New HDD can't play video files

[gwp99]

I currently have an 80G IDE (boot) and a 250G SATA, DVD ROM and floppy drive.

I recently purchased a WDC2500JB 250G int HDD as a 3rd HDD - however, it appears to be unstable. This is the 2nd one as I returned the 1st thinking it was the HDD.

It will not play video files properly - the same file will play fine on either of the other 2 internal drives - audio files play fine. Most times the screen fills with pixel boxes and at times the video file chokes the player (Win Media player 10, zoom player). I have also ended up with corrupt folders after copying complete folders from my backup ext drive.

I have checked all cables and virus scanned the entire system as well as defraged and chkdsked all my drives - (I get some errors with chkdsk the odd time on the new drive).

Disabling the SATA HDD does not help either.

Can anyone offer a suggestion as to a solution (or cause) - I run XP and have SP2 installed although this problem existed before I installed SP2. BIOS is up to date.


Thanks in advance for any help
Gerry

 

[gwp99]

I am now thinking this may be a software issue.

I was using a product called Universal Shield (a pseudo drive encryption program) that I uninstalled about a month ago) that I used to toggle on and off when connected to the web - I am wondering if somehow my files are all carrying remanants of this program even though it's been removed.

I am going to contact the manufacturer to see if this is a possiblity and will post here.

I want to thank all who have posted for your time and help so far.

Gerry

 

[cdogg]

TT4U,
That would make sense, but Gerry mentioned that he can copy a file to the problem drive then back to the primary boot drive, and the file plays fine. That would seem to indicate to me that the file is staying intact and that "corruption" is not the issue.

gwp99,
Yeah, definitely sounds like a software issue, especially since it affects more than one type of file. I would suspect that a program you have or had installed does not "trust" the new source drive.

To rule out hardware, perhaps you should try one last test. Format a small primary partition and install XP. Only install the software you need to play the file(s). If it still doesn't work, then it's likely a hardware issue.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[cdogg]

I forgot to mention in my last post that the "[blue]small primary partition[/blue]" should be on the new 250GB IDE drive!

 

[gwp99]

Well, I took the day off and spent it trying to get to the bottom of this - here's what I have:

I deleted my "web" partition, created a new partition with a new drive letter "W" (I think UShield does something to the drivetable) and reformatted.

I found that some mpgs that were previously playable on any of my existing drives showed corrupt on both "W" and the new WD drive. This lead me to the conclusion that UShield was my problem.

However, after spending the day testing and rebooting dozens of times,it appears that there are still mpgs that show artifacts on the new drive but still play fine on the "W" drive. And, I can copy those mpgs that show the artifacts from the NEW WD to "W" and they will play fine from "W".
The audio and video stuttering is nowhere near what it was yesterday from these files.

In addition, VOB's, which I ripped from my own DVDs play without a problem on the NEW WD as well as WAVs I ripped from my own CD. The question still remains whether any mpg file will play on the new drive.

I did find 2 mgps that were previously created from DVDs by me (UShield off) which play fine on the new drive - all the other mpgs were downloaded off the net - which would have had UShield on at the time.

So it appears that the WD drive is fine - this is my 7th WD HDD (only one died on me and SMART caught it before I lost anything and they replaced it within a couple of days) - I was stumped when I had 2 WD drives in a row show a problem, let alone the same problem.

In support of UShield, I ran it without a problem for over a year. When I uninstalled it, I didn't clear out my drive selections from it - and it probably didn't on the uninstall - that most likely was the cause of this situation.

Thanks to all who responded - I sure learned a lot from the responses - I would never have thought it was software until the hardware issues suggested were out of the way.

This thread turned out to be a great checklist in HDD installations.

Thanks again
Gerry

 

[TekTippy4U]

when I say you're welcome.....I'm sure I'm speaking for all here..
All i can think of is that Encryption will show as corruption without the decryptor software (so to speak)....would reinstalling it as a test help?..and I suggest some sort of thorough RegCleaner to wipe the remnants of ANY uninstalled proggies in the future.
For the mpgs that are funky (are they mpeg1 or mpeg2), perhaps they need a diff "codec" or a special one somewhere inline.

when you say "web partition" - do you mean on the "existing drive" - not the newer WD?
It would help to clarify specific HDD via Manu. (if all diff, especially since you now have [2] separate 250GB drives...I know 1 is a WD ).

So if I understand....you Wiped an existing partition (web partition) on existing HDD (manu? or something/anything to differentiate please, besides the word "existing") and Re-partitioned that Old existing HDD and tried from there and there is Corruption.....so it seems "any" data store area (partition) you create New - that is either on an Older HDD (manu? - 250GB?) -- or on the Newer HDD (WD 250GB) is showing corruption for all Mpegs except those 2 that weren' t d/l from the web using Ushield..

TT4U

Notification:
These are just my thoughts....and should be carefully measured against other opinions.
Backup All Important Data/Docs

 

[gwp99]

I apologize for the delay in responding - I have spent the entire evening cleaning up my audio/video files on my NEW drive.

For the description below, D1 is my system drive, D2 is my SATA and D3 is my NEW drive. In addition I have an external USB backup drive. All my drives are Western Digital.

I do use 2 regcleaners and used them throughout my testing yesterday.

I talked to our IT guy today and he too suggested codecs - I did update divx and directx today after work but there was no immediate change (still pixel and audio problems)

So I deleted all video folders from the new drive D3 that I put on yesterday followed by a defrag of D3 and the external USB backup drive.

I then spent the rest of this evening going through all my mpg's and avi's from my USB external backup drive and copying them folder by folder to the new drive D3 - there were probably 5 files out the 150 files showing the pixel problem from the backup drive. (I initially didn't think there were any problem files on the backup USB drive).

To clarify what I did yesterday:

I "dressed" my original web partition - I wiped the web partition on D1, repartitioned and reformatted it and designated it partition "W" - this should have removed any encryption effects on that partition.

I used an mpg file that had played on my external USB backup drive as well as on the "undressed" web partition on D1 but would not play on the NEW drive D3.

When I copied this mpg file from the external USB backup drive, and it now showed being corrupt on the "dressed" web partition on D1 as well as corrupt on the NEW drive D3, I assumed that the problem was encryption related.



My NEW drive D3 is now cleaned and plays all mpg's, avi's, VOB's and WAVs that I have tested (>100) without pixel or audio problems.

So, I have managed to eliminate my problem completely - for now!

I have an email in to the encryption software co. for their take on the situation but have not yet received a reply - I think I was on the right track though assuming that somehow UShield was at the root of my problem.

Hope this explanation was clearer than my last.

Thanks again
Gerry

 

[gwp99]

I just received this reply from the UShield tech support -

"If you uninstall Universal Shield - all protection will be lost, and nobody will be "affected".
Universal Shield is just a layer between the user and the system, all requests are intercepted and filtered, but real data stays untouched."


So now I'm baffled - but the drive is still working properly! For the rest of my files on the other drives, this was the best news I could have received. But the mystery of WHY I had my problem still remains unsolved.

 

[cdogg]

I know the issue is solved, but now I'm a bit curious about your Sept 28th statement:

The exact same video or wav file plays on all other drives just fine including my external USB drives.

But you just mentioned that there were 5 files out of about 150 that had problems on the USB drive. Are you absolutely positive that you tried the same video file on D1 and/or D2?


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[gwp99]

I am absolutely certain I used the "exact same" file - I kept copying it to the various drives and I did this with many files, not just one or two - the 5 files above were from my "clean USB backup" files that should not have had any corrupt files - I got rid of them once I found them.

HOWEVER, the problem was semi solved - the NEW DRIVE was giving a "corrupt folders" XP error after accessing the drive (maybe 30 minutes or so) and the folder in question can't be opened or deleted. (It doesn't even have to be a folder I opened).

On reboot, the PC goes into CHKDSK mode and generally everything is fine - no errors are indicated - however, when I went to copy 50G of DVD files this morning, I had to stop the process after a couple of hours because of slowness - when I did a reboot, the MFT had so many errors (corrupt file segments, etc..) that I got fed up and used WD DATA LIFEGUARD to redo (partition and reformat) the NEW drive and installed XP from scratch - I have been at it ever since - I figure by this time tomorrow I should be up and running.

I was able to copy the 50G of VOB's in about an hour with the new config with no errors - so the new XP install is on one partiiton of the NEW drive and the DVD VOB's are on a second partition of the NEW drive.

The NEW drive at this point (after 5 hours) shows no signs of screwing up - but the night is still young!

 

[gwp99]

Well, I'm back - 2 days later but up and running!

My problem appears to have been something in XP getting corrupted.

My fix was leaving all drives and cables physically intact in my PC, and installing XP to a partition on the NEW drive. I then had to reinstall all my apps from scratch. I rearranged my logical drive layouts so that all my video and audio files are now sitting on my SATA drive - which is now dedicated to Audio Video files. And they all play as they should.

The new install boots faster than ever and all my drivers are now current - and only those apps that I actually use are installed.

My PC is now rock solid - thanks again to the group for leading me to the conclusion that my problem was probably not hardware related - I was going to return the 2nd drive and not bother with a 3rd internal HDD.

Gerry