I've tried googling this issue in every way I could think of. I didn't come up with anything.

As the title says, I can't use any video player other than media player classic. Whenever I try to use windows media player or real player or netflix's instant watch player the sound comes through but there is no video.

DivX trailers wont show video but play sounds.

I can run pretty much any video file using Media Player Classic, but I can't run netflix movies, which I would really like to have.

This issue started sporadically a couple of months ago. But I haven't been able to use windows media player or real player at all for a good month and a half now.

Something weird that happened today:
I tried to run a movie on Netflix's video player and the screen started to display white noise but I could hear the movie's sounds.
I had to hard reset the computer and retried, but this time I only got a black screen.

I haven't installed any new video players since installing the basics after installing XP last year.

Also of possible note:
I can't run gpu folding software anymore. All WU's end early. I suspect some of the transistors in the video card may have blown.

Edit:
This issue started around the time I installed Cat 7.10 drivers. So I am right now going to use driver cleaner from Guru3D and re-install the drivers to see if it solves the problem.

I don't know if this is a hardware or a software issue.

I've updated all software to the best of my knowledge.

System specs:
A64 3400+ (S754)
ECS NF5 mobo
Ati x1900xt 256
1 Gb ram

Windows XP SP2

Any suggestions are appreciated before I do a complete reinstall of Windows.

I am trying to avoid that since I am planning on building a new machine in 03/08.

I fixed my problem with my own suggestion.

Apologies if I wasted your time
.