I have cured the problem ... after about 30 hours of reading up and trying
various suggestions
Thanks to those that replied and helped me finally establish a solution
For the archives, and to help others here is an out line of what I found out.
A) This is a problem that has been recorded several times before ( see Dean
Rowe blog) some people have experienced crashing after 6 items are put on the
story board and some after the seventh but it is always the same fixed number
of items when the crash occurs
B) The problem seems to be that the update files Wmm2ae.dll through to
Wmm2res.dll are up loaded via Microsoft automatic update BUT the main
programe moviemk.exe is not ( has not been ) updated and is vers 2.0 instead
of ver 2.1
c) uploading xp sp2 or running Microsoft up dates DID NOT cure it
d) this is how I FOUNDthe problem
make a restore point
in c:\program Files\Movie maker, view , tiles
Check that Wmm2Ae.dll .... to Wmm2res.dll are there and have the version
number
2.1.40.26 ( as per Dean Rowe's blog)
CheckMovieMk.exe in explorer select properties and if the file is ver 2.0
then you have confirmed the problem it should be ver 2.1.... ...