Good Evening Folks:
Many thanks to all of you who have replied to my thread. It is greatly appreciated. To answer some of your questions and comments:
1. I had already tried system restore. No difference.
2. I tried a number (3) other DVD disks with the same result.
3. All the disks will play on my DVD player.
4. All the disks have worked previously on my computer because I always do a quick run through of them once they have been burned to ensure that the entire movie is installed and the sound is in sync.
5. When I run system repair I get a message telling me that the system is booting correctly.
6. When I checked the error messages, an error code showed up for both Windows Explorer and WMP11. When I opened the Microsoft solutions page I was informed that WMP11 had a corrupt block and the solution might be found by running CheckDisk. I did this and the problem still persists. I ran the error message app again and the same two problems showed up. This time, however, there was no mention of a corrupt block, only a message telling me to submit the problem to Microsoft so they could analyze it. Since I don't want to run my computer for a year with this problem as I wait for an answer, I did not sent it.
7. I have booted in Debugging mode with no results.
8. I have run a memory diagnostic and been informed that everything is functioning properly.
9. I have run my AV software, my spyware program, my registry debugger, and disk defragmentation app. I even ran a scan with Windows Defender.
10. I downloaded a video file on Limewire to test out the burning app. I burned it using DivX without converting it and WMP11 would not open it nor would the DivX player, and it would not play on my DVD player. In fact, when I tried to open in in Computer I got a message telling me it was a blank disk. My DVD player read the file and gave me the name of the video, but would not open it. I connverted it to the DivX format and got the same results in WMP11 and my DVD player, but it ran fine on the DivX player. I have been using Limewire and DivX for nearly two years with no problems.
So far nothing has corrected the problem. I haven't tried starting in safe mode to try to trace the problem because, to tell you the truth, the only thing I have ever found safe mode to be useful for is to allow me to access System restore whenever Vista has decided it didn't want to run it from the normal screen.
I could restore the computer to the Dell factory settings but then I would have to uninstall that lousy Trend Microsystems AV program and that even worse Roxio burning software.
It would appear that there are only three possible causes for the problem:
a) The registry has become corrupted or one or more of the registry files has been deleted. (This wouldn't be the first time I have found files missing from there.) I'm thinking that the registry files used by WMP11 are causing the problem.
b) I have picked up a subtle bug that my AV software and ASW programs are missing.
c) There are serious conflict problems that have cropped up between my programs, quite possibly following updates.
Tomorrow morning I will reinstall my O/S (I've done it a couple of times previously) but at a much more measured pace, making sure to scan each file on my backup disks for viruses, checking each program for conflicts, and being very selective about which windows updates I install.
If that fails...it's hello Windows 7.
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I will post back here with the results of the reinstallation. You people are all great.
Regards
Powell Lucas
