntdll.dll
ModVer: 5.1.2600.2180 Offset: 00031a83

error code:0x0000005 wmplayer.exe ntdll.dll

 

Hello and Welcome to Majorgeeks,

WMP 11 works fine with SP2, might be the library is corrupt, try this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925718 (WMP 11)

If you have older versions of WMP installed remove them first and use Ccleaner to clean temp files and registry, leave settings at defaults. http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4191.html