[chbartel]

I just installed XBMC on a second pc, got everything configured, and didn't even check to see if I could actually play any video files..which I can't do.

When I select a video file to play(any video file), I get a black screen. I look at the now playing area, video doesn't show it's even progressing, like it's stuck at the very beginning. If I click the fast forward button, I can then see the movie going through at fast forward speed...

any ideas? it happens on all videos, and these same videos play fine on another XBMC installation.

Running Win7 64 bit ultimate on a Dell Optiplex 760, 2 gig ram, video card is a ATI HD5450.

[chbartel]

so I spent 5-6 more hours on this thing, and I am completely stumped.

I have formatted my machine and started from scratch again with a new install of win 7 64 bit ultimate.

I have a Dell Optiplex 755 and XBMC is working perfect. The Dell Optiplex 760 that is not working is not much different internally then the 755.

I have tried using the built-in video card, thinking my new HD5450 was the problem. Still can't play the videos. My 755(the working XBMC machine) is using the built-in cheap video card with no problem.

Tried changing my wireless adapter to the one working on my other XBMC box, didn't change a thing.

I've upgraded the BIOS and all other drivers to the most recent builds from Dell.

I can pull up the video files in Windows Media Player, and they play fine.

I am pulling the video files from the same location on both boxes with same username/password.

Another thing I have noticed is the mouse is gerky when it's in XBMC when one of the video files are trying to play...

any ideas, this is driving my nuts.

It seems like it's like the PC or XBMC is missing codecs?

thanks again,


Craig

[chbartel]

one last thing, I am certain it has nothing to do with wireless or bandwidth issues, as I can fast forward and it looks pretty darn sharp running 2x and 4x fast forward.

I am now testing Netflix through Firefox working perfect in HD on my cheap video card...

[jhsrennie]

It sounds like an audio problem. If you have XBMC sending output to the analogue audio and there are no speakers or headphones connected Windows disables the audio. For reasons that are obscure this causes the DirectX video to hang as well. Try connecting a pair of headphones to your PC and see if that fixes the problem.

If it doesn't fix the problem we'll need to see a debug log. Enable debug logging from System settings, System, Debugging, and restart XBMC then wait a minute or two for all the startup tasks to finish. Try playing a video, and when you get the black screen stop the video and close XBMC.

Open the debug log by pressing Windows-R and in the Run dialog type:

"%appdata%\xbmc\xbmc.log"

(including the quotes). Click OK and the log should open in Notepad. Copy and paste the log into http://pastebin.com/ and post the link it gives you here.

JR

[chbartel]

you are right, this is the only difference.

I have 2 laptops and 4 pc's running in home already, so I just got base image of windows installed, threw remote control software on it, then sat in corner and remoted into as I played with XBMC to get ready to put on main 55" TV. So I didn't have keyboard, mouse, or speakers attached to second setup.

The XBMC in my sons room that was working had speakers plugged in. The one I was setting up remoted into no speakers were attached to it. I thought I was losing my mind, I took pc not working and plugged into my sons room and suddenly it was working! Not thinking about the fact that I had plugged his speakers back in.

If this isn't in the main FAQ's for beginnings, probably would be a good thing to put in there, would save people a lot of time..

I will get the error log later today or tomorrow.

[jhsrennie]

I will get the error log later today or tomorrow.

There's no need to post an error log, because we now know the cause of the problem. Just make sure you have some form of speaker plugged in if you're using the analogue audio.

JR