Help with Windows Media Player

[JMT]

My son likes to watch videos of RC cars on the internet. By default we use Windows Media player (it came with the Compaq that I bought). He has been able to watch with no problems, but since yesterday none of the videos on the websites he visits will work. The error message says:

Windows Media Player cannot connect to the server. The server name may be incorrect or the server is busy. Try again later.

When I click the link that says "More Information" it says this:

0xC00D1198: Cannot connect to the server

Windows Media Player cannot connect to the server hosting the content you want to play. You may encounter this error message for one of the following reasons:

1. The name of the server hosting the content is not valid. If you typed a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address in the Open URL dialog box, ensure that the file name is spelled correctly and the path to the file is correct, and then try again. If you clicked a link on a Web page, the link may not be valid.
2. The server is busy and is not accepting new connections. Try to connect to the server at a later time.
3. The proxy server settings for Windows Media Player are not configured properly. Verify that your proxy server settings are correct.

To verify your proxy server settings

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, click the Network tab, and then verify your settings in the Streaming proxy settings area.

Note

1. If you do not know what your proxy server settings should be, on the Network tab, select a protocol, click Configure, and then select Autodetect proxy settings or Use proxy settings of the Web browser (available for HTTP protocol only).

Error ID = 0xC00D1198, Condition ID = 0x00000000

This is all Greek to me. I set the protocol to autodetect with no affect. I am clueless as to what is wrong. I did install a pop-up blocker, an e-mail spam blocker, and some sort of spybot type of software. But I uninstalled them thinking that they had something to do with the problem.

 

[Edwood]

What version of Window Media Player are you using?

Are you using a firewall? Is one built into your router?

You may have to enable port fowarding, but this really shouldn't be a problem with streaming video.

Can you at least right click and "save as" the movie file at all?

-Ed

 

[JMT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood What version of Window Media Player are you using?

Version 9.00
Quote:

Are you using a firewall? Is one built into your router?

One is built into my router and I am also using Norton Personal Firewall.
Quote:

You may have to enable port fowarding, but this really shouldn't be a problem with streaming video.

I don't know what that means.
Quote:

Can you at least right click and "save as" the movie file at all? -Ed

He hasn't tried that, and I would prefer that he not download the movie file onto the hard drive if that is what you mean.

 

[spaceman]

Before you go changing a lot of your settings, I'd give it a day or two to see if the problem is with the host server. This has happened to me before, and it was the host, not me.

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMT Version 9.00 One is built into my router and I am also using Norton Personal Firewall. I don't know what that means. He hasn't tried that, and I would prefer that he not download the movie file onto the hard drive if that is what you mean.

You might as well have him do that, because often times "streaming" movies are not really truly streaming, but are downloaded into the temporary internet files before playing.

Before doing that, try giving Windows Internet Explorer a little enema.

Try going to where File, Edit, Favorites, Tools, Help.

Tools-->Internet Options-->

Under the "General Tab"

Click "Clear History"

Click "Delete Files" On the warning pop up, Check "Delete all offline content", Click "OK"

Click "Clear Cookies"

Close all Explorer windows.

Open an Internet Explorer Window.

Try to access the URL's again.

Hopefully that works.

-Ed

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spaceman Before you go changing a lot of your settings, I'd give it a day or two to see if the problem is with the host server. This has happened to me before, and it was the host, not me.

Better yet, try other sites with "streaming" videos and see if those give you the same problem or not.

-Ed

 

[JMT]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will give it a try tomorrow and report back.

Edwood, now go buy a house....or a condo.

 

[JMT]

Thanks for your help guys. I disabled Norton Personal Firewall and all is well.

 

[Edwood]

Ah, so it was my first guess.

Norton should have an option to manually enter an IP address or website so that it will allow access for that site only.

So if your son visits particular sites a lot, it's very handy to be able to allow "ala carte" access for your firewall.

If you can't get Norton to do that and are having more problems try Zone Alarm. THe basic one is free and is relatively easy to use.

My favorite feature is that you can have it set so that if it is blocking site requests, it'll pop up a window asking you to tell it to block it all the time or always allow or this time only. So you can essentially teach Zone Alarm what to block and what not to. Kind of a pain at first, because Zone Alarm blocks nearly everything at first, but once you get it going, you almost never see it complain.

-Ed

 

[Welly Wu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMT Thanks for your help guys. I disabled Norton Personal Firewall and all is well.

JMT:

Hi! How are you?

I knew it was Norton Personal Firewall that was causing you problems. Most Norton products do more harm to personal computers than they do good. Stay away from them.

Here is some nice information I have for you: you can uninstall Norton Personal Firewall so long as you keep your (presumably) router/ethernet hub patched up to date and configured properly. I have more great news for you: wait until Microsoft releases the much anticipated Service Pack 2 release. It will have a much more robust software firewall that is designed with newbies in mind. It has many of the same features as more sophisticated software firewalls (like the ones you got to pay for -- Sytech, KERIO, Norton, McAfee, etc.) but it's totally free.

I like to be thrifty with my money now. I like free even more. When I install SP2 for my Windows XP Professional OS, I'm using that free software firewall.