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Author Topic: Major computer problems, MC is main suspect  (Read 947 times)

bjsolem

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Major computer problems, MC is main suspect
« on: January 07, 2004, 11:51:06 am »

I am having major problems with my laptop and they only happen when MC is running.

The problem is this: when MC is in the middle of something (ripping, playing, analysing audio) my laptop shuts down.

The thing just turns itself off, completely.  This is obviously very frustrating.

Right before it turns off the outline of a little message window somtimes appears, but it doesn't finish drawing before the laptop is off.

It started hapenning sometime after moving to v10.  I did a complete untinstall of v10 and went back to 9.1.315 thinking that maybe v10 was buggy and doesn't like my machine.  It is now happening in 9.1 as well.

I looked at the registry and there is a folder for 9 and 10.  Should I delete the v10 entry?

I reinstalled win xp thinking that it might give me a clean slate but no luck.

I'm fairly sure that the problem is with MC because my wife used my pc to work from home for an entire day with no problems.  She never uses MC.  It always happens to me and I always have MC, and sometimes nothing else, open.  It has never happened when MC was not open, and it happens nearly every time MC is open.

As I mentioned it only happens when it is working on something or playing tunes, if I am just tagging it has no problems.

Is there some sort of log file I could turn on to see what is going on when it dies?  Does anyone have any other ideas for me?  I really don't want to be done using MC but I can't make it happen with any other app.

I am at work so I don't have the system info to paste.  Here are the details of my system:

Dell inspiron 5100
2.4 Pent 4
256 ram
MC 9.1.315
Phillips DVD+R drive
Win XP SP1

Any help is appreciated!
Thanks.
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Madcow

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Re:Major computer problems, MC is main suspect
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2004, 12:12:32 pm »

Sounds like it could be a hardware problem.  Remember that MC when it is doing something (especially ripping, but also playing) is taxing the CPU.  If all you use the computer for is web surfing and the occasional Word document, you're probably not using the CPU much if at all at any other time.  Hence problems may be first apparent in MC.

Try downloading something else that is really hardware intensive (I recommend a little app called Prime95 which will work your CPU and memory like nothing else around).  If you can run that for an hour or so it might help to rule out hardware failure.

Have a look at the Event Viewer in Windows XP which provides the kind of log you're looking for.  It's under Administrative Tools in the Start menu, but this is disabled by default.  Right-click on the Start menu, select Properties and you can enable it somewhere in the menus that result.
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gpvillamil

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Re:Major computer problems, MC is main suspect
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2004, 09:17:38 pm »

Can we get a response from the developers on this? There is another thread here from someone with a similar problem.

I've been through something similar as well. Upgrade from 9.1 to 10, back to 9.1, problems. Both versions of the program listed in Add/Remove Programs. Reinstall Windows XP, problems.

I was OK after doing a reformat, reinstalling Windows XP and installing MC9.1 ONLY. However, yesterday all my problems came back, after I installed Theatertek DVD player and ran some Windows Updates. MC locks up the system (mouse cursor freezes) when playing DVDs, and and locks up the system when burning CDs. (When I say lock up, I mean a hard crash. Requires cycling the power to reboot the computer. Ctrl Alt Del doesn't work.) MC always starts minimized. When I try to switch out of MC9 to another program by clicking on the task bar, it is extremely slow. These are exactly the same problems I had before.

DVD playback works fine on Theatertek and WMP9 (using the Sonic codecs). CD burning works fine with WinXP and all other programs.

Theatertek is a very stable program and its codecs work well with other programs. The only process it starts which affects the DVD drive is an autorun killer, which I've tried enabling and disabliing.

Is it possible that MC9.1/MC10 is clashing with one of the Windows security updates? I know that MC uses some Internet Explorer code for displaying the start page, perhaps this is where the problem is coming in?

I really like MC, it's got a great feature set and there is nothing like it. However, right now it is the only software causing me problems, using the stable MC9.1.316 build.

Media Center 9.1.316 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2571 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 981 MB, Free - 608 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 D:   Copy mode:Normal   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
  Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: No /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
  Eject after ripping: No /  Play sound after ripping: No  

Burning /  Drive D: PLEXTOR  DVDR   PX-708A     Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:40  MaxSpeed:40  BurnProof:Yes
  Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: Yes
  Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None
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