hey guys can u help me out? i dont know what goin on but one minute my video players r playing movies and video clips in full and now whenever i try to open particularly large AVI files it freezes up. it only started bout 2day ago or something.

Try a System Restore to a point prior to the problem:

start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore

yeah set it back round a month and that didnt seem to work. it seems that all other types of media work expcept AVI. i can still run MPEG and RM files. it freezes up just after i have opened the player, be it realplayer or windows media player.

You might try this Codec Pack:

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/...Codec_Pack.htm

Otherwise try to trace your error messages:

Look in your Event viewer: rt. click My Computer then click Manage then Event Viewer.
Or: Administrative Tools/Event Viewer or Start/Run/ eventvwr
Open the system as well as the application tabs & look for X errors. Click error line for details.
Post back the source & event id & Description especially of errors that seem to coincide with this issue.
Also check the Information lines that might coincide with this issue.

How to view and manage event logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP

Also view your Error Log via:

[1] Start Menu
[2] Help and Support
[3] Pick a Task
[4] Tools
[5] Advanced System Information
[6] View the Error Log

Look for any synchronous entries.