Article ID: 555654 - Last Review: June 30, 2006 - Revision: 1.0

Windows stops responding when you click a large AVI file

Author: Alessandro Angeli MVP
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SUMMARY

When you click a large AVI file, Windows stops responding, the CPU usage jumps to 100% and you are not allowed to delete the file.
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CAUSE

Article 822430 of the Knowledge Base describes the cause of this problem.
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RESOLUTION

Article 822430 of the Knowledge Base provides a fix for this problem. However, if the provided fix does not solve the problem, you can unregister the component causing it thus solving the problem completely.
 
THIS TECHNIQUE IS UNSUPPORTED AND YOU USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!
 
  1. Click Start, then Run.
  2. Type [regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll] without the parenthesis.
  3. Click the OK button.
  4. After an instant, you will get a dialog with the message "DllUnregisterServer in shmedia.dll succeded.".
 
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MORE INFORMATION

When applying the fix proposed in this article, you must be aware that you will also loose the ability to see the summary properties in the tooltip and file properties dialog for AVI, WMA, WMV, ASF and WAV files. The functionality of such files is otherwise untouched.
 
You can undo the effects of applying this fix by repeating the steps above, but substituting the command in step 2 with [regsvr32 shmedia.dll] (notice the missing /u command-line switch).
 
Third-party components may cause problems similar to the one described here, for example the Haali Media Splitter. If you have the Haali Media Splitter, you can fix the problem using the same steps but running the command [regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\Haali\MatroskaSplitter\mmfinfo.dll"] in step 2 (you may need to change the path to the mminfo.dll if you installed the software in a different folder). This will not prevent the Haali Media Splitter from working. You can restore the component to its previous state by repeating the same steps but omitting the /u argument from the command.
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
  • Microsoft Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 1
  • Microsoft Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 2
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1
  • Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
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Keywords: 
kbpubmvp kbpubtypecca kbhowto KB555654
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