TalkingSoft.com Forums: Stuttering Sound and Video After Installing K-Lite - TalkingSoft.com Forums

After installing the K-Lite Mega Pack from free-codecs.com, all sound and video on my system (Windows XP Home edition, Service Pack 3) began to stutter intermittently. The problem is system-wide: affecting all players and all browsers.

Uninstalling the codec pack using it's built-in uninstaller did not fix the problem. Neither did a System Restore.


My poor little machine! Why the computer refurbishing place I bought her from didn't install video codecs is beyond me (the system was so well-outfitted otherwise!) but now she's a stuttering mess.




Edit: I *should* mention that she played all sound files perfectly up until now. Just no video in Winamp or Windows Media Player because she was missing the codecs.

Edit: And after rebooting so many times, I've noticed that the Windows XP "welcome" sound has never stuttered.

Considering that the pack's uninstaller properly removes all components that it has installed, I can conclude that your problem is unrelated to the codec pack. It does not make any low level changes that affect the operation of the computer after an uninstall.

Open the Windows Task Manager (ctrl+shift+esc) and look if there is any program that is consuming a lot of CPU power. Stuttering is usually caused by performance issues.

Also run Windows Update, to re-install any updates that were removed by System Restore.

I don't mean to argue with a person who is trying to help me, but the stuttering problem was as immediate as "codec pack installed, now everything is stuttering". No extra software has been running, no other changes to the system were made.




I agree, uninstalling should have fixed the issue with stuttering audio files and stuttering youtube video, so I'm just as amazed as you are that it didn't.




I made a system restore point immediately before installing the K-Lite codec pack, so it's unlikely that I lost any windows updates in the twenty minutes I had before doing a system restore.




Yes, my CPU seems to be struggling with something, but there's nothing in the processes tab to suggest what app is hogging the power. My first impulse at this point would be to blame malware, but that seems unlikely since I downloaded the codecs from a reputable source. (And Spybot and Avg have turned up nothing.)

Since I first posted, I've tried installing the Community Codec pack. I can get a little farther into files before the stuttering begins, but the stuttering overtakes the files nonetheless.

OP again.


After clearing out the browser cache, the windows temp files, running a defrag and stripping all processes down to what I need to run the machine (video won't play in windows safe mode because the driver aren't loaded) I can play MP3 and AVI files.... sort of. All it takes is the smallest hiccup in the system (a scheduled virus scan, for instance) for it to become a stuttering mess again.


What gives? This computer is three weeks old! What happened to my system when I installed the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack?

Uninstalling the codec pack using it's built-in uninstaller did not fix the problem. Neither did a System Restore.


My poor little machine! Why the computer refurbishing place I bought her from didn't install video codecs is beyond me (the system was so well-outfitted otherwise!) but now she's a stuttering mess.

Noting the other additions, tells me it isn't the codecs or other drivers. Sounds like a clash between Anti-malware protection and the drivers/codecs. Try disabling the antivirus during the local playback of files. Check if the stutter is less/more/none when anti-malware is off. Something is using disk or processor time, causing scanning/reading of disks for other files.

OP again.

I'm giving up, waving the white flag, and reinstalling Windows.

Let my sacrifice serve as a warning to future generations! Beware the K-Lite Codec Mega Pack! BEWARE!

Which sound card/chip do you have? In case you have a separate card, if your motherboard also has on-board audio, then disable it in the BIOS. Having two audio devices enabled often causes trouble.

Have you tried re-installing the audio driver?