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More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 26 for Windows => Topic started by: wer on June 10, 2020, 02:15:41 pm

Title: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree [Solved]
Post by: wer on June 10, 2020, 02:15:41 pm
I'm seeing a strange behavior where MC (26.0.90, but it's been happening for a few versions now) freezes for about 15 seconds when I click on "Playlists" in the tree.

I don't mean if I expand the Playlists section by clicking on the disclosure triangle and then clicking an individual playlist; that works fine.

I mean if I click on the word Playlists itself, as shown circled below.

If I do that, MC locks for 15 seconds or so, and I get Window's "busy" cursor; MC will not respond to any mouseclicks during this time. There's an instantaneous CPU spike when I make the click, but it immediately drops and CPU is idle for the duration of the freeze. Disc activity is high during this time (at least the first time you click it), only on the SSD where MC is installed - there's no disk activity on the magnetic drive holding media. On subsequent clicks with freezes, disk i/o does not exceed 100KB/sec.

Anyone else seeing this? It's not a show stopper, but it is annoying.
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree.
Post by: Jamil on June 11, 2020, 02:47:58 am
I cannot reproduce this.  Playlists shows a screen that loads rather quickly.  It is not instant, but it loads in about one second or so.
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree.
Post by: maliceme on June 11, 2020, 07:47:47 am
I see similar behavior with a custom folder in my tree (Artists - Sorted).
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree.
Post by: BigSpider on June 11, 2020, 03:24:33 pm
The first time it is clicked there is a short delay of a second or so while it brings up the screen describing the various types of playlist, but subsequent clicks from other sites in the standard view give an virtually instant response.However clicking on any of the three links on the displayed page will give a lovely blank space as I expect the links are broken.
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree.
Post by: wer on June 11, 2020, 03:39:33 pm
Yes, you're right, all those links on the Playlists "start screen" seem to be broken.

But that made me think...

First, I noticed that I get the same behavior when clicking on "Services and Plug-ins" (which is somewhere I rarely visit).  And I noticed that "Services and Plug-ins" displays the same sort of quasi-web page.

This made me think it was some kind of HTML rendering problem.  So I changed Options->Tree&View->Web Browser from Chromium to Internet Explorer, and two things happened:

The freezing I'm complaining about disappeared, and the links you referred to, like "More about Playlists" started working.

So it seems like it's some problem with the Chromium integration.  Can you try switching your setting from Chromium to Internet Explorer, and see if that fixes your links?
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree.
Post by: BigSpider on June 11, 2020, 03:44:36 pm
Yes Wer, the links on all of those 'header' pages work correctly by opening the pages in an external browser window when internet explorer is selected as the engine.
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree.
Post by: wer on June 11, 2020, 04:00:45 pm
Well that's some progress at least. Thanks for making me think, Spider.

I wonder if some of the people who don't see the problem have their browser set to IE...
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree.
Post by: BigSpider on June 11, 2020, 04:03:22 pm
I see no difference in the opening time between the two internet engines, so I wouldn't think that is the explanation.
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree.
Post by: wer on June 11, 2020, 04:06:22 pm
Well, when I changed the browser engine option, the freezing disappeared, so there may be an additional factor in play, but one factor is clearly the engine selection.
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree.
Post by: BigSpider on June 11, 2020, 04:10:19 pm
The fact it is happening on your system but not mine might point to Chromium coming a bit unstuck due to the way your system is set, but what that could be is one of life's mysteries ........
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree.
Post by: wer on June 11, 2020, 04:17:52 pm
Indeed.  I don't believe we have any options for configuring or fiddling with it.  MC downloads it as a "required component" when needed, so it should "just work". 

But if MC's built-in links don't work when it is selected, then something is definitely amiss with it, and that something might bring other consequences, depending on the system.
Title: Re: MC Freezes when clicking on "Playlists" in the tree [Solved]
Post by: BigSpider on June 11, 2020, 04:21:46 pm
Chromium seems to be quite temperamental and as you say there might be other consequences.