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[Simon Chick]

I tried to search for other posts on this specific issue, but could not find any.

I use the latest version of MC17. I have a 100,000 track music library almost all flac, and use Wasapi Event Style. Music is stored on a WHS2011 box, and played back via an ethernet wired client PC. Generally it works excellently, and I am very happy with it.

Recently a single track refused to play, giving the above error message. I checked that it was in fact in its correct place, and also found that it played fine in MediaMonkey. The other tracks on the album played.

So the file is apparently not corrupt and is in its correct location. I tried deleting it from the library then rescanning, but nothing changed.

It seems there is something about the file which JR doesn't like, but what can it be? This now also just happened on two more tracks, never previously played, with all the same circumstances.

Can anybody advise what I need to do to resolve this?

[marko]

Are you able to make one of those files available for testing?

[Simon Chick]

I have found a couple more since posting, all same symptoms, no problem with other players.
Thank you

[MrC]

The flac file you dropped was fine; the flac utility tests it as OK.  Playback is also fine.

The "file could not be found" error seems more like MC is indicating the contents of the [Filename] field as not pointing to the actual file.  When the error occurs, can you verify the contents of this field resolve the file's location?

[Simon Chick]

OK I understand the question but I am not quite sure how to answer it for you.

The problem files exist in the same folders as the other tracks of the same album which play and they all have consistent filenames. MC shows the correct location and filename.

I have tried deleting the album from the Library then letting MC rediscover the album and restore it to the library. But as before, it recognises most tracks but not the (same) problem files.

I have just looked at the tags of the original problem file, after rediscovery by the Library. The Filename path is identical between the first track "\\CHICKSERVER2011\Music\Jukebox\FLAC music\Acoustic - Folk - Country\Gryphon\Red Queen To Gryphon Three\01 - Gryphon - Opening Move.flac", which refuses to play, and the second track "\\CHICKSERVER2011\Music\Jukebox\FLAC music\Acoustic - Folk - Country\Gryphon\Red Queen To Gryphon Three\02 - Gryphon - Second Spasm.flac", which plays fine. Those filenames are pasted direct from MC by the way.

And of course they should be same, since MC found them in that location when adding them to the library.

Please can you suggest a specific way to approach this to give you a more useful response?

Thanks
Simon

[JimH]

It may be a server problem.  We've seen a firmware problem with a Synology NAS in the last month or so.

[Simon Chick]

Server is WHS2011 on a Tranquil PC box, if that is helpful. Certainly I only became aware of such a problem in the past month or so, but have been running WHS2011 for several months.

Any idea what server problem, and, most critically, what to do about it?

[Simon Chick]

Would still appreciate some further guidance on this.
If it is a server problem, which is apparently just speculation anyway, then it seems only to be a problem with MC, so it seems reasonable that MC should be seeking to identify the problem and the solution ....

[JimH]

I don't know.  Sorry.

[BillyBoyBlue]

I've noticed the same thing with what appears to be perfectly fine .jpg image files. MC gives some error message, I open in another application and all is fine. I've seen this is other applications, even high end ones like Adobe's Photoshop. The trick that almost always works for me is change the file in a minor way, then resave. Whatever the applications didn't like about the file often goes away and things are well again.

[Simon Chick]

Apologies for slow reply. I just had two unrelated but, in combination, major hardware problems that have led to me having to set up a new Media PC and make a clean MC install on it, and then build the library again.

From the detailed report by MC after the library import, it would not import around 2,500 files (roughly 2.5% of the whole), almost all flac but some jpg files too, and - interestingly - almost all the rejects were from a single genre folder. (my storage folder scheme is Genre/Artist/Album). Everything else is working fine, so at least I can listen to most of the music again.

The rejects include the files which the old library was giving the error message on. Random testing shows all the rejects will play with other programs, so logically this is some sort of issue with MC, or else an issue of MC being abnormally sensitive to something which other players can take in their stride.

I am going to try some filename changing on a few folders, then see if that makes a difference, then some tag changes, (thanks for your suggestion BBB) then if that doesn't help either, overwriting some folders from a back up, and then if necessary from an older back, up to see if I can pinpoint some corruption issue.

I will report back later, as and when I get somewhere, but any additional comment gratefully received in the meantime.

[Simon Chick]

Well the good news is that it is now fixed. However, renaming, deleting from library and tag changes had no effect.

I searched the forum on the error message, and found that I am by no means alone in experiencing the problem. I ran the suggested search string to get a playlist of the so-called faulty or absent files.

What finally worked was overwriting the files with identical files from a backup. Then using the Update library (from tags) command did remove the error and everything worked fine.

However, I have to stress that the files which MC refused to touch because it said they were faulty or absent, were not faulty and were not absent. All other players could play them without any issue. Comparison of the backup files with the allegedly faulty files showed them to be identical in name, size and date stamp

I think that MC did a library scan while Drivebender (third party drive extender substitute) was doing something on the WHS, and this got MC confused. However, why MC could not unconfuse itself again, and why MC persisted in rejecting the files after library removal and rescan, even when the files had new names or differences in tagging, is something which I think the MC team ought to try to figure out.

[BillyBoyBlue]

I agree sometimes MC seems to hang and report things that aren't really a problem as a problem. Sometimes they go away by themselves, sometimes not. For example one thing I've seen quite a few times is if I have both Windows Explorer and MC open at the same time and make a name change or delete or move a file in Windows Explorer, MC every once in a while will not update in spite of me clicking on the refresh button and yes I have the option to automatically update enabled. So I can end up with a file showing in MC with the little yellow icon showing it is deleted, but the thumbnail won't go away. Other times I rename the file and it refuses to update in MC and only does after multiple attempts and only then if I physically change the file name or alter something in the file which forces it to be physically resaved in some other application, then MC finally updates. Yes, annoying.

[Simon Chick]

A (probably final) update.

I definitely think the problem was due to some way that MC interacts with WHS2011.

For reasons unconnected with MC I have abandoned WHS as my principal file server, although I have kept a single box version as an on site back up in case of a failure of the primary. The primary is now an 8 drive Synology NAS, and I have to say that it does everything I wanted WHS to do, apart from client PC backups, without any of the hassle. (And I could never get client backups to work with WHS2011 anyway!!). I flirted with building a Server 2012 Essentials box, but am glad I just went the simple route.

Anyway, to the point of this post, I have , touching wood, lucky rabbit's foot etc., had no issues with 'file could not be found' on the Synology NAS, whereas I saw it recur even after rebuilding the data on the cut down WHS box.