UKC

Hi all,

I'm getting increasingly frustrated trying to play videos on my desktop (using windows 10) and am hoping someone on here can help.

Videos play fine for about 10 minutes, sometimes for an hour or so, but then they will loose, the sound the video may slow down for a bit then it stops altogether. I can skip to any part of the video but when I hit play nothing happens. It seems to start working again if I leave it for an hour or so, but then the same thing will happen again after a while.

I don't know how long this has been happening as I've only started watching videos on my computer in the last couple of months. Initially I thought it was a wifi problem as it happened when I tried to watch stuff on netflix, but the same thing happens watching videos on the hard drive through windows media player.

Another annoying issue is if I leave the computer for a while so the screen saver comes on, when I reactivate the screen the desktop icons are missing and if I click on any icons along the bottom taskbar nothing happens. The same if I try to launch something from the start menu, nothing happens. The only way I can gain access to any programmes is to wait until the screen goes black again and wake it up.

Any help much appreciated.
Thanks.

In reply to MikeR:

A bump for the day shift. Any ideas?

In reply to MikeR:

Start by turning your screen saver off. Screens typically outlive the processors so why bother with one?

In reply to MikeR:

Complete shot in the dark, but is this a RAM issue? Do are you running a bunch of other apps (incl background) at the same time? Otehrwise, I would check that your disks are defragmented.

In reply to MikeR:

Track your memory use. Most likely something is eating ally our RAM. Kill that process and restart.

CB

In reply to cb294:

concur, some web browsers are particularity bad for this

In reply to MikeR:

What program are you using to play the videos? I'd suggest try using another one (VLC is my recommendation, it's free) and see how it goes.

In reply to BnB:

Thanks, a nice simple solution to that issue.

In reply to Jon Read and cb294:

Not using many other apps that I'm aware of, but I'll check. Cheers.

In reply to NottsRich:

Multiple programs. I first noticed it with whatever Netflix uses to play movies, but have recently noticed it in Windows media player, and even on Adobe Premium Pro which I've just downloaded a free trial version for some work videos I need to edit.

In reply to MikeR:

Use power options in control panel and set to "high performance" make sure video and computer never go to sleep. Sounds like hard disk is shutting down because no keyboard/mouse activity. As BnB says switch of screen saver.

In reply to MikeR:

Is it only online videos it struggles with or does it do it with ones on your hard drive? If it's both then you can eliminate the internet from the potential causes.

In reply to MikeR:

Not thinking about too many apps, but Firefox suddenly claiming 5 GB of memory for no apparent reason. If that happens (usually when the app was open for a few days and I have been listening to music on youtube at work), video freezes, and all other apps running start having to write to swap partitions.

The only way is to kill firefox and start it again.

CB

PS: this relates to an older Mac, but the symptoms sound familiar.....

In reply to Toerag:

It's both, online videos and those on my hard drive.

In reply to MikeR:
That proves the fault into your PC. Open up task manager and monitor the RAM usage - when you run out of RAM you'll hit all sorts of problems. The giveaway is mental disk activity.
My windows 8 machine used to develop mental disk activity every so often caused by some integral windows process (which I can't remember - update checking maybe? ), this would cripple the machine for ten minutes or so. As your problem sounds a bit more random than running out of RAM it may be something similar?
edit: just re-read your original post properly - should have picked up that it happens without the internet. Apologies for that.

In reply to MikeR:

As no one else has asked.... what spec is your machine? (processor, Memory (RAM), HDD size and percentage disc space free?)

what sort of videos are you playing? HD? 4K?

Press the windows key + R together - you should get the "Run" command line prompt pop up.

type "shell:games" press enter and the games shell should pop up (it might ask about default folder display settings just click default option) in the bottom right of what will appear to be a blank window (unless you have lots of app games) you should see a number (mine is 5.9) next to "current system" - this is the Windows experience index and gives an indication of overall performance - what is yours showing? - This will give an indication if your hardware is an issue

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Thanks for the detailed idiot proof instructions! I'm currently at work on a night shift, then off into the hills tomorrow. I can't remember the specs off the machine off the top of my head but will check tomorrow evening.

The videos are HD, at least the ones on my hard drive. Not sure what Netflix ones are.

In reply to balmybaldwin:

Hi, the processor is an Intel Core i5-4460 CPU @ 3.20GHz with 8 GB RAM. C drive has 1.62 TB free of 1.79 TB.

I, followed your instructions, it comes back with a score of 4.2