Help with AVI files

[Max2009]

I can't seem to be able to watch avi files.
When I try opening one in Dragon Player I get sound, but no video.
When I try to use the vlc it opens for a second and closes, and in Real Player for Linux it says I'm missing components(avi).
So, how and where do I download codecs? I seem to have libaviplayavcodec 0.7.45 already installed.
I am using Mandriva 2009, KDE4 and am very new at this whole Linux thing.
Thank you.

[minthaka]

Easy Urpmi
You will add the online repositories for the version 2009.0, and then after open the package manager. So easy.

[Max2009]

That didn't help.

[minthaka]

That didn't help.

But it has to!
1. Go to the website.
2. Select your version/architecture
3. Press the button "Add Official medias"
4. You will be questioned what to do with the file, and offered Open with: Add urpmi media
5. You'll have to wait until the package lists are downloaded. There will be some indicating messages for the end of the process.
6. Open package manager. You can eventually refresh the package lists.

[Max2009]

Yeah, that's what I did. I even downloaded the PLF medias for good measure.
I then installed any likely looking package, including win32 codecs.
Didn't work.

[minthaka]

I will try to reproduce your problem today...

[scrarfussi]

What i suggest is that you launch your media player from terminal then try play the video's And post the error's you get here that way we can see What the problem is and help you accordingly

[Max2009]

This is the vlc error code:

[00000426] main window error: no vout window module matched "any"
[????????] x11 video output error: X11 request 141.19 failed with error code 11:
 BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)
X Error of failed request:  BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)
  Major opcode of failed request:  141 (XVideo)
  Minor opcode of failed request:  19 ()
  Serial number of failed request:  86
  Current serial number in output stream:  87

This is the Totem Movie Player error:

The program 'totem' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)'.
  (Details: serial 63 error_code 11 request_code 141 minor_code 19)

When I tried to open it in Dragon Player, avi doesn't show up under one of the "supported files".

I don't know if this is relevant or not, but...
My computer is a dual boot with Windows Vista. When I rebooted into Windows and tried watching the avi files, I couldn't!
Well, that was an easy fix, I uninstalled and reinstalled the codec pack. That worked. But it still doesn't work in Mandriva.

Thanks

[Max2009]

I fixed it.
Apparently this is a know issue with Xorg.
I googled it and found out that I need to turn off the desktop effects. I did, and it worked.
In the thread there (I think it was on Ubuntu forums) they also said that you could add a couple of lines to the Xorg config file, and keep running the effects. I tried it and it didn't work.
But that doesn't bother me. When it's a toss-up between cool desktop effects and House... need I go on?