Clear.fi playmovie.exe program suddenly can't play dvds

On my Acer AX-1920-ER20P desktop (running windows 7) I've always had Clear.fi ‘playmovie.exe’ player/program (which came with the computer) automatically play DVDs when I insert one into the drive. Suddenly, the program runs when I insert a DVD, but I get a black screen and there is no menu.

NOW, if I run the program then insert a DVD it recognizes it (shows the drive letter and the name of the DVD) *BUT* the Resume, Restart and Settings buttons are all 'greyed' out and can't be clicked. I used to be ABLE to click these buttons and then choose what I wanted to watch, not anymore. I tried downloading/installing the most recent version of Clear.fi from your website (at http://www.acer.com/clearfi/download/ but still have the same problem. I can view DVDs fine in other programs on the same PC. Why would Clear.fi just stop working properly? Man Surprised

FYI:
Someone else had this problem on a laptop a while back at link http://community.acer.com/t5/Notebooks-Netbooks/Clear-fi-No-picture/m-p/114023#M23219" but there was no solution posted.

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mikenowo

Does anyone monitor this forum? Why does Acer even supply Clear.fi player if it stops working and then there's no support for it >.<

Lucylu293

The same thing happened to me tonight, I've been trying to get it working again but it won't Smiley Sad

I was watching a DVD on my Acer Aspire E1-522 about two weeks ago and it worked perfectly fine but now it's just a black screen... What other programs do you use to watch your DVDs other than Clear.fi player?

mikenowo

I'm using Windows 7, so in the meantime to bypass Clear.fi I've changed it to use 'Windows Media Player Classic' automatically. A couple of other players I've used are 'Windows Media Player' (which also comes with Windows 7), or a program called 'Easy DVD Player'. Sadly, the most recent free version of the latter now has a watermark across the screen when you play a movie, so it's not very palatable AND the regular/latest 'Windows Media Player' won't launch properly if I set it to automatic.

Windows 7 has limited ability to choose what automatically opens and only the first program above actually works right now for me for AutoPlay.

--

The way I set it in Windows 7 is as follows:

-Insert a DVD in the dvd drive and close the drive door

-Click on the 'Start' button; then 'Computer'

-Right click on the letter of your DVD drive to get the context menu

-Choose 'Open Autoplay'

-Make sure the 'Always do this for DVD movies:' check box is CHECKED then depending on what appears in the list, choose an option OTHER than 'Play DVD Movie: using Clear.fi'

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AGAIN, for me ONLY the 'Play DVD Movie: using Media Player Classic' works to auto-start when I insert a DVD into the drive at the moment. I can't find another way to choose a player that *I* want specifically to auto-open <sigh>. Even if you choose "View more AutoPlay options in Control Panel" from the previous 'Autoplay' window, the options in the drop down lists for the different media types is limited. YAY progress >.<

mikenowo

Hmm.. I just found this on the internet on how to change default programs in Windows 7 as well, in case that helps in any way:

--

1)Open Default Programs by clicking the Start button, and then clicking Default Programs.

2) Click on Set Default Programs.

3) Select Windows Media Player (or another program in the list) and Click on Set this program as default.

Change which programs Windows uses by default

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Change-which-programs-Windows-uses-by-default

Lucylu293

I have windows 8... When I right click the DVD drive and press auto play, the only option that comes up is Clear.fi media. When I go into Window Media Player (which is already installed) I'm unable to find where the DVD option is. I might try Easy DVD Player tomorrow, I don't mind if there is a watermark, I just want to be able to watch my DVDs.

I'm going to see if I can go to a computer expert during the week and see if they could fix the problem, if I'm able to find out what's wrong with Clear.fi, I will tell you ^.^

mikenowo

I ulpoaded the 3.5.1 version of the install program for Easy DVD Player to my Skydrive (this version doesn't show a watermark, you just have to click 'continue' when it asks for a registration key to bypass it).

You can get it from here:

http://sdrv.ms/1doFcLs

--

If you ever get Clear.fi fixed, let me know how they did it (I have a ticket open with Acer but I'm not holding my breath) ;-)

Lucylu293

As my laptop is only around 1 month old, I decided to reset it, and now my Clear.fi is back to normal Smiley Happy

so maybe you could transfer all your stuff to a hand drive and reset it too?

mikenowo

er.. if by reset you mean reinstall ain't gonna happen. I've had this pc over 2 years and have tons on it, no way I'd be reinstalling eveything.. I don't want clear.fi that much ;-p

That's a drastic fix to say the least, no reason to have to reinstall to fix one program :-/

Lucylu293

I kinda thought you would say that, I still have to reinstall my internet sercuity. If I had my laptop for two years, I wouldn't do it too. Sorry that I couldn't help you with your problem Smiley Sad

but I hope you find a solution to fix your Clear.fi soon! Good luck Smiley Happy

mikenowo

YAY, got it working again!!

Acer support sent me a link to the solution via email. It wasn't as drastic as reinstalling/resetting everything as there was a third option at the following link ( http://acer-au.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/29924 )to ONLY reinstall certain applications/drivers (you can try this next time if, you have the problem again).

Here is the info for that step (I chose to reinstall 'Acer Clear.fi' from the list and left 'Acer Clear.fi Client' alone. It asked to uninstall Clear.fi that was already there first, which I said 'Yes' to, then it reinstalled a fresh version):

===

The third option is Reinstall Drivers or Applications. This will allow you to reinstall any application or driver that you may be having problems with that came installed on your computer without reinstalling Windows completely.

To reinstall a driver or application follow the below steps:

Click on the Start menu and click All Programs.
In the program list click the Acer folder, then click the Acer eRecovery Management icon.
Windows User Account Control may ask for your permission to run this program, click Yes.
From the Acer eRecovery Management window on the left click Restore, then click Reinstall Drivers or Applications.
Select Contents.
Choose the driver or application you wish to install.
On the right, click the Install link and follow the prompts.
The computer may restart when installation is complete. If it does not restart, manually shutdown and restart the computer.

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