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[pmcgarr]

I am halfway through a trial of MC18.  I started out with video and I had pretty good luck in the stability department.  A couple days ago I added my iTunes music folder to the library and it seems I triggered something because I am experiencing a lot of crashes since.

I'm not sure where to start looking to troubleshoot this.  I am not playing audio when the crashes happen typically as video is my typical use for MC.  Just crashed to desktop automatically when a video played to its end.  Then I was told MC was running and to be sure that it wasn't running twice at startup, or under another user.  I looked in task manager and MC was running under the current user until I dismissed the error dialog.  MC is in startup, but only once.

The typical crash is the freeze type, requiring killing the task, too complicated for my wife who then force reboots the PC.

Was very stable in my short 10 day experience and then it went to heck.  How do I troubleshoot this?  I am thinking I should pull my music from the library but I am hoping to not guess at this so I will wait for suggestions.

Thanks,

Paul

[rayooo]

Just curious, which version of MC are you running?  .. and have you updated versions?

Only reason I ask is, and I'm far from a complete understanding of this, but up until .146, I had zero nadda none issues ever with any kind of lockup/crashes.
I updated to .149 the other day on the "theater room MC machine" and almost immediately began having strange pauses, etc. i.e. immediately after launching (directly into theater view) MC would be unresponsive for 5 or 6 seconds.

I went back to .146 and all fine.  I did yesterday try .149 again, and, after playing music for at least a couple hours, music play stopped, screen frozen. (again in Theater view)
No blue-screen, just a solid freeze. 'had to hit reset to re-boot and all was back. I've since again gone back to .146 and all fine.

Not sure what if anything may be happening..I've installed .149 on my desktop MC and all seems fine, although I don't use Theater view, and have not let it play for any length of time.

[pmcgarr]

I am on latest, 149.  You may be on to something.  How do you roll back to 146?  I switched to latest build "mode" because YouTube was broken.  Maybe stable and broken was better.

Is this normal?  I am halfway through my trial and while I am generally happy, things seem pretty buggy. In defense of JRiver I am not using a stable release, but in defense of me, that is because a feature wasn't working...

Anyway, anybody else having stability problems all of the sudden after switching to 149?

Thanks,

Paul

[JimH]

The typical crash is the freeze type, requiring killing the task, too complicated for my wife ...

It's either a crash or a freeze.  They are not the same.  If it's a crash, the program disappears.  If it's a freeze, the program becomes unresponsive, the GUI may not paint, etc.

Windows will sometimes incorrectly report that a program is not responding.  If that's what you're getting, let it continue for an hour or more.

[CountryBumkin]

You can download the older version by copying the download path and pasting it into your Broswer but switch the 149 for 146 in the path. However, I doubt the problem is with the version. Most of the time it turns out to be a setting that doesn't play well with your hardware.
What do you have selected for Audio settings (WASAPI Event Style, ASIO, Direct, ?). Do you have Hardware Acceleration On or Off?. Are you running Red October Standard or HQ? Have you captured a Log for the MC team to review? If there is a bug, they need that Log to see it. Help>Logging. First clear the Log, then get the crash/freeze to happen, then create the Log.
Also, keep in mind the version 18 is under development. It 98% stable for most (but sometimes new featurers have bugs) - if it is 100% stability your after, maybe you should start with Version 17 where development has completed then switch to 18 when its development completes.
Good Luck

[pmcgarr]

Jim,

So my terminology is bad I guess.  I should say then, I have two issues, crashing and freezing.  Both are fatal from a practical standpoint.  Are you suggesting that when I encounter a freeze that I sit tight for a couple hours?

I am almost always in theater view by the way.  I forgot to mention that.

Paul

[pmcgarr]

You can download the older version by copying the download path and pasting it into your Broswer but switch the 149 for 146 in the path. However, I doubt the problem is with the version. Most of the time it turns out to be a setting that doesn't play well with your hardware.
What do you have selected for Audio settings (WASAPI Event Style, ASIO, Direct, ?). Do you have Hardware Acceleration On or Off?. Are you running Red October Standard or HQ? Have you captured a Log for the MC team to review? If there is a bug, they need that Log to see it. Help>Logging. First clear the Log, then get the crash/freeze to happen, then create the Log.
Also, keep in mind the version 18 is under development. It 98% stable for most (but sometimes new featurers have bugs) - if it is 100% stability your after, maybe you should start with Version 17 where development has completed then switch to 18 when its development completes.
Good Luck

Thanks for the download tip.  I wasn't sure if I had to backup my library or anything.

I am using direct for my audio and Red October Standard.  Have been all along.  Only thing that changed on my end is the addition of music to my library, and the upgrade to 149. I do not want to change these settings as it will confuse the issue, seeing as the settings were not altered and were stable for some time.  Also, yes, I am using hardware acceleration at auto, and video clock for what it's worth.

I don't need 100% stable.  What's happening now is a crash or freeze a handful of times a day.  The occasional crash I can live with.

I will look into capturing and sharing logs and I will do just that.

Thanks for your help.

Paul

[JimH]

A crash in Theater View may be a problem with a video driver.  You could try updating the driver.  Theater View uses 3D.

I assume you tried rebooting.

[pmcgarr]

A crash in Theater View may be a problem with a video driver.  You could try updating the driver.  Theater View uses 3D.

I assume you tried rebooting.

Video driver has been constant but an HDMI audio driver was part of a recent window update that fits with the timing.  I think I will roll that back.  Yes I reboot as a first troubleshooting step.

[pmcgarr]

Will post a log, but I have an opportunity to describe a crash so I will while it is fresh.

Freeze, sort of, at 10:05am.  Was playing music, Elton John Levon to be specific.  Had visualization running, cover spectrum analyzer to be specific.  I returned to theater view to change the song and it switched from display mode to theater mode, but the display grove there.  Music is still playing and volume is working.  Sounds like a UI paint type issue that Jim mentioned, but I don't know.  Not a hard freeze, not a crash I guess.

Anyway, I am going to leve the system like this while I go shopping.  I have to leave but when I get back I will look at logs, etc.  I will check the forum before messing with anything in case having the system in this state can help me diagnose what is going wrong.

Thanks again all,

Paul

[JimH]

... it switched from display mode to theater mode, but the display grove there. 

grove?  froze?

It may be the focus problem we've been trying to fix recently.  Try using a mouse to see if the problem is just that something else has the focus.

[pmcgarr]

Froze.  iPhone spell check got me.  Sorry.  I'll play with it when I get home in a couple hours.

[rec head]

I have very similar problems as the OP on 2 computers. I have not generated a log. I just installed MC on my home office computer today and it has already crashed.

On my HTPC I experience freezes often. Are you saying that if we leave our computers alone that it should come back? Will that actually solve anything? I'm willing to do it once if it will stop the problem. Normally I just use task manager to end task.

[pmcgarr]

Elton John is still playing a couple hours later.  Totally unresponsive to the remote and mouse.  Hit CTRL 1, 2,3, and 4.  Nothing.  Hit ALT tab, and I ended up in standard view.  May have been a delayed response to Ctrl 1.  Things seemed very slow, but went back to normal quickly.  I can access menus.  I stopped playback through the menu and I can jump back to theater view and everything seems ok for the moment...

If this is a focus thing, clicking on the the items in theater view was not enough to overcome it.  More later.  My kids are watching cartoons at the moment.  I'll look and see what the log has to say about 10:05 this morning.

Edit: there was no log.  Turned on logging.  I suppose we wait for a freeze now.

Paul

[pmcgarr]

Update on freeze:

Yesterday I managed to unfreeze the system by using the keyboard.  I never closed MC and I just wanted to report it is still running today, nearly 24 hours later.  This makes me wonder, was there something going on while it appears to be frozen that needed to complete?  Jim asked about if I had tried waiting a couple hours, but never wen't into detail about that.  I wonder if this is jut the power of suggestion, but the issue appears to have corrected itself.  Time will tell.

Paul

[pmcgarr]

Update:

Crashing again.  Can't figure this out, but I see another post complaining of the same thing, unexplainable crashing with .149.  In that thread it was recommended to try using IE instead of chromium.  I'll try that I guess.  Also recomended uninstalling antivirus for what that's worth.

Glad this is happening now, not after paying for a license.  I still hope to figure this out.

Paul

[kstuart]

If you have the internal MC18 web browser set to Chrome, change to IE.

Tools > Options > Tree & View > Web Browser > Engine.

That has been known to fix freezing... IE should be the default, though.  I believe.

[pmcgarr]

Still have crashing and/or freezing.  Log attached.  I hoped to read through the log myself for clues, but I can't tell how to find date and time.  Is there some way to tell?  Anyway, my time, 6:02PM EDT, was when the crash occurred.  MC stopped responding and I got a message from Windows offering for me to close the program or wait.  I waited a bit and then closed the program.  Maybe we call this a freeze?  I don't know.  Anyway, I restarted the program and it started installing an update to the latest version.  Maybe that is a clue.

Hopefully there is a clue in the log file.

Thanks,

Paul

[glynor]

I hoped to read through the log myself for clues, but I can't tell how to find date and time.  Is there some way to tell?

The first number in each log entry is the count of milliseconds since the log started (usually since MC launched).  The first line in the log after the version number reports the start time.  So, you can figure it out but math is hard.

If the crash/freeze occurred at 6:02pm then it isn't in the log you posted (or it had been running for more than 24hours and you live in one of those "in the future" places), because the log starts on 3/21 at 6:06pm, and it isn't yet 6:02pm on 3/22 in EDT.

[glynor]

Two things I've found that can cause frequent, but random-seeming, UI freezes are:

1. If you have watched directories on network shares in Auto-Import that no longer exist, or worse, which you no longer have access to.
2. If you have a substantial number of "broken links" in your Library, especially those also on network shares that don't exist or to which you no longer have access.

In both cases, remove the offending files or Auto-Import entries and you should be fixed right up.  If you have a lot of files on external drives that may or may not be attached (or slow network shares), you can improve responsiveness dramatically by disabling this option:
Options > Tree & View > Advanced > Display missing file images in lists (slow on network drives)

But I've found that if you have issue #1 or 2 above, this won't completely solve the issue.

Other things to check:

1. Your Library (MC's database, not the media files themselves) should be on a fast, internal disk.  An SSD if you can.  The Library isn't big, but disk performance matters.
2. If you have an anti-virus application, set the Library directory as an exception ("trust" that folder).  Again, performance of the Library matters.
3. Also set MC's executables (especially Media Center 18.exe, JRWorker.exe and JRTools.dll, but just do them all) as trusted or exceptions to your background antivirus scanning.
4. Make sure the disk that contains the Library doesn't have errors (run chkdsk on the disk).

[pmcgarr]

glynor,

The first number in each log entry is the count of milliseconds since the log started (usually since MC launched).  The first line in the log after the version number reports the start time.  So, you can figure it out but math is hard.

If the crash/freeze occurred at 6:02pm then it isn't in the log you posted (or it had been running for more than 24hours and you live in one of those "in the future" places), because the log starts on 3/21 at 6:06pm, and it isn't yet 6:02pm on 3/22 in EDT.

I do not live in the future and I could not find the option in MC that would allow me to.   Seriously though, I guess I don't understand the logs fully.  If I start MC and let it run for more than 24 hours, what happens?  Is a new log created with a fresh timestamp, and the old log saved as "previous log"?  That make sense.  And I am assuming that after a crash and restart a new log is started, therefore I should have shared the "previous log" instead.  After a little inspection, it appears that maybe the time period is 22 hours, not 24?  Am I close?

Thanks for your help.  I'm new.  I'll get there.

[pmcgarr]

glynor,

Two things I've found that can cause frequent, but random-seeming, UI freezes are:

1. If you have watched directories on network shares in Auto-Import that no longer exist, or worse, which you no longer have access to.
2. If you have a substantial number of "broken links" in your Library, especially those also on network shares that don't exist or to which you no longer have access.

In both cases, remove the offending files or Auto-Import entries and you should be fixed right up.  If you have a lot of files on external drives that may or may not be attached (or slow network shares), you can improve responsiveness dramatically by disabling this option:
Options > Tree & View > Advanced > Display missing file images in lists (slow on network drives)

But I've found that if you have issue #1 or 2 above, this won't completely solve the issue.

I am good as far as #1 is concerned.  No missing drives/folders, not even any network shares.  All media is USB3.0 attached with caching, etc.

As for #2, I expected to find at least some broken links and I found zero.  How likely is it that I would find zero?  I use "Fix Broken Links" on my monitored folders.  I searched for broken links by sorting by the Filename field and looking for missing file entries.  None.  I also saw a post on how to search for broken links and I tried that and got zero results.  I guess I am good there too.

Other things to check:

1. Your Library (MC's database, not the media files themselves) should be on a fast, internal disk.  An SSD if you can.  The Library isn't big, but disk performance matters.
2. If you have an anti-virus application, set the Library directory as an exception ("trust" that folder).  Again, performance of the Library matters.
3. Also set MC's executables (especially Media Center 18.exe, JRWorker.exe and JRTools.dll, but just do them all) as trusted or exceptions to your background antivirus scanning.
4. Make sure the disk that contains the Library doesn't have errors (run chkdsk on the disk).

#1, Internal, not SSD, but not external or network.
#2, Have Microsoft Security Essentials only.  Had not provided the exceptions.  Done now.
#3, Same as #2
#4, Will run scan after I post this.  I went to do it and was prompted to restart.  Wanted to finish post.

Thanks again for your help.  We'll see what happens. If nothing else I have a better understanding (I think) of how logging works so I can send a useful log next time.

Paul

[glynor]

Seriously though, I guess I don't understand the logs fully.  If I start MC and let it run for more than 24 hours, what happens?  Is a new log created with a fresh timestamp, and the old log saved as "previous log"?  

It isn't timed at all.  Logs are started and stopped when MC itself is started and stopped.  Much more simple than you were thinking.

Assuming that MC is running "now" then:
Current log is the log of the still-running "session" of MC.
Previous log is the log of the last session (the one right before the current one) of MC.
When you close and reopen MC, the existing Current Log overwrites the one called Previous Log (it only keeps "one previous"), and then it makes a new Current Log.

If MC isn't running when you look at them (by manually digging into the AppData directory and finding them on disk), then the "overwriting" hasn't happened yet so everything moves back a notch.  Essentially: Current == most recent "run" of MC (including the active one if it is actually running).  Previous == the one before that.

If you leave MC running continuously for 6 days, the log will contain 6 days worth of logging.

[glynor]

I am good as far as #1 is concerned.  No missing drives/folders, not even any network shares.  All media is USB3.0 attached with caching, etc.

As for #2, I expected to find at least some broken links and I found zero.  How likely is it that I would find zero?  I use "Fix Broken Links" on my monitored folders.  I searched for broken links by sorting by the Filename field and looking for missing file entries.  None.  I also saw a post on how to search for broken links and I tried that and got zero results.  I guess I am good there too.

Yep.  You should be good with both things, then.  The issue occurs when you have a bunch (not just a handful) of files that are completely "write locked" for some reason, and MC tries to access them.  Normally it figures it out quickly and it doesn't cause UI issues, but when the files are on a network share, it ends up having to wait for a long time.

#2, Have Microsoft Security Essentials only.  Had not provided the exceptions.  Done now.
#3, Same as #2

I use MSSE as well and I've had to add the exceptions to most of my machines.  On my office machines we run Symantec AV and I have to add exceptions there as well.

I think the most important ones are:

1. Excepting the Library location itself from scans.  Makes sense as realtime AV basically adds latency to all disk accesses, and MC needs its database to be responsive.
2. Excepting JRWorker.exe.  This is the process that does almost all of the "background work" in MC, much of which is disk intensive (things like generating thumbnails and whatnot).

But, it is easiest to just except the whole thing.  There aren't any viruses in there, so it just slows the processes down for no benefit.  I should also note, that with MSSE, it isn't enough to exclude the whole C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 18 directory under Excluded files and locations, for whatever reason.  You have to add the individual application files to the Excluded Processes section.  I exclude JRWorker.exe, Media Center 18.exe, and JRWeb.exe under Processes, and then I also just add the whole C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\ folder to Excluded Files and Locations.

This isn't an issue with some of my copies of MC (for example, on my main server I've never had performance issues with MSSE without doing this).  But that machine is powerful, has a ton of RAM (16GB), and has a fast SSD boot drive.  On my Laptop, though, I had to add the exceptions.  It probably depends on performance characteristics, but adding the exceptions is just going to make it better, so why not?

[pmcgarr]

Froze again early this morning according to my wife.  I'll attach the log later when I have access to it.

[glynor]

I should note two things:

1. I had a weird freezing issue last night on my HTPC.  Playback got "stuck" mid-playback of a movie, though MC itself kept "working" (mostly).  I've never seen anything like it before, and I use MC heavily (every day, all of our TV/Movie watching and music).  I rebooted and it hasn't come back, though, so I'm not sure about anything with that.  But, it is worth mentioning...

2. The anti-virus (and "missing files") issues I described above won't cause MC to actually crash (or I've never seen it).  I've had them cause MC to become periodically frozen (the UI thread stops responding), but it usually unsticks itself in a few seconds.  Sometimes it goes on long enough that Windows pops up the "application is not responding" dialog, but if you ignore it and wait, it'll unfreeze eventually.

So, if you're seeing actual crashes where MC itself dies completely, then it probably isn't the same issue.

If you're seeing actual crashes, not just UI non-responsiveness, my other guess is that you have a corrupt file (or files) in there somewhere in the directory you imported, and it is killing MC when it tries to import/scan the file(s) in question.  A log should help track down what it was doing at the time when the crash occurs, and probably give you a file to look at.

[kstuart]

glynor - is your MC internal browser Chrome or IE ?

[pmcgarr]

glynor - is your MC internal browser Chrome or IE ?

I know you weren't asking me but I am here to post my log so I figured I would add that I was originally using Chromium, but switched back to IE and no improvement for me.

Anyway, attaching the log from the freeze this morning.  My wife had force rebooted to get the system back up so a new log was created.  This means the problem would be at the end of the attached log.  If someone could review the log, that would be great.

[pmcgarr]

I should note two things:

1. I had a weird freezing issue last night on my HTPC.  Playback got "stuck" mid-playback of a movie, though MC itself kept "working" (mostly).  I've never seen anything like it before, and I use MC heavily (every day, all of our TV/Movie watching and music).  I rebooted and it hasn't come back, though, so I'm not sure about anything with that.  But, it is worth mentioning...

2. The anti-virus (and "missing files") issues I described above won't cause MC to actually crash (or I've never seen it).  I've had them cause MC to become periodically frozen (the UI thread stops responding), but it usually unsticks itself in a few seconds.  Sometimes it goes on long enough that Windows pops up the "application is not responding" dialog, but if you ignore it and wait, it'll unfreeze eventually.

So, if you're seeing actual crashes where MC itself dies completely, then it probably isn't the same issue.

If you're seeing actual crashes, not just UI non-responsiveness, my other guess is that you have a corrupt file (or files) in there somewhere in the directory you imported, and it is killing MC when it tries to import/scan the file(s) in question.  A log should help track down what it was doing at the time when the crash occurs, and probably give you a file to look at.

My big problem is this freeze problem, not hard crashing.  Just to add, different from you, my freeze hasn't happened in the middle of playback.  Always some transition, button press, or stopping of playback initiating it.  So far anyway.

Thanks for sharing about that though.

I've had Windows throw the not responding dialog, and aside from waiting hours to see if MC recovers, it doesn't matter if I wait.  I end up having to kill the process.  One time though I waited several hours and I was able to get unstuck by using the keyboard.  Remote and mouse wouldn't get a response.

I am always in Theater View for what it's worth.

[glynor]

glynor - is your MC internal browser Chrome or IE ?

IE

[dfletcher8]

After about a week of being out of town i come home and go to use my library and it is error cant find files this has happened twice what can be wrong

[glynor]

1. I had a weird freezing issue last night on my HTPC.  Playback got "stuck" mid-playback of a movie, though MC itself kept "working" (mostly).  I've never seen anything like it before, and I use MC heavily (every day, all of our TV/Movie watching and music).  I rebooted and it hasn't come back, though, so I'm not sure about anything with that.  But, it is worth mentioning...

This has not recurred since rebooting.

I'm thinking it was Girder going belly up.

[glynor]

After about a week of being out of town i come home and go to use my library and it is error cant find files this has happened twice what can be wrong

We need more specifics.

What exact error?  What files are missing?  Where do the files live?  What did you do with your system while you were gone?

You'd also be better starting your own thread because this is unrelated to the original poster's question. (Jim, can you move this?)

[glynor]

My big problem is this freeze problem, not hard crashing.  Just to add, different from you, my freeze hasn't happened in the middle of playback.  Always some transition, button press, or stopping of playback initiating it.

This all sounds like aggressive Anti-Virus activity, or some other disk access problem.

You said you have MSSE, right?  What exact folders/files and processes did you add to the exclusions in MSSE?  Have you rebooted since?  If you are using client/server copies of MC, did you add the exclusions to both?  Does it go away if you completely disable MSSE's Real Time Protection (under Settings > Real Time Protection)?  And, lastly, what is the exact path of the Library that you're using (is it the default location, or did you move it/make your own)?

If it isn't any of that, we're going to check the permissions on the files themselves.  Where do the media files live (sorry if you already said, but I'm looking for: Network Drive, NAS, Internal Disk, or External Disk)?

[pmcgarr]

glynor,

I set the entire library folder as a folder exception in MSSE.  I also set about a half dozen files from the main JRiver program folder as process exceptions specifically.  This made sense to me.  Since doing this I had a freeze.  I am not certain that I had rebooted so I will ignore that freeze.  The freeze itself was followed by a reboot.  Since then everything seemed ok, but tonight I got an all out crash.  I noticed something tho time that I had seen in the past but was not sure enough to speculate...

Each time I have a crash, when I restart media center I get an update.  Is it possible that the pending updat is somehow a trigger?  Probably just a coincidence, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

The PC this is installed on is squeaky clean too.  I am IT savvy for lack of a better term, and this is a vanilla Windows 7 installation with practically no additional software.  All current drivers and updates, but no funny stuff.  This PC is meant to be an HTPC and nothing else.  No junk on here.

Tonight I connected up my daughters Galaxy Tab for the first time and synced a couple children's movies.  Whole process was flaky and unstable.  More than I care to explain at the moment, just because I am running out of patience.

I have two WD 2TB drives connected to the PC via USB 3.0.  One is for serving media, one is used for read/write heavy temporary operations such as transcoding, recorded TV, etc.  both drives are NTFS formatted and running in cached mode for better performance.

I am approaching the end of my trial and I am certain I am going to purchase the software, but I am very concerned about what I am facing.  What kills me is the fact that this was rock solid for the first week.  It all started with the first update.  It was either the update or the importation of my iTunes music library.

Anyway, I appreciate your help.  I know this is not easy, especially when you don't know me or my system.  I'll try a few more things, and when I am just about fed up I will start fresh to give it one more try.  I'll ask for fresh start advice (cleaning program, registry entries, etc.) before I take that step.

You mention permissions...where to start?

[JimH]

If you think it could be a problem with the library, make a backup and clear it.  File/Library/Library Manager.  Start with a new, small library.

The logs may help find the problem.  Help/Logging. 

[pmcgarr]

If you think it could be a problem with the library, make a backup and clear it.  File/Library/Library Manager.  Start with a new, small library.

The logs may help find the problem.  Help/Logging. 

Logs attached.  Had a crash at 4:21 pm and one slightly earlier.  Crashing several times a day.  Last night I trimmed down my library, disabled windows indexing/search altogether, checked all settings, antivirus exceptions, etc.  I'm crashing several times a day now.

Help me out somebody, Please.  I'm days away from having to purchase and can't purchase software that crashes several times a day.  I should ask, because I can't afford to have downtime with two girls wanting to watch Sesame Street, can I extend the trial somehow?

[JimH]

Take a look at the wiki topic called "Stability".

[pmcgarr]

Take a look at the wiki topic called "Stability".

I've been reading up every spare minute I can.  Your posts are so short JimH.  Really fells like you don't carr or are stretched too thin.  Am I expecting to find a solution if I read that wiki or is it just more to read?  Your last suggestion was to post logs.  I just did that, and twice in the past.  Any comment on them?  I've put my time in, trust me.

I'm trying to be patient, but this is getting ridiculous.  What about extending the trial?  Seems fair to me.  No comment on that?

Not sure what to do now.  I guess I just move on.  Pretty sad having to say that.  I'm frustrated...

[JimH]

I've been reading up every spare minute I can.  Your posts are so short JimH.  Really fells like you don't carr or are stretched too thin. 

Pretty much everything I know has been written here on the forum or in the wiki, often many times.

Your crash may be an MC problem, but it seems unlikely.  It's more like a hard disk going bad.  It could be another hardware problem.  That thread links to the Weird Problems thread which has a lot of possible sources.

I'm not responsible for your machine.  If that sounds like I don't care, I'm sorry.  But we are deluged with problems that often turn out to be bad hardware or software related.

I gave you a suggestion above about clearing your library and starting over.  That might give you a clue on where the problem lies.

[pmcgarr]

Pretty much everything I know has been written here on the forum or in the wiki, often many times.

Your crash may be an MC problem, but it seems unlikely.  It's more like a hard disk going bad.  It could be another hardware problem.  That thread links to the Weird Problems thread which has a lot of possible sources.

I'm not responsible for your machine.  If that sounds like I don't care, I'm sorry.  But we are deluged with problems that often turn out to be bad hardware or software related.

I gave you a suggestion above about clearing your library and starting over.  That might give you a clue on where the problem lies.

I take great care to stay away from bad/cheap software and hardware.  I keep a tight ship and buy sound hardware.  My drivers and firmware are up to date and I am certain my hardware is not the problem, but as I type this I am running a thorough scan of my two WD USB 3 hard drives and then my system drive.  I will test my memory too, and then I will consider everything in the stability wiki.

I'll let you know how I make out, probably tomorrow morning.

If anybody can look at my logs for obvious signs of trouble I would appreciate it.

I apologize for my tone in my previous post.  Frustration got the better of me.  Thanks for not flipping out on me.

[glynor]

I'll try to look at the log later.

If it actually crashed, you should be able to find the crash in the log easily (it'll be near the end, and will say "crashing").  Look at what it was doing.

I'd be willing to bet there are corrupt files in your Library.

[pmcgarr]

6 lines up from bottom.  What does this mean?

Code: [Select]

0026114: 936: Database: CDataHolder::Load: Field: Number Plays; Files: 30312; Pointer bytes: 10388; Data bytes: 4168; Elapsed ms: 0.616
0026114: 936: Database: CDataHolder::Load: Field: Last Played; Files: 30312; Pointer bytes: 10388; Data bytes: 4168; Elapsed ms: 0.576
0026114: 936: Database: CDataHolder::Load: Field: Store Field: Store Name; Files: 30312; Pointer bytes: 0; Data bytes: 48; Elapsed ms: 0.370
0026114: 936: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Handling exclusive playback zones
0026114: 936: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Getting actual playback track
0026114: 936: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Processing play for 'E:\Sesame Street Learning About Letters-4.m4v'
0026114: 936: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Updating internal track info
0026114: 936: Playback: CPlayerZone::Play: Playing: <XMLFN version="1.0"><Item Name="Filename">E:\Sesame Street Learning About Letters-4.m4v</Item><Item Name="AlbumSequentialWithLastTrack">0</Item><Item Name="PlaylistIndex">0</Item><Item Name="DatabaseKey">49789</Item><Item Name="FileType">m4v</Item><Item Name="CompressionInfo">m4v video (video: AVC1, audio: Unknown codec)</Item><Item Name="FPS">29.9700300000000012</Item><Item Name="CenterFocusMixing">1</Item><Item Name="ErrorFreeMode">0</Item><Item Name="MediaType">Video</Item><Item Name="DurationSeconds">1871.269399999999905</Item><Item Name="AspectRatio"></Item><Item Name="PlaybackInfo"></Item><Item Name="Bookmark"></Item><Item Name="DRMProtected"></Item></XMLFN>
0026114: 936: Playback: CJRPlaybackEngine::Play: Start
0026114: 936: Playback: CJRPlaybackEngine::Play: Volume protection: 0
0026114: 936: Playback: CJRPlaybackEngine::Play: Playing: E:\Sesame Street Learning About Letters-4.m4v
0026114: 936: Playback: CJRPlaybackEngine::Play: Filetype: m4v; Type: 3; Can play: 1; Playback object: 0x66f62b8
0026114: 936: Playback: CJRPlaybackEngine::StartPlayFile: Start
0026114: 4396: Playback: CDXPlayerWindow::Thread: Worker thread exiting
0026114: 4396: Playback: CDXPlayerWindow::Thread: Finish (25475 ms)
0026161: 936: Podcast: CDXColorControls::Clear: Start
0026161: 936: Podcast: CDXColorControls::Clear: Finish (0 ms)
0026317: 936: Podcast: CDXColorControls::Clear: Start
0026317: 936: Podcast: CDXColorControls::Clear: Finish (0 ms)
0026317: 936: General: TopLevelExceptionFilter: Unhandled exception -- program crashing
0026317: 936: General: TopLevelExceptionFilter: Message: 34768, wParam: 61911752, lParam: 0
0026613: 4212: Sharing Plugins: CHTTPListenerWorker::HandleConnection: Start
0026613: 4212: Sharing Plugins: CHTTPListenerWorker::HandleRequest: UDP: 192.168.1.111: M-SEARCH: http://239.255.255.250:1900*
0026644: 4212: Sharing Plugins: VHTTPMessage::Write: Wrote 0 bytes
0026816: 4212: Sharing Plugins: VHTTPMessage::Write: Wrote 0 bytes

[glynor]

I'm not 100% sure (it would be best if one of the JRiver folks can look at the dumps), but...

I do see this with both crashes shown in the logs... Right around the time of the crash, it tried to play this file:
E:\Sesame Street Learning About Letters-4.m4v

That's suspicious that it would have happened twice.  In the Previous Log file it looks like it crashed while it was trying to shut down normally.  In the newer one, though, that wasn't the case.  However, in both cases, that same file was "played" right around the time of the crash, and in the second log, it started to play the file, then crashed a few milliseconds later.

Move that file elsewhere (out of the Auto-Import path).  Check it for problems.

[fitbrit]

I'm not 100% sure (it would be best if one of the JRiver folks can look at the dumps), but...

I do see this with both crashes shown in the logs... Right around the time of the crash, it tried to play this file:
E:\Sesame Street Learning About Letters-4.m4v

That's suspicious that it would have happened twice.  In the Previous Log file it looks like it crashed while it was trying to shut down normally.  In the newer one, though, that wasn't the case.  However, in both cases, that same file was "played" right around the time of the crash, and in the second log, it started to play the file, then crashed a few milliseconds later.

Move that file elsewhere (out of the Auto-Import path).  Check it for problems.

[pmcgarr]

I'm not 100% sure (it would be best if one of the JRiver folks can look at the dumps), but...

I do see this with both crashes shown in the logs... Right around the time of the crash, it tried to play this file:
E:\Sesame Street Learning About Letters-4.m4v

That's suspicious that it would have happened twice.  In the Previous Log file it looks like it crashed while it was trying to shut down normally.  In the newer one, though, that wasn't the case.  However, in both cases, that same file was "played" right around the time of the crash, and in the second log, it started to play the file, then crashed a few milliseconds later.

Move that file elsewhere (out of the Auto-Import path).  Check it for problems.

Will move the file, but this file is not likely the smoking gun to my regular crashing as I just created it from a DVD this afternoon.  Using Handbrake for what it's worth.  Anyway, I'll move it.  I'm likely going to clean my library and start very small later tonight.

How do I check the file for problems?  I was going to ask that anyway.  How can I scan my library for bad/corrupt files?  Is there a utility for that or do I just wait for crashes and delete files?

These files were not troublesome in XBMC, though I suppose that doesn't mean much.

Thanks for the help again glynor.

[glynor]

I'm really not sure.  Hopefully Matt can take a look at the logs in the morning (or someone else from JRiver).

Both logs clearly show the application crashing.  If that file is brand new, then it is almost certainly a fluke that it was used both times, because you (okay probably not you) were trying to watch that video.  I did see some other odd behavior, though...  For example, this:

Code: [Select]

0016255: 2984: Sharing Plugins: VSocketReader::Bind: Socket bind failed: 10048
0016255: 936: Sharing Plugins: VSocketReader::Bind: Socket bind failed: 10048
0016255: 936: Sharing Plugins: VSocketReader::Bind: Socket bind failed: 10048
That shows up in both logs.  I have no such errors in my logs, and I wonder if it is related.  Do you have MC set to use port 10048?

[glynor]

I'm a bit more skeptical that your issue is related to a particular file or files, if that one is new (because it didn't seem to be trying to background-parse any files, and wasn't trying to re-import the same file both times, which would be typical for that kind of problem).

My main remaining idea is that it is Media Network related, and relevant to that unable to bind error.  That doesn't seem good.

Can you try turning off Media Network entirely and see if you can reproduce the crash?  I realize this isn't a solution (it looks like most play controls are coming in via that mechanism), but it would give us a place to target if it goes away completely afterwards.

And, do you have any kind of other security software, or group policy settings, or anything else similar that might be blocking MC from being able to grab the port to accept incoming connections on it?  Are you trying to share this port with another application on the same system (perhaps accidentally with some file sharing application that sets a random outbound port or something)?

[pmcgarr]

I'm a bit more skeptical that your issue is related to a particular file or files, if that one is new (because it didn't seem to be trying to background-parse any files, and wasn't trying to re-import the same file both times, which would be typical for that kind of problem).

My main remaining idea is that it is Media Network related, and relevant to that unable to bind error.  That doesn't seem good.

Can you try turning off Media Network entirely and see if you can reproduce the crash?  I realize this isn't a solution (it looks like most play controls are coming in via that mechanism), but it would give us a place to target if it goes away completely afterwards.

And, do you have any kind of other security software, or group policy settings, or anything else similar that might be blocking MC from being able to grab the port to accept incoming connections on it?  Are you trying to share this port with another application on the same system (perhaps accidentally with some file sharing application that sets a random outbound port or something)?

Did a lot of stuff tonight, and don't want to do too much at once because when I get this thing I want to know exactly what it was.  So, before I address your concerns I will list what I did.

Tested my drives, all three of them , right down to sector scans.  No problems.
Totally disabled real time scanning by MSSE
Totally disabled firewall, not that I really suspect that
Verified that I had properly disabled windows search and indexing.  To do so I had to do it with the Windows "add remove windows features"
Checked all my power setting making sure drives were not sleeping, ever.  Did this at the driver level too.
Disabled media network (saw strange activity, more later on that)
Removed a huge portion of the library
Disabled auto-import library
Verified that critical hardware drivers (chipset) were latest/proper version

I had media network disabled for most of my trial, but I enabled it a few days ago so I could remotely manage my library.  I don't need it while I troubleshoot so I gladly disabled it.  When I did I noticed constant activity in the log.  Something I need to look into still.  Anyway media network is disabled and tomorrow I will uninstall MC from the other computer just to say I did.

Not sure what port MC is using.  Never set it, so whatever is default.

I have no file sharing software on this PC whatsoever.  The only thing on this PC is Windows and J River with the exception of a couple utilities and Chrome.  Even the Windows install is virgin , not preinstalled, OEM, bloat ware loaded.

Lets see what happens.  I'm determined to figure this out.  Every time you chime in I am thankful.  I truly appreciate it.  Tomorrow night I will investigate the media network strange activity and look into the status of that port, etc.

[pmcgarr]

Crashing and freezing continued so I threw in the towel.  I wiped my entire machine and started fresh, logging every single thing I install along the way as well as every setting I make/change.

Thanks to everyone that helped me along the way.  I am abandoning this thread.  If I continue to have issues I will start a new post.

Paul