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[damndante]

I never had any issues with mc 18, but mc 19 is crashing everyday on my home server, on my work machine its stable though.
Biggest difference is recent switch to drive bender, but not clear.
I also run multiple DLNA servers on my home machine.

Can JRiver look at this log and point me in the right direction?

[JimH]

Here's a thread that may help:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=86699.0

Antivirus programs have been causing a lot of problems lately.

[damndante]

I uninstalled Avast (free version) and it hasn't crashed for 2 days now (a record).

But, now what.
Is there some settings in Avast that would avoid the crash, I have/had been using Avast for years with previous MC versions without issue.
So feels like something in MC 19 that it didn't like.

Is there a "confirmed compatible" list of antivirus? 
I might give Commodo a try (that's what I have an another machine with MC 19, no DLNA servers though).

[JimH]

Try reporting it to Avast.  Try another AV program.  Thanks for reporting the solution.

[glynor]

I uninstalled Avast (free version) and it hasn't crashed for 2 days now (a record).

But, now what.
Is there some settings in Avast that would avoid the crash, I have/had been using Avast for years with previous MC versions without issue.
So feels like something in MC 19 that it didn't like.

Is there a "confirmed compatible" list of antivirus?  
I might give Commodo a try (that's what I have an another machine with MC 19, no DLNA servers though).

Yes, probably.

I agree with Jim.  Report the issue to Avast.  Anti-Virus software should not interfere with legitimate running processes.  They often do, and the vendors riddle them with special exceptions for all sorts of applications (I know Excel, Outlook, and Word are particularly sensitive, and we often need updates to updates of Symantec Endpoint Protection for their stability).  They may just need to tweak something to work right with MC.

But, assuming they ignore you, or drag their feet, or you just can't wait, there is almost certainly a way.

You want to tell Avast to "trust" MC, some of MC's sub-processes, and your Library Directory.  I don't have explicit instructions written up for Avast, but I do have them written up for Microsoft's Windows Defender and Symantec Endpoint Protection (the two I use and have easy-access to for writing up instructions).  But still, read through them both, and try to figure out how to do the same stuff in Avast.

If you figure it out, it would be great if you take the time to document the steps (either here, or ask for an account and do it on the Wiki yourself), so we can have that on hand.

And read through this section generally for more information:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Center_Troubleshooting_Guide#Check_Your_Anti-Virus_or_Security_Software

[astromo]

Is there a "confirmed compatible" list of antivirus?

Not that I've identified. It's a bit of a lottery.

At my own expense, I gave up on this and other AV software partly due to ongoing conflicts with MC.

I'm in the position where I simply don't have the time to do an AV software developer's test work. For JRiver, I understand it's not sensible for them to do this test work. I also understand that there would be a reluctance to "approve" any AV software, reasons not least being the limitation of capable hands to do the work. Currently I'm running the freeware version of AVG + Windows Firewall and it seems to be offering me zero hassles with MC.

As an observation, I rate glynor's advice with high kudos points and generally, it has just worked when I've needed to apply it. I missed that he'd mentioned SEP as an option. Connecting the dots, don't be surprised that I'll be looking into this more closely with the ultimate objective of finding the right compromise between system security and avoidance of over-zealous AV software.

All the best with the journey. I'm sure that you'll find others happy to compare notes along the way.. 

[damndante]

Well, I spoke too soon. 

MC19 has now crashed twice without any anti-virus installed.


Not sure what the trigger was as it usually isn't crashed while I'm sitting here, just when I come back to the computer the crash message is there.
Only behavior difference was Exact Audio Copy was running, also DVD Fab.

[JimH]

Did you uninstall avast or just disable it?  

Test without other software running, if possible.

[glynor]

Assuming you uninstalled it, and not disabled (as you indicated, but it is worth verifying), please work through this:

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Center_Troubleshooting_Guide

You mentioned Drive Bender.  Pay particular attention to the Disks and Locations section, and read through both of the sub-pages linked in that section.

Next to Anti-Virus activity, disk issues are probably the next-most-common cause of trouble.  It makes me especially suspicious that removing Avast seemed to improve the situation, but not cure it.  This indicates that the issue may be rooted in some underlying disk issue (or terrible latency) which is exacerbated by (but not caused by, at the root) the additional latency and interference caused by Avast.

Drive Bender in particular can be... Fiddly.

[damndante]

I did uninstall Avast entirely.
However, looks like maybe Windows Defender was also on (maybe).
I followed the steps you linked to disable it.

So I will reboot and give it a couple days to reproduce an issue or not.

[glynor]

Windows Defender won't typically cause outright crashes.  At least not by itself (it is pretty well-behaved).  But let us know, please!

[damndante]

You are right, it wasn't Windows Defender, because after disabling it,
MC19 just crashed (was playing back play list).

Should I upload the log file now?

[Ninouchka]

I'm using ESET NOD32 antivirus now and no problems at all.

[glynor]

You are right, it wasn't Windows Defender, because after disabling it,
MC19 just crashed (was playing back play list).

Should I upload the log file now?

Did you do the stuff about disks in the Troubleshooting Guide I talked about above?  Because I'm going to ask for details there before I read anything in the logs. 

[damndante]

I read through the disk trouble shooting section.  I will mention that when I first installed DriveBender (Release v1.9.5.0a (2013-10-01)), I got some "delayed write failed" messages which were due to permissions issues (MC18 didn't crash though).  I reset the permissions on the folders (recursively) and haven't seen the problem since.
No file corruption or other issue I have seen.
No other apps are crashing/having issues.

I am logged in as an administrator when I run MC19, Run On Windows Startup is set to "Nothing".
Since MC19 crashed, next startup it uses the default skin, disabled plugins, etc.  And it still crashes.

I am not sure I trust my video card/driver.  The screen does seem to perhaps go black in them middle of work (not sure if OS is restarting the video driver or something due to non-responsiveness), but no other apps are crashing as a result.

[glynor]

Delayed write failures aren't good at all.  Unless you unplugged a disk without unmounting it, this should never happen.  It means the disk is in an inconsistent state.  Not it might be...

Did you do chkdsk?  Did it find errors? How about sfc /scannow?

It is possible you have disk corruption in there.  Hopefully not in the library.

[damndante]

If it makes sense, I would be happy to create a new library and re-import the files.
Especially if that would rule out some issues.

I think my library is on C: (a SDD not in DriveBender)
C:\>chkdsk
The type of the file system is NTFS.

WARNING!  F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
  290048 file records processed.
File verification completed.
  15674 large file records processed.
  0 bad file records processed.
  2 EA records processed.
  62 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
  356986 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
  0 unindexed files scanned.
  0 unindexed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of
  290048 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
  33470 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
  35900608 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
Windows has checked the file system and found no prob

 124929023 KB total disk space.
 113405800 KB in 189267 files.
    119580 KB in 33471 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
    397955 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
  11005688 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
  31232255 total allocation units on disk.
   2751422 allocation units available on disk.


and the rest of my drives are in S: (10TB in Drive Bender with some of the folders marked for duplication on multiple drives).
I will need to do some "fun" drive mapping to get those mapped as drives to run chkdsk, I'll try and figure it out.

[glynor]

If it makes sense, I would be happy to create a new library and re-import the files.
Especially if that would rule out some issues.

I think my library is on C: (a SDD not in DriveBender)

Double check this.  You can find out where the Library is in the Library Manager.

In there, you can also make a new, blank Library.  If you do, try importing only a controlled portion of your media.  You may find the problem lies in a particular file (or set of files) you've imported (or perhaps which it is trying to import).

It might be worthwhile if you got delayed write failures.  Even though chkdsk shows no errors, that only means the filesystem metadata is okay, not the files themselves.

Also, did you run sfc /scannow?

Note: In the past, when this kind of issue has happened to me, once I found the files they were obviously broken (everything else would crash or error trying to open them, they were odd file sizes or zero byte files, and other "obvious" issues).  If you find a file broken like this that will cause MC to crash, please don't delete it.  They'd like samples of these so they can prevent the issue in the future.