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[DoubtingThomas]

Whenever I start MC after being idle for hours, there will be a 1-2 second muting of the music after 1-5 minutes of use.  There will also be random glitches here and there from doing things with the computer.

I did have MC14 installed on my old slower processor and XP and did not have these problems at all, nor did I have these issues running MC12 on the old system.

My current system is an Intel 975 i7 processor, Gigabyte mb and 12gb ram running Windows 7 Ultimate x64.  Since MC14 ran fine on the old system, I don't believe there is an MC14 problem.  I'm using WASAPI on a PCI sound card to my audio system (digital coax) and am using the mb sound for local PC speakers.  I've had this issue when I had the sound cards swapped.  (why does system info say Pentium III ?)

I have the latest drivers from Gigabyte for my mb and I've flashed the bios to the latest version.  I have the Microsoft Security running, no Zonealarm or Norton Anti-Virus anymore.  I have the latest drivers for my video card (nothing special).

I'm about out of ideas other than buying a different brand mb... Does anyone have any experience with this or suggestions?  Thanks.

------------------------------------------------------


Media Center 14.0.161 Registered -- C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 14\

 Workstation 6.1  (Build 7600)
Intel Pentium III 2023 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 4194 MB, Free - 3355 MB

Internet Explorer: 8.0.7600.16385 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82.7600 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.1.7600 / Shell32.dll: 6.1.7600 / wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping /   Drive X:   Mode:ModeSecure  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Drive Y:   Mode:ModeSecure  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Digital playback: Yes /  Get cover art: No /  Calc replay gain: No /  Copy volume: 100
  Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: Yes  Soundfile:   chord.wav

Burning /  Drive X: TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182M   Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  BurnProof:Yes
  Drive Y: TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S222A    Addr: 0:0:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  BurnProof:Yes
  Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: Yes
  Use playback settings: No /

Portable Device Info
  Removed devices:


Interface Plugins:
  last.fm (Active)
  Library Server (Active)
  TiVo Server (Active)
  Playing Now (Active)
  Write Playing (Active)

[gvanbrunt]

Use Task Manager to see what your CPU useage is. If it is high, that would explain the glitches. I've seen issues with some programs when resuming from sleep that suddenly want to gobble up CPU time...

[JimH]

See the link called "Weird Problems" in my signature.  There are many sound problems and solutions there.

[DoubtingThomas]

See the link called "Weird Problems" in my signature.  There are many sound problems and solutions there.

Thanks, I'll check it out.  I found a disk imaging program that causes a 1 second mute every time I start a backup, which is good because now that I can duplicate it at will, I can start pulling cards and processes one at a time hoping to find the cause.

[DoubtingThomas]

Use Task Manager to see what your CPU useage is. If it is high, that would explain the glitches. I've seen issues with some programs when resuming from sleep that suddenly want to gobble up CPU time...

My cpu has never gone over 50% that I've ever seen.  I seem to have way more processing power than I need (so far).  I'll figure this out, even if means getting another mb after exhausting all other hardware/software issues.  Since I can duplicate it at will now, I can approach it in a systematic manner.

I am running True Launch Bar which I see someone else has trouble with.  I'll start shutting that down this evening and try it.  I was using TLB on my old system without issue though.

[gvanbrunt]

Could be a driver issues as well. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your hardward. Especially SoundCard, Motherboard, and disk drivers...

You can also run MSConfig.exe to change startup programs etc which also might be causing the issue...

[DoubtingThomas]

I've checked and double checked, I have the latest drivers for everything.
I've swapped out my video card.
I've swapped my PCI sound card for a PCI-E sound card.
I've removed my TV card.

It's strange, there will be a 1-2 second audio muting about 1-5 minutes after mc14 has not been running for many hours.  Closing and restarting mc14, never causes the problem.  It's usually in the morning when mc14 is started, or when I get home after work when mc14 is started.

My PC runs 24/7.

I know I'm groping... but it is possible mc14 needs something loaded into memory and when it loads, that triggers the glitch?  Maybe the OS unloads it from memory after a time of the pgm not running?

I thought I had a pgm that would trigger the glitch, but it was causing other troubles and I deleted it.

The problem occurs with WASAPI and Direct Sound, and in both the on-board and the PCI-E sound card.

[JimH]

See the link called "Weird Problems" in my signature.  There are many sound problems and solutions there.

[DoubtingThomas]

Jim, thanks, I've read that over and over, and nothing I found and tried helped.

[JimH]

Network hardware issues?  There were several in that thread.

[DoubtingThomas]

Jim

I found this

So, that was it.  Some sort of weird and only-on-my-laptop conflict with Microsoft Security Essentials.  Luckily, the Microsoft Security Essentials UI isn't dumb, and provides quite nice "exceptions" capabilities.  I simply went into its settings "tab" and then to Excluded Processes.  Then, I added exceptions for:

C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 14\JRService.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 14\JRWorker.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 14\Media Center 14.exe

And the problem was completely solved.  MsMpEng.exe is now acting completely normally again and back to not using any system resources.  Even better, MC is now working PERFECTLY.

and have tried it on my desktop pc....  I also found a new set of audio drivers from gigabyte with yesterdays date and installed.

I was looking at JRService.exe, but searching the forums seems to indicate it's okay and not a problem.  I do have UAC as off as I can get it...

I run mc14 locally on one machine, no network involved.

Now to test it, I need to not use MC for many hours....

Something is "noticing" that mc14 has not been running for a number of hours when started and causes the audio muting for 1-2 seconds shortly after pgm start.  I could stop/start mc14 20 times in a row, and the problem would never show up.  But let it be not running for many hours, and it shows up on start once...

When I figure this out, it will be a new one for the "weird issues" thread.

[DoubtingThomas]

Turns out I was mistaken about the symptom.  The sound does not mute for a few seconds 1-5 minutes after starting MC after a long period of no use, it actually stops, freezes for those few seconds.

My PC runs 24/7, I have turned off all virus checkers, and MC freezes, it's like something is being started or loaded by MC after a long idle period which stops it...

Any ideas?

Nothing else freezes on my pc when this occurs, just MC.

[JimH]

Does the view you're in matter?  Try other views to test.

[DoubtingThomas]

Jim, do you mean like seeing if it happens in PlayingNow or the Audio view?  I'll try switching out of PlayingNow after the next long idle time right after MC start.

Normally, I start MC from a remote somewhere in my house when I wake up or get home.  The start script starts MC, which is set to automatically start playing the PlayingNow playlist, and then MC is immediately minimized in the PlayingNow view.

This morning, I maximized MC right after the start and watched it for a few minutes in PlayingNow, with the spectrum analyzer showing, and that's when I realized MC freezes instead of the audio simply muting for those few seconds.

[DoubtingThomas]

After MC was not running for many hours, I started it and immediately changed the view from PlayingNow to Audio.

After a few minutes, MC froze for 2 seconds and then resumed playback.  I know it froze, since the little spectrum analyzers stopped moving during the 2 seconds.

This freeze happens 99% of the time when MC has been started after being shutdown for many hours.

The freeze does NOT happen if MC is started immediately after a reboot.  I don't know if it happens the first time MC is used after a reboot, if many hours pass between the reboot and starting MC.

What could MC be doing for those 2 seconds that freezes the entire program, and why only after being shutdown for many hours? 

Are there any logs I could turn on that may show what MC is trying to do when the freeze occurs?

[JimH]

After MC was not running for many hours, I started it and immediately changed the view from PlayingNow to Audio.

After a few minutes, MC froze for 2 seconds and then resumed playback.  I know it froze, since the little spectrum analyzers stopped moving during the 2 seconds.

This freeze happens 99% of the time when MC has been started after being shutdown for many hours.

The freeze does NOT happen if MC is started immediately after a reboot.  I don't know if it happens the first time MC is used after a reboot, if many hours pass between the reboot and starting MC.

What could MC be doing for those 2 seconds that freezes the entire program, and why only after being shutdown for many hours? 

It could be just a disk drive spinning up.

[DoubtingThomas]

Jim,

This evening when I get home, I'll make sure the J: drive (where I keep my music files) is spinning before I start MC and see if the problem still occurs.

If it were a drive spin up issue, then it would not be there after a reboot.  I suspect the drive is stopped when I start MC after a long time being shutdown.  When MC starts up after many hours being shutdown, wouldn't the drive have to be restarted spinning for it to play the track at all?

I will test out the drive spinup theory this evening.

[DoubtingThomas]

I was skeptical.... about a disk spin up time causing the short MC freeze shortly after startup after a long idle time...

My first test was to clearly have the music drive spinning before a test, no program freeze.

I thought about adding some code to my start up script to write something to the drive and then run a "synch" program I have that will make sure it's written and not cached, or I think there is some setting in Windows to not allow disc caching....

I turned on "play from memory" in MC, and have not had the problem since, still testing for a few more days before I declare 'success'....

[DoubtingThomas]

Jim, thanks for the disk spin up suggestion.  At this point I am convinced that was it.

I wish I understood why it was not a problem on XP (with MC12 and MC14) and is a problem on Win7.

Either way, I can work around it now.  Thanks again.