Windows Movie Maker - only audio while in storyboard/timeline section

I have the codecs (at first it wouldn’t even get into WMM, but I managed to solve that part); I’m trying to create a fanvid and the clips of the show play perfectly in windows media player and in “Collections” of Windows Movie Maker - but whenever I drag the clip to the storyboard area only the audio plays, and the screen is just black. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Sorry - the files are AVI, which I downloaded off of Limewire.

How did you solve your codec probelem with the lime wire videos because I’m having the same problem. PLEASE HELP!

I’m having the EXACT same problem; vids are AVI, and play fine in media player and in collections, but it’s just a black screen and only audio is working... I’m making a fanvid as well...

Yes, for me, the AVI files will only appear in a black screen but still with sound.

Maybe you can try other Video Converter without Windows Movie Maker, some powerful video converters support more codes.

You can download the video converter tool for a try, hope it helps.
Video Converter Link

Video Converter, DVD Ripper, DVD Maker for Mac Users

I converted mine with mediacoder. It transcodes it to the kind of file you need.