Sometimes your Windows Experience Index doesn't work on your Windows Vista computer and forwarded an error message.Then do the following steps to solve this problem:
Go to C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT, and look at the winsat.log.This was the error message
you saw in there:
198406 (3144) - winsat\main.cpp:1161: > Running Assessment: media '-input
{winsatencode.wmv} -encode {winsat.prx}'
198828 (3144) - winsat\main.cpp:1430: > Assessment FAILED due to an error
It appears to mean that around the time it tried to play a test media file,it failed.Go to C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT. Try to play the files winsatencode.wmv and winsat.wmv using your default media player in windows vista. Do they Play?If so, try this. In C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT, rename the folder DataStore to OldDatastore, and try running the Update My Score again.
Is Windows Media Player 11 is the default player for .wmv files on your Windows Vista computer?Yes, both files are only about a second long, winsatencode.wmv seems to play even faster than the other, and ends abruptly. As long as Windows Media Player played it, and didn't freeze or crash, things should be okay. To check the file, try running the System File Checker. To do this, right click on Command Prompt (Start Menu\Programs\Accessories), and choose Run as Administrator.Copy the following, and Paste it after the prompt:
sfc /SCANFILE="C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\winsatencode.wmv"
Press Enter. Then do the same for the other file:
sfc /SCANFILE="C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\winsat.wmv"
Press Enter. If things are okay and you are given the text message "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations", or that it found errors and they were corrected, proceed to renaming the folder DataStore to OldDatastore, under C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT, and try running the Update My Score again.
Did you try renaming the DataStore folder under C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT to OldDatastore? If that didn't work, rename it back to DataStore. Open the DataStore folder, and create a New Folder within the DataStore folder. Cut and Paste, or Drag, all the XML Documents (.xml files) in DataStore into the New Folder. Drag the New Folder to your desktop. Then try to update your score. If this doesn't work, move the .xml files back as they were, and delete the empty New Folder. If it does work, delete the New Folder, and all the files in it.
It's a fact that the Windows Experience Index Score doesn't affect how your Windows Vista computer runs. The only caveat I'm aware of is that you can't turn on the Aero theme unless your Windows Vista computer meets a certain criteria of the Windows Experience Index.