Topic: Multiple Mac problems (Read 6533 times)

Neverbug · « **on:** July 16, 2017, 03:21:52 pm »

I've had MC 22 on my iMac for almost 2 months, and I still can't get it to run right. Every time I go to open it, it wants to reinstall the software, and won't work unless I do. Doing this creates multiple MC's on my toolbar. Also, about 4 of them keep opening and disappearing at the bottom of my toolbar, plus the other 2 solid ones that don't quite work. Sometimes I can get it to play music, sometimes I can't. It quits unexpectedly probably a couple times an hour. It's driving me crazy, and at this point, I'd rather just switch the license to my PC, but apparently the licenses aren't compatible. UGH! Any ideas?

JimH · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2017, 03:23:16 pm »

That sounds like you're opening the install file, and not the installed program.

blgentry · « **Reply #2 on:** July 16, 2017, 03:39:13 pm »

Sounds like two different problems:

1. As Jim said, you might be opening the DMG file that is meant to install MC. The DMG is designed to be opened once; then you drag the Media Center 22 icon from inside that window to the Applications folder. Once that's done, you can close the DMG (eject it from a Finder window). From then on, you can launch MC22 from Applications and pin it to your Dock as with other frequently used programs.

2. The bouncing icons and crashes sound like you have auto import set to import a bunch of files, which is totally normal. But, because it keeps crashing, that indicates that you probably have some bad files that are crashing MC as it is trying to import them. You can turn on logging and find the bad file(s) by reading the logs or posting them here. Or you can turn off auto import as a test.

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Logging

To turn off auto import:

Tools > Options > Library & Folders > run auto import in background > (uncheck)

I would stop and restart MC after making this change.

Good luck.

Brian.

Neverbug · « **Reply #3 on:** July 16, 2017, 03:41:39 pm »

I've tried both. The install "drive" on my desktop won't let me delete it, and there are 3 now. They say they're in use. I go into finder and open the app from there, I still have the same problems. It lags, it quits, it chops up songs. It just doesn't work on mac the way it does on my friend's PC

blgentry · « **Reply #4 on:** July 16, 2017, 03:44:53 pm »

If you want help, we are here. I would start by removing all MC install files. If they say they are in use, make sure all copies of MC are quit. If they are still in use, I'd reboot the Mac and try again.

Brian.

Neverbug · « **Reply #5 on:** July 16, 2017, 03:55:47 pm »

Okay by MC install files, what does that mean? I did verify I am opening from the application in the toolbar, not the install disk. I also unchecked the auto import. I can do a full dump and start over if necessary. The music I have hooked up at the moment is just mp3's, so easy to re-import.

JimH · « **Reply #6 on:** July 16, 2017, 03:58:00 pm »

What do you mean by "install disk"? Did you download MC from this site? What is the full version?

Neverbug · « **Reply #7 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:00:11 pm »

I downloaded it from this site. It's 22.0.108

Neverbug · « **Reply #8 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:05:34 pm »

And to make things more fun, while searching I found something saying it's my lost playlists from MC 21 that I had before. I have library backups for MC 21 and MC 22. Can I add a screenshot?

blgentry · « **Reply #9 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:07:18 pm »

Quote from: Neverbug on July 16, 2017, 03:55:47 pm

Okay by MC install files, what does that mean?

The installation files will end in ".dmg" and will have names like MediaCenter22108.dmg . The real app will be in the Applications folder with a name like "Media Center 22" and have the MC icon.

Quote

I did verify I am opening from the application in the toolbar, not the install disk.

Just because the program is in the Dock doesn't mean it's in Applications. Go to your Applications folder and see if you see "Media Center 22". If you do, open it from there just to be sure. If it's *not* there, then we still need to install it. I suspect MC has never been installed on your system.

Brian.

Neverbug · « **Reply #10 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:08:18 pm »

@Brian, I did that.
Adding a screenshot of the other stuff I found.

blgentry · « **Reply #11 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:09:31 pm »

You have library backups of MC21 and MC22? But I thought MC22 had never worked correctly for you.

Let's tackle things one at a time. Let's get MC22 installed correctly and functioning. Then perhaps we can transfer a library backup from 21 to 22.

Brian.

Neverbug · « **Reply #12 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:10:03 pm »

Opened from here, then saved to the dock.

Neverbug · « **Reply #13 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:11:45 pm »

MC22 has worked at times, and not at others. Currently, I force ejected the installation drives from my desktop. There is only one MC22 in my applications, and no MC21's. (I had a lapse in licenses, I think). Nothing is bouncing around, or duplicating itself.

blgentry · « **Reply #14 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:13:42 pm »

Good. Now try running that way for a little while and see where you get. With auto import turned off, it shouldn't crash while trying to import bad files.

If it's acting a bit laggy, it might be building thumbnails on the fly. If you have a large library that might take a while. Help > System Info > processing > thumbnails built . See how far it has gotten. If there are many thumbnails left to be built, you can tell MC to rebuild them:

Tools > Options > Tree & View > Thumbnails > build missing thumbnails

Again, for a large library that might take hours. But it only needs to be done once, then things should be nice and snappy.

Good luck.

Brian.

Neverbug · « **Reply #15 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:16:01 pm »

Thank you!!! I'm going to try using it for awhile and see how it does. It's re-intsalling my mp3 library. Lots of thumbnails not showing yet, as I deleted the entire library and started over about an hour ago. I'm not even going to try to the flac files until I get this working well.

Neverbug · « **Reply #16 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:19:07 pm »

Well that didn't lost long. The top one of the 5 is the one in use, saved to the dock. The other 4 just started popping in there and then disappearing.

blgentry · « **Reply #17 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:27:16 pm »

Those extra icons are "helper programs" that MC runs to analyze video (and maybe audio) files. It's normal to see them when you are importing media. Since you just "started over" you are necessarily importing files. They will stop when the import is done and all of the analysis has been done also.

You can *not* analyze audio on import if you want, but it helps to have analyzed files. The only down sides are it takes a while, and if it finds bad files, sometimes it crashes during analysis.

Brian.

Neverbug · « **Reply #18 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:29:59 pm »

Okay, so just let it do whatever it's doing and wait til it says not importing anymore and see how it's working then? Those dancing icons are driving me mad though. LOL

blgentry · « **Reply #19 on:** July 16, 2017, 04:46:22 pm »

Hide the dock so you can't see it. I do this on all Macs, even ones with large screens. I only see the icons when I want to.

Brian.

Neverbug · « **Reply #20 on:** July 17, 2017, 08:52:51 pm »

MC crashed. Is there any way to tell if it finished importing or not?

blgentry · « **Reply #21 on:** July 18, 2017, 06:13:42 am »

Start it back up and look for "dancing icons". If you see them, it's probably still trying to import. I also suspect it will crash again because it will find the same bad file(s) that made it crash before.

The way to find bad files is to turn on Logging, let the crash happen, and then collect the log zip file and post it here (or read it yourself).

https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Logging

Or try only importing a small number of files at a time. Come to think of it, if auto import is OFF, it shouldn't crash again, as it won't try to re-do a one time import. It will only re-try for auto import.

Good luck.

Brian.

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Author Topic: Multiple Mac problems (Read 6533 times)