Help troubleshoot video stalls on Windows XP

February 21, 2008 10:30 PM

Help troubleshoot video stalls on Windows XP. Whether it's youtube or other video, my machine no longer let's me watch video to completion. I have sbc yahoo dsl.
posted by rockhopper to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Can you tell us more about A) Your computer's technical stats (ram, video, processor, etc.) and B) what exactly happens when you are watching videos? You said they stall. Does that mean you are watching a video and 3 minutes in they just freeze up? Or they get jumpy? Or they freeze your browser / PC? What browser are you using. We need a good amount of information before we are going to be able to make suggestions.
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 10:40 PM on February 21, 2008

Response by poster: Thank you. 1.8tz intel; 256 ram; internet explorer; videos stop streaming partway through. I have dsl with a wifi router.
posted by rockhopper at 10:50 PM on February 21, 2008

Why do videos that I watch end early (Show end screen early)?

Why does the video keep stopping and starting while I'm watching it? - Paying attention to:

It's also possible that your video download speed is slow or inconsistent. In this case, you can try pausing the video until the entire stream is downloaded and then playing the video. Occasionally, an incomplete copy of a video can get stuck in your cache and never fully download. You can re-attempt the download by clearing your browser's cache. You'll find steps on how to do this listed here.

Why won't the video finish buffering?

If you have a few bucks, why not upgrade your ram as well? Watching videos on our 2.4GHz, 512 MB machines at work is choppy at best, but they don't freeze up all together.
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 11:00 PM on February 21, 2008

Should have went into detail a bit further on that second one...

You should try playing a video, immediately pausing it until the buffer bar completes, and then play it. If this works, than the video is going corrupt before the download finishes. I know your connection is DSL, but you may still be ending up with corrupt videos.
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 11:02 PM on February 21, 2008

Response by poster: video and buffer both stop, and will not continue.
posted by rockhopper at 11:08 PM on February 21, 2008

Response by poster: this is a recent problem...it may have coincided with wireless router install.
posted by rockhopper at 11:15 PM on February 21, 2008

Try connecting to your router with an Ethernet cable instead of wifi and see if that improves things.
posted by flabdablet at 12:59 AM on February 22, 2008

I've had that problem. It was caused by excessive line noise - my neighbourhood has crappy lines that couldn't support the speed I was supposed to be getting. I had them drop my speed down a notch or two, and I haven't had any problems since.

You can call your ISP up and ask for a line noise test, they can do that from their end.

You may also want to unplug everything but your modem from the phone line and see if that helps - the ISP will probably ask you to do that anyway. If you do it beforehand you won't have to hang up and call again.
posted by Turbo-B at 6:37 AM on February 22, 2008

If your wireless is open, then you might have a neighbor using p2p to the extent that your long downloads get starved & interrupted. Try connecting via Ethernet & switching off the wireless, then see if everything starts working.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:41 AM on February 22, 2008

Or you could glance at the blinky lights and see if the wireless one is a blur even when you're not doing anything.
posted by Pronoiac at 10:45 AM on February 22, 2008