Don,

We recently discovered a problem similar to this when installing a
multimedia training program on some systems here at work.  One solution was
to go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com (no "www" in the address) and
download the critical updates, Direct X 7.0a, and the Windows Media Player
(the new one is 7.0 for Windows 98).  But, after several exchanges with the
vendor, we found something else out.

Open up your win.ini file (click Start|Run and type "sysedit"), and looking
for the following lines under [mci extensions]:

mpeg=MpegVideo
mpg=MpegVideo
abs=MpegVideo

It's possible that the "mpg=MpegVideo" line is missing.  If it is, type it
in, and this should fix your problem.  I have not actually tested this fix
yet, but it can't hurt to check.  Hope this helps.

Kyle Elmblade


From: "Don Kendrew" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2000 7:00 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Cannot play mpeg's


> I recently reformatted and installed Win 98, version #1 on a friend's AMD
> 350 with 6.4 GB HDD, 192 Mb Ram, ATI 4 Mb video, SB 16bit Audio.
>
> He has had the computer for about two months, and has recently discovered
> that he cannot play a mpeg video file. . . also if he downloads an mpeg
> from the net it shows up on his HDD as a .vps file.
>
> Trying to open either this .vbs, or an mpeg he receives the following
message:
>
> "MMSYSTEM296 The file cannot be played on the specified MCI device. The
> file may be corrupt, or not in the correct format."
>
> The only thing he can tell me is that he installed the latest Window's
> Media Player, did not like it, and uninstalled it, using an uninstall
utility.
>
> We do not know if this condition was in evidence right after the
> installation of Win98 or not. . . it had not occurred to us to check this
> out right after the install.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Don Kendrew

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