paullyboy

I suppose, but every other player I've tried will play .MPGs. Supposedly MMP will also. It does on one drive, just not the other. I'm missing something, and read(Google of course) that a lot of people have trouble with this file type and WMP. FWFW, I can't load a file into Movie Maker either, as it too rejects the file type. I did see someone say that MS wants to sell the proper drivers, that's why I'm avoing them. You'd think they'd include them for that file type. In fact, it's shown in the supported file typs when installing WMP 11. AAR, thanks for the reply Aahmad. Best, Paul

I have a laptop in which I routinely swap internal harddives. Both drives have the exact same OS(XP Home) and both have Windows Media Player 11 installed. One hard drive will run .MPG/MPEG movies just fine, but the other one just shows those swirly clips. Audio good for both. Apparently I'm missing a Codec, and Google is not turning up concrete solutions. Does anyone nkow where to find the right drivers(aside from MS)? I've reinstalled WMP 3 times from their site with the same results. Thanks. Best, Paul

Thanks for clearing it up, jaclaz. I don't know how the .DOC extention got into my original post(brain has trouble multi-tasking ), but the .WPS files will now open using Works Database.. as do the other .WDB files. Thanks again for the help. Best, Paul

I just recovered some Word documents from an older data CD, and am using the same software to open them now that was used to write them. For some reason they were saved with a .WPS extention and appear as jibberish when opened. Currently Word uses a .DOC extention. I tried using the Works/Word install disk to get a working file converter, but no luck. Does anyone know how to covert these .WPS files to .DOC? This shows a folder with the problem file extensions. This is the way the files are being extracted/viewed. Any help much appreciated. Best, Paul

Oh man, if you ever get to Jersey I owe you lots of cold beers. It worked like a charm . Thanks so much!! Best, Paul

When I got Vista, I popped in a CD with a lot of important personal data on it. I tried to add a simple text file, and when I went to copy it to the disk, the Vista option came up for either 'make CD readily accessable', or 'standard' CD. Apparently it thought it was a blank disk. What I didn't realize was that Vista was preparing to clear the CD title, which it apparently did, and the only thing placed on the CD was a desktop shortcut icon. On inspection, the CD still has my original data(400 MB), but I can't get at it cause of the disk title change. Does anyone know of a work-around to get at my original data? BTW, that's just one reason why I went back to XP. Best, Paul

>>>>>>>>>>>>>> !! Keeps my computer happy. Just watch what you remove, as it's a manual process. Also an excellent program for removing junk(temp files, cookies, previous links, etc.), while allowing you to keep site cookies with passwords that you don't want deleted. Best, Paul

Problem solved. BTW, Brucie, been using these things for 25+ years. That includes software coding. So enjoy Vista, and while you're at it, either grow up and quit insulting people, or drop dead. Nuff said. Again, thanks to the other responders for useful info. Paul

Thanks guys. ...you'll probably need to use nLite to integrate the drivers for your optical drive and, if your computer's hard drive is SATA, the SATA driver into your XP source disk... What is nLite? Never heard of it. ...1st of all have you checked the BIOS settings to ensure that the cd rom is the 1st bootable device... That's the rub. No matter what Fkey I try, I keep getting a page that either wants me to system restore, or search/fix Vista. ...If so try booting the machine with the XP CD in the drive and you should get a prompt asking if you would press any key to start from the disk... On the same machine, I've already installed XP on a virgin internal SATA drive. Went without a hitch. Drivers were a pain to find, but findable. I want to be able to swap out drives for totally different applications: music and daily bookkeeping. I'll mess with it some more and see if I can access the BIOS page. Hopefully the CD drive can be set up as numero uno at logon. Thanks again. Best, Paul

I have Vista installed on an Acer Extensa 5620Z laptop, but want to get rid of it and install XP. I tried every Fkey at startup, but can't find a reformat option or even a way to make the XP program disk appear. Is it possible, or has Vista made itself impossible to be removed/replaced? Sure seems like it. Best, Paul

Well, I'm calling off the search. I downloaded the Intel VGA driver and it works beautifully!! Lightning fast graphics. Thanks for the tips and suggestions guys. Best, Paul

Thanks guys. Just to clarify, I bought the last 3 XP computers with everything pre-installed. On this one(the 4th), I'm using an off-the-shelf MS XP disk. Everything else seem to work fine. Under Device Manager>Other Devices, there are 7-8 tags, and every one has a yellow question mark. The Video Driver tag says it has no driver installed. The OS must have a driver of some sort cause video works, just slow recovery on drags or page up/down thru lists.. not like normal. I found 2 possible drivers on the Acer site: * Intel VGA Driver Ver. 6.14.10.4820 * TI Card Reader Driver Ver. 2.0.0.7 Do either of those look like what I need? I tried to find the video card type, but couldn't. Please bear with me here. You're dealing with a real chimp when it comes to this sort of thing . Thanks again. Best, Paul

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hey Ponch. Thanks for the getback. The Acer came with Vista but I like XP way more, so I changed back. XP is from a new, registered MS XP Home disk and is loaded to a new WD hard drive.. same model/type that Vista was loaded on. IOW, it's a legal disk on a virgin hard drive. The only drivers I've installed so far are an audio driver(Realtek) and an Ethernet driver. Both were Acer downloads. The refresh is so slow it's really annoying. This is my 4th computer with XP, and never had this problem before. FWIW, here's a list of what's currently loaded: Device Manager> Sound, video and game controllers> Video Codecs> General(tab)> Manufacturer (standard system services) Properties> iccvid.dll Indeo video 5.10 ir32_32.dll ir41_32.ax iyuv_32.dll LEAD MCMP/MJPG Codec(VFW) msh261 msh263 msrle32.dll msvidc32.dll msyuv.dll tsbyuv.dll Best, Paul

Sorry, but I couldn't think of a better way to title this thread. I recently installed XP Home on an Acer Extensa 5620Z laptop w/ Intel Pentium dual-core @ 1.75 MHz, IE6 and SP3. When I drag anything(like a minimized window box) across the desktop with the mouse, it's very jittery, and briefly shows the underlying box's images. If I do a quick drag of the box, any underlying graphics(like desktop icons) go blank where the box was, and do not reappear until drag stops. I've noticed this when scrolling lists when online. Is there a way to quicken the refresh rate in XP? Is this a problem with the video driver? Thanks in advance. [best, Paul

Hey Ice, After 2 frustrating days, I finally figured it out. One of the Acer downloads worked, but what I didn't do or realize is that the 'Zipped' folder files had to be uncompressed/extracted. I'm actually replying now using XP and AOL(soon to be replaced with Gmail). Internet Explorer won't give me access. Something about not being 'authorized'. Can you imagine that. No big. Firefox is now installed and works just fine. Thanks for all the suggestions. I was starting to scratch my head.. maybe just a 'senior moment' or 2.. or 20.. or.. maybe it's time for a beer.. or 10.. or . Again, thanks for the help. Best, Paul

I switched over from Vista to XP(on it's own hard drive), and everything works great.. except I'm dead in the water. I have to swap hard drives Between Vista and XP to get Vista's internet access. Put Internet Explorer on the desktop, clicked on it, and nothing. No connection, just and Error message. Seems all the Ether drivers are missing(knew this was coming), and Acer tech support has turned a deaf ear. I'm at a loss as to where to find the correct drivers, or even what they're called. Acer has some drivers, but none seem right or worked for this problem. At least I couldn't get them installed. Vista uses Broadcom drivers, so I downloaded what I think is appropriate from them, but XP wouldn't install for a dumbass like me. Here's the situation. If I could find the right driver, normally I'd just download it using 'run', and let it self install, but I can't get onto the internet with XP. I've tried 'save'-ing them to hard drive and disk using Vista, but XP Wizard won't load them from those media. I really also need the correct procedure for getting the drivers installed correctly; at least how/where to start when/if I find them. If anyone feels like helping, here's all I know: Acer Extensa 5620Z laptop Intel Pentium dual core T2370 @ 1.73Ghz X 1.73 Ghz IE6 SP3 Under Device Manager > Network Adapters , here are the missing drivers: * Audio device on high definition audio bus * Ethernet controller (I think this is the phone modem) * Ethernet controller (and this is the Ether port that I need) * Mass Storage controller * Modem device on high definition audio bus * JM bus controller * Video controller * Video controller(VCA compatible) If anyone cares to, please jump in.. , otherwise it's back to Vista . Thanks again Best, Paul

Thanks guys. Some really great info. I feel a little more secure now. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Several reasons. Like everyone else that has jumped ship, I just got tired of nasty surprises just when you really don't want them. Then doing 10 cryptic steps to fix the same problem(s) that took one step in XP. It doesn't do anything that XP can't(at least in my case), and you've gotta feel comfortable. XP works when I need it to. The biggest reason is Vista 64 bit won't run the old DOS programs that I really need and depend on for personal record keeping. Short of going with yet another download of bloatware like Virtualizer to run DOS executables, it's easier just to chuck the whole OS. I've only had the laptop for a couple months, but it took maybe a day or two to realize that this day was coming . Again thanks. This is a great forum. Best, Paul

Thanks Iceman. Biggest concern is getting past bios and getting XP actually on the desktop in any form. One question. What are 'driverpacks'? Is that an Acer deal, or some other? Best, Paul

I know it's been covered elsewhere, but I can't find this situation. I have an Acer Extensa 5620 laptop with Intel 64 bit processor and Vista Home Premium. I'm ready to pull the Sata hard drive and do a fresh install of XP Home with a new Sata drive, saving the Vista drive 'just in case'. There are bound to be problems, and I'm wondering if anyone else has done this and what problems have been encountered.. specifically missing drivers. Acer is absolutely no help at all. Thanks in advance. Best, Paul

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'm on it! Best, Paul

Wow, thanks Cluberti. DOSbox looks like the perfect tool. Gonna downlaod it today and give it a spin. A couple quick questions. From what I gather, replacing Vista(64 bit version) with XP Home(32 bit I believe) will not fix my problem. It's a processor problem, not a Vista problem, correct? Would I be wasting time/money with a new, clean hard drive and a fresh install of XP Home version? Again, thanks. Best, Paul

Vista just started requiring a user password at logon. Has never done that before. I typed in my generic pw. Fortunately it worked and I got to the desktop. How do you bypass logon at startup? Can't find the option switch anywhere, just an option to not use a pw once logged into Vista. Thanks. Best, Paul

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Points acknowledged, but these are extremely specific apps, designed to do specific jobs. I have no problem with new technology, and could buy Visual Basic or C, learn the basics, then completely re-code the programs, but isn't that kinda silly if I can get the old ones working. As mentioned, Quick Basic opens, and will allow code to be written, run and turned into a stand-alone .exe, so Vista 64 obviously hasn't put DOS to rest. Programs written 15 years ago worked great on XP, but not Vista. That's where I stand now. I will give (Microsoft?) virtualization a closer look to see if it's what I need. Thanks for the explanation. Best, Paul

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Thanks guys, lots of good tips. You are, however, dealing with an id*** . I have no idea what virtualization is. Is it a downloadable program, or something already inside Vista? I'd put up with Vista if I could just run the old programs. I can't get Vista to 'emulate' any other OS no matter what changes I make in 'Properties'. The only thing that opens is an old 'QuickBasic ' program(stop laughing), and that's after a warning about fullscreen mode not being supported. The executables just quit after the warning. Neither will open/run with a full screen, and my eyes can't deal with a small box . I'm gonna Google virtualization now and see what pops up. Best, Paul

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Thanks man. Just out of curiosity, why Vista 32? Is it as bug-laden as what I've got now? Between it and AOL 9.1, I don't even like turning the freakin' computer on anymore . Best, Paul