WMP 11 black to red after upgrade from Avast 5 to 6

[roborat]

I've already fixed this once with http://support.microsoft.com/mats/windows_media_player_diagnostic/
but the problem just came back after the last Avast program update.

The link to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831430/en-us seems like it might be the key to this.
Before doing anything I used regedit to look at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{f414c260-6ac0-11cf-b6d1-00aa00bbbb58}\InprocServer32
where I saw...
(Default)=C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast5\AhAScr.dll
Default Engine=C:\WINDOWS\system32\jscript.dll
ThreadingModel=Both

After running...
regsvr32 jscript.dll   
regsvr32 vbscript.dll
this changed to...
(Default)=C:\WINDOWS\system32\jscript.dll
ThreadingModel=Both

(f414c262-6ac0-11cf-b6d1-00aa00bbbb58 was exactly the same as this, but
f414c261-6ac0-11cf-b6d1-00aa00bbbb58 never had the link to AhAScr.dll in the first place)

Ok - red problem went away, but this feels like I've "unhooked" Avast in some way, possibly with effects beyond WMP. I would guess the underlying problem is buried within AhAScr.dll.

(Avast=6.0.1125, Windows=XP home/SP3)

[Dch48]

Okay I see something that may be a clue to why only some people on XP have this problem. From the location of your Avast files, it's clear that you upgraded from Avast 5 to 6 through the program GUI. If you had done a clean install of v6 the files would be in a different folder. Maybe this is common to all the people who have had the problem? I did a clean install myself and have never had an issue.

Maybe this isn't at the root of the problem at all but who knows?

[Gopher John]

Okay I see something that may be a clue to why only some people on XP have this problem. From the location of your Avast files, it's clear that you upgraded from Avast 5 to 6 through the program GUI. If you had done a clean install of v6 the files would be in a different folder. Maybe this is common to all the people who have had the problem? I did a clean install myself and have never had an issue.

Maybe this isn't at the root of the problem at all but who knows?

I updated from v5.x to v6.x and have the Avast5 folder.  I don't have the WMP problem.  However, the combination of the WMP version, other software installed, as well as various paths (as you've mentioned) may well be a factor.

[scythe944]

I think I upgraded from a full clean uninstall / re-install using the removal tool but I could be wrong. I updated a lot of machines when 5/6 came out so I'm a bit cloudy on the details.  I'll check the folders on the affected system when I get a chance.