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[canaro99]

I just installed 313, ripped one cd, and then proceeded to make tag changes on 40 files.

MC locked up while making the changes and my entire system locked up necessitating a reboot.

I started playing the same songs again and CPU usage went to 100% and the system froze. I opened task manager. CPU usage at 100%. Several programs showed "not responding." I closed MC through task manager (it would not close any other way). Upon MC closing, the previously "not responding" apps immediately changed to "running." CPU usage dropped back to 2%.

System info follows:

Media Center Registered 9.1.313 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows 2000  Workstation 5.0 Service Pack 4 (Build 2195)
AMD Athlon 1393 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 240 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1276 / Shell32.dll: 5.00.3700.6705 / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer

Ripping /   Drive E:   Copy mode:Normal   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
  Drive F:   Copy mode:Normal   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 F: LITE-ON  LTR-16102B         Addr: 1:1:0  Speed:16  MaxSpeed:16  BurnProof:Yes
  Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
  Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None

[JimH]

I split this because I think it may be related to the files themselves and it will take some time to diagnose.

Can you pinpoint a problem file?  If so, we'd like to have it.

[LisaRCT]

Can you pinpoint a problem file?  If so, we'd like to have it.

I have a problem child . . . ya want him too??  

[Marko]

canaro99,

Were you playing .ogg files by any chance?

[jleerigby]

What size is your library?  build 313 includes changes to the way MC saves database changes for large libraries.  Maybe it's a side-effect of that change.

[nameless]

I have the same CPU problem with builds 313 through 316, and it happens with streaming MP3.  (Edit: I just found out that it can happen from the moment I launch MC, even before anything is playing.)  It's 100% reproducible.

Media Center Registered 9.1.313 -- C:\Program Files\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
AMD Athlon 1399 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 1048 MB, Free - 691 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1276 / Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1233 (xpsp2.030604-1804) / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping /   Drive P:   Copy mode:ModeSecure   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:4
  Drive R:   Copy mode:Normal   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:4
  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: Yes  Soundfile:   C:\WINDOWS\Media\tada.wav

Burning /  No burners found.
  Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: No /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
  Use playback settings: Yes /  Normalization: None

Edit #2: I just found out that if I log in as a limited user and run MC, the CPU problem occurs.  If I log in as a limited user, and run MC with Administrator credentials (using the "Run as" functionality of WinXP), the problem is absent!  I have no idea why this would be.

[Marko]

nameless, this would be because MC will only run under a windows xp account with administrator rights.

MC is not supported when running under a limited user account on windows xp.

It has to do with areas of the registry limited users are not permitted to write to, but MC needs to, likewise with changes to data files in the program files directory.

[nameless]

But I had been running MC 9.1 as a limited user, without problem (even burned a CD).  I had to modify some of the ACLs in the Program Files directory, but that was no big deal.

And everything was fine until I instlaled 9.1.316.  Now, even if I reinstall builds that previously worked fine for me, I have the problem outlined above.

[nameless]

PROBLEM SOLVED!

I determined that the CPU was being pegged because MC was rapidly and repeatedly hammering a sub-key of the following registry key for access:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\JRiver\Media Jukebox\CD Writer

MC kept retrying because access was denied.  I did a "Run as" on Regedit to open it as Administrator, gave my limited user account full access to the sub-keys of that key, and bingo--no more CPU churning.

This is a relief to me, because I'll be whipped if I'm going to use Administrator privileges just to listen to music!

[aforget]

I have had similar 100% cpu utilization problems. I loaded the latest build once I noticed. This did not fix the problem. I always run as Administrator. I think I shutdown the machine durng a Rip and the database got out of sync. I think...

I may uninstall and reinstall.  I'll let you know if this fixes anything.

Out of curiosity  - how did you determine that it was a Registry thing? What tool did you use to track this?

I first thought it might be a network issue since I have the Cinimar plugin installed. No network traffic.

Media Center is a great product and I am encouraged by the potential of Cinimar. This will all end up in my car some day (soon, I hope).

[xen-uno]

> how did you determine that it was a Registry thing?

Probably showed up as errors in the application or system event log...

Start>Settings>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Event Viewer

Edit: Andy, I liked your '55 Buick site. Where did you get all that data? Very comprehensive. I was especially intrigued by the section in features>v8 engine...

"Buick brings you higher horsepower per dollar straight across the board with 2326 horsepower in ROADMASTER, SUPER and CENTURY Series, 188 horsepower in SPECIAL"

That is some serious power there...too bad wide Mickey Thompson's weren't available then (even now it would make those MT's cry like a girl). Which one of those bad boys do you have?

[nameless]

Out of curiosity  - how did you determine that it was a Registry thing? What tool did you use to track this?

I used Sysinternals Regmon.  That and their other tools (particularly Filemon) are one of the few reasons I have a shred of sanity left.

I knew my solution was probably not applicable to most situations.  But I figured more information is better--on the off chance that it helps someone at some point in the future.

I've had lots of "little" issues like that lately, since I recently managed to find the discipline and resolve to convert my main user account from being a member of the Administrators group on WinXP to a plain Users-group account.  Running as a limited user on WinXP is so full of pitfalls with today's software, I just can't recommend it to most users (despite the significant security advantages).

[aforget]

Wow! That is some crazy perfomance on that Buick!   My fingers must have got way ahead of my eyes on that one. I got the information on 55 Buicks from an old Dealer flyer that my brother gave me years ago - after I purchased a 55 Special.

How, you might ask, is a 55 Buick relevant to this board? Check out http://www.55Buick.com/Carputer/carputer.htm. This is my ongoing project that incorporates Media Center.

Thanks for the help!