ah but sp3 removes items sp2 has in it that slow down xp computers. and it has tons of font fixes and security fixes.
plus most updates wont' be seen when you don't have sp3 you could be even farther out of date then you think?

but to each his own, although fixing errors found is good enough reason for me to do sp3 on all the xp computers i have here and the three at my mom's and other sisters house.
all computers are working as should be. but then i also have repair programs installed and have them run most the time cause i found windows be it 3.1 or vista is prone to messy system files and registrys so they will no matter what os versions need repairs done. 8)
i just can't see filling up a hard drive with junk that ms found fit to take out after they realized they didn't need to put it in. but if you don't mind then thats up to you. but i'm ex secruity from military so i'll go with the more secure sp3 then sp2 any way. :D

> I had success with SP2 and gave MM a quick try. To my surprise it worked, even though I was still on WMP 9.

That was my experience too. What I've seen suggests on Vanilla XP MM play fails, but with SP2 /or/ WMP11 it succeeds.

> or just leave well enough alone (sit pat with sp2).

Good plan :)

You guys really eat, sleep and breath the MM forum. I'm thankful for that as I've gotton help and found answers to several questions without ever posting anything. This might muddy the waters, but I thought I'd mention that I haven't installed WMP 11 yet. It was late the other night when I had success with SP2 and gave MM a quick try. To my surprise it worked, even though I was still on WMP 9. So I've got that remaining and also have sp3 waiting in the wings. As evidenced by the RC and Chris comments, I think it's debatable whether I should go there or just leave well enough alone (sit pat with sp2). Anyway, thanks again.

> if they want to go to sp3, i did and had no trouble on this dell, you chrisjj said you did not cause you had trouble

I had no trouble with SP3 because on the machine on which I run MM I have no SP3 :)

[quote="chrisjj"]> Specifically, once I installed service pack 2, the monkey started making (playing) music again.

I'm amazed. But glad you're sorted![/quote]

amazed uh? why its known that when microsoft released wmp 11 all previous versions lost certian controls / files that allowed it to work. and when they went from wmp 9 to wmp 10 the old wmp 9 stuff did not work on 10.

so if the computer's been wiped and reinstalled with the orgianl winxp install disk, they need to update cause the install disk came with old wmp files from 2004,. :)

now if they just go to sp3 they will get a faster system then with sp2 and more secure of one. sp3 took out things ms forgot to take out in sp2 or added in sp2 that were found not to be needed and just caused troubles, and slowdowns.

but then some had trouble with hardware when going to sp3 so its up to them if they want to go to sp3, i did and had no trouble on this dell, you chrisjj said you did not cause you had trouble. so its even odds for them. :)

> Specifically, once I installed service pack 2, the monkey started making (playing) music again.

I'm amazed. But glad you're sorted!

Just to close this one out. Bringing XP back up to date was the key. Specifically, once I installed service pack 2, the monkey started making (playing) music again. :D Thanks RC and others for the help.

All MP3s. The CD which played OK is audio. I didn't try a CD with MP3s.

[quote="msimms"]I've used 3 versions of MM on 4 different PC's (3 different OS's) over the past 2-3 years and never encountered this problem before.
I just installed MM 3.1 on an XP machine. I've already used it on 2 other XP machines with no problems. But on this one, MM will find music, scan it into the library, etc, but won't play any of it. Whether I try to play a song from the library or go outside the library to a folder, when I try to play a song, it greys out. Not just that song, but the greying continues to scroll thru the entire folder, playlist, library or whatever I'm in. The only music it will play is from a CD. The same music in question will play fine in WMP. Help anyone ?[/quote]What format are the failed files? Does MP3 play?

Thanks, to both, for the addtional thoughts and direction. As far as the wipe clean, whatever was done was before I got my hands on it. I thought that's what was said and that appears to be the case. But hey, it's a free PC that should have some life left in it (plus a farily new 160G drive). I'm not going bug the the guy who gave it to me for specifics. I'll just chip away at the updates and whatever else is needed (in my spare time - ha!) and see what happens.
thanks again

yep wmp 11 will fix a lot of things, but if he wiped that computer and reinstalled then did not update.?

there are about 5 years worth of updates needed then. and don't take short cuts on them if you need one from 5 years ago get it. because microsoft will not show some you might need until you get the previous patch they released. so you got lots of things to get. and don't forget to get the sp3 update well you might be able to skip the sp 1 and the sp 2 updates because each new sp update mostly has the complete updates from the previous sp.

but you got a lot of things to get. i don't under stand reformating xp it does not make sense.
xp will allow you to stick the install cd in and over write the windows folder with the install cd files. :)

so you can then just go and get the updates you don't need to remove every file or program on your system like you did on win98 or winMe. :o

I would be willing to bet that the problem will be solved by updating your Windows Media Player to WMP11, since MM relies on some of its components for mp3 and wma playback.

Hummm.....you're talking about general updates to XP, etc. I guess. This PC came from a friend who wiped it clean and re-installed. I hadn't begun to catch up on updates yet. Didnt' consider that since MM has always seemed to run on any PC regardless of it's state, well, within reason of course. OK, I have a path to follow. This will take some time but eventually I'll let you know.

Thanks, again

did you mis and update on that computer? as it works on the others did they just get updates or maybe they didn't get any updates and this one did?

still also this one might be needing quicktime on it or maybe it needs to have the mp3pro or mad plugin installed?

:-?

I've used 3 versions of MM on 4 different PC's (3 different OS's) over the past 2-3 years and never encountered this problem before.
I just installed MM 3.1 on an XP machine. I've already used it on 2 other XP machines with no problems. But on this one, MM will find music, scan it into the library, etc, but won't play any of it. Whether I try to play a song from the library or go outside the library to a folder, when I try to play a song, it greys out. Not just that song, but the greying continues to scroll thru the entire folder, playlist, library or whatever I'm in. The only music it will play is from a CD. The same music in question will play fine in WMP. Help anyone ?