running as admin now. no difference. It will hang at *Locating for the longest time, then screen goes black for an additional 25 seconds and then it plays. I think you are right in that it tries to find something and it doesn't. I disabled my windows firewall. no change. no other protective software on the machine, and mind you, all other software that i use to get online is working fine. this computer is uncomfortably unprotected right now...
let me run another log and see what it is trying to locate...
i found this segment, which i cut off after the first three to four similar lines. that last part is repeated in three blocks. totaling about 45 seconds. Is this a directx problem?
12449: 15612: Playback: CDXPlayerWindow::FinishUpGraphBuildingAndStartPlaying: Playing
0012449: 15612: Playback: CDXPlayerWindow::Play: Start
0012449: 15612: Playback: CDVDInterface::Play: Start
0012449: 15612: Playback: CDVDInterface::Play: Playing DVD (1.0)
0012449: 15612: Playback: CDVDInterface::Play: Setting playback speed
0012449: 15612: Playback: CDVDInterface::Play: Failed to set playback speed
0012449: 15612: Playback: CDVDInterface::Play: Disabling stills
0012449: 15612: Playback: CDVDInterface::Play: Running graph
0012449: 15612: Playback: CDShowFilterGraph::Run: Start
0012449: 15612: Playback: CDShowFilterGraph::Run: Running graph
0012449: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Start
0012449: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Event: 13 (0x0d), 0, 0
0012449: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Unhandled DX event: 0x0d
0012449: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Finish (0 ms)
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Start
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Event: 260 (0x104), -1, 0
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Unhandled DX event: 0x104
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Event: 262 (0x106), 1, 1
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Unhandled DX event: 0x106
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Event: 258 (0x102), 1, 0
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Event: 10 (0x0a), 0, 0
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Finish (0 ms)
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Start
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Finish (0 ms)
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Start
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Finish (0 ms)
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Start
0012480: 4168: Playback: CDShowFilterGraphNotifyWindow::OnDXEvent: Finish (0 ms)
0013401: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Start
0013401: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Accum audio bytes 0, video bytes 0, time period 1250.224230 ms
0013401: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Bitrate for current period: 0, audio: 0, video 0
0013401: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Finish (0 ms)
0014493: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Start
0014493: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Accum audio bytes 0, video bytes 0, time period 1097.769406 ms
0014493: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Bitrate for current period: 0, audio: 0, video 0
0014493: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Finish (0 ms)
0015585: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Start
0015585: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Accum audio bytes 0, video bytes 0, time period 1086.203032 ms
0015585: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Bitrate for current period: 0, audio: 0, video 0
0015585: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Finish (0 ms)
0016677: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Start
0016677: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Accum audio bytes 0, video bytes 0, time period 1092.044749 ms
0016677: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Bitrate for current period: 0, audio: 0, video 0
0016677: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Finish (0 ms)
0017769: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Start
0017769: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Accum audio bytes 0, video bytes 0, time period 1097.443955 ms
0017769: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Bitrate for current period: 0, audio: 0, video 0
0017769: 4168: Playback: CBitrateMonitor::UpdateBitrate: Finish (0 ms)