new thread, as requested.
Here's a 3.3 meg zip file containing an 11 meg avi showing you what's happening. It's done this for as long as I can remember.
The options screen is now remembering the last viewed option for me. In this case, encoding was last viewed, and mp3 was chosen, hence the immediate nature of the popup. Normally, ogg is selected by default, and the popup arrives once mp3 is selected. After MC dies, it leaves its icon in the sys tray, and this vanishes when I 'mouse over' it.
http://foc.no-ip.com/files/mccrash.zipMedia Center Registered 9.0.138 -- C:\Program Files\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 1611 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 649 MB
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)
Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929)wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0001) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.71 (0001)
Ripping / Drive L: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive Q: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive R: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: No / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive R: PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W1610A Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:16 MaxSpeed:16 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None