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More => Old Versions => Media Center 12 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: paulfife on January 12, 2007, 11:53:19 am

Title: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: paulfife on January 12, 2007, 11:53:19 am
I've got MC 12.0.139, and seem to have some syncing issues. First often when connecting my handheld (iRiver H10 20Gig) the device won't appear under Drives & Devices. Usually disconnecting and reconnecting will make it show up. When this happens the device is always visible and browsable in Windows Explorer.

Second I often experience lockups while attempting to sync, or other weird behavior like the sync spontaneously stopping. Usually the problem I get is an unusually long delay at the end after the sync status detail shows everything is complete. Sometimes this will complete and sometimes it will not.

Is there a log that shows what is happening here? Are there known sync bugs, or issues with certain devices? I'm at a loss to know if I have a program issue or something I can change on my end.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: paulfife on January 19, 2007, 12:04:39 pm
Any assistance on these issues? I've upgraded to 12.0.147 and still have lots of problems syncing.

Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: benn600 on January 19, 2007, 12:18:51 pm
Is there a mode setting for your device?  My Sansa has MTP & MSC modes.  For me, however, I have no issues syncing music.  Have you tried restarting MC to see if the device will show up instead of having to unplug it?  Try removing all devices and then set the device up again from scratch.  Perhaps something got corrupted.  Also try formatting the device.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: paulfife on January 19, 2007, 12:32:11 pm
The device is officially MTP only, however, it can be booted as a UMS device although that introduces other issues (like needing to manually rebuild the player's database after syncing).

I am getting spontaneous disconnections it seems during transfers. I pulled this from my log file:
0117906: Handheld: CWMDMSupport::Upload: Transfer error 0: Mudvayne - Pulling the String.mp3 transfer failed (-2147417851).

After that it aborts the sync, although it looks like is able to successfully delete and update the MC.dc files on the handheld.

The odd thing is after this happens the device is still present in Windows Explorer and will reappear a few seconds later in MC12. I'm now trying a manual copy of a bunch of files with Windows Explorer to see if it does anything similar. I don't remember having problems like this previously, although It has been a long time since I have done a bunch of files at once. I have never had a problem doing manual deleting/adding of files other than it being inconvenient. I was hoping using MC for the same task would make everything easy, which isn't working well so far.  :)
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: benn600 on January 19, 2007, 12:34:12 pm
That sounds like a hardware USB failure.  I had a very similar problem with an old computer I had.  Its USB was very flaky and would often disconnect and present errors.  Interestingly enough, it didn't seem to fix it when I added a PCI USB card.  Now, I still use the computer, but as a server it doesn't really need any USB devices so I just don't use its USB anymore.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: paulfife on January 19, 2007, 01:24:49 pm
I just finished transferring my entire library using Windows Explorer without any errors at all. I think this can rule out a hardware problem, since I only seem to experience issues like this with Media Center.

My best guess is my device doesn't really like the way MC is sending data to it or vice-versa.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: nickharambee on January 19, 2007, 04:58:27 pm
i too am getting frequent lockups syncing MC12 with ipod converting flac files to mp3. not sure what the issue is

nick
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: Mr ChriZ on January 20, 2007, 06:11:07 am
The locking up issue has been reported in the Beta team forum.
It is being investigated.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: nickharambee on January 20, 2007, 11:53:23 am
thanks for keeping us posted Mr chriZ
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: nickharambee on January 21, 2007, 02:54:50 pm
where do i send my logs for the problems i am having synching MC12 with my ipod?  i click on send logs on the logging window, but there is no email address in the 'send to' field.

thanks

nick
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: BartMan01 on January 23, 2007, 12:05:52 pm
The locking up issue has been reported in the Beta team forum.
It is being investigated.

Any update on the status on this?  As one of the users effected, I currently have an empty iPod and no way to get my music back on it (other than converting it all to mp3 and going back to iTunes).
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: Mr ChriZ on January 23, 2007, 12:36:19 pm
I believe the investigation is on going.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: ThomasB on January 23, 2007, 04:24:27 pm
I've got MC 12.0.139, and seem to have some syncing issues. First often when connecting my handheld (iRiver H10 20Gig) the device won't appear under Drives & Devices. Usually disconnecting and reconnecting will make it show up. When this happens the device is always visible and browsable in Windows Explorer.

Sounds really strange. My H10 20GB (Firmware 2.51) works really fine with the same release. Presently I'm on release 12.0.151 and my iRiver works still great in both MTP and UMS modes. I am using the UMS-trick to generate M3U-playlists and finalizing/converting the database/playlists using easyH10. Works great.

I'm having similar problems with my other player from JVC, because there is no UMS-mode available and therefore I can only syncronize the files in MTP mode but the creation of playlists is unfortunately impossible...

Rgds, Thomas
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: BartMan01 on January 24, 2007, 08:19:59 pm
I believe the investigation is on going.

I appreciate the response, but is it to much to ask if anyone from JRiver *KNOWS* what the status is and can tell us?  Forgive me if I sound a little frustrated but I have my data in a format (APE) that pretty much only JRiver handles natively and am stuck with no immediate way of getting this on to my iPod.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: Mr ChriZ on January 25, 2007, 03:23:49 am
They are currently avidly investigating it.  They are having problems
reproducing the problem at their end, but acknowledge there is a problem.
They're really hoping to have it sorted as soon as possible.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: JimH on January 25, 2007, 06:54:48 am
I have my data in a format (APE) that pretty much only JRiver handles natively and am stuck with no immediate way of getting this on to my iPod.
Try splitting your synch into smaller pieces.  It seems to work for anything but a large number of files.

We're giving it a lot of attention, but it's slow going because we need logs and feedback from people who do have the problem.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: slipknot on January 25, 2007, 08:08:13 am
Try splitting your synch into smaller pieces.  It seems to work for anything but a large number of files.

We're giving it a lot of attention, but it's slow going because we need logs and feedback from people who do have the problem.

I was wrong when I thought it worked in small groups, I simply can't find the pattern.  I got up to the V's once and now I can't even get 1000 tracks loaded in 5 chunks before it locks up.

Since my cache dir is 90% accurate, I pointed iTunes to it and iTunes loaded 69gig without a hitch.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: BartMan01 on January 25, 2007, 08:34:26 am
Don't know if my logs will help, since they just 'end' after the last successful file (posted the last lines here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=38461.0 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=38461.0)).  If you need anything else from me just let me know what and where to send it.  I also have a version of go to my pc that allows me to share my system with others via web based interface.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: JimH on January 25, 2007, 08:40:53 am
Here's what Magic_Randy posted on the beta forum using build 154 (now available on this board):

Quote
I completed 2 tests. 

I did another full sync, ~15,000 tracks, and it completed successfully.  This is the 3rd successfully sync in a row.  2 syncs used 12.0.152 and 1 sync used 12.0.154.  As you have not fixed the problem, this is strange.  It makes me think that one of the changes you made to add to the logging is hiding the bug.

So I tried it with logging turned off.  It froze up within 5 minutes.

I also saw that Craig finished his last test and it succeeded.  I'm sure he had logging turned on.

I don't know if any of this makes sense, I'm just trying to pick up a pattern.

Has anyone been able to make it fail and send a log since 12.0.152 was pushed out? 
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: JimH on January 25, 2007, 09:12:48 am
Things to try that might help us find the problem.

Switch to build 154 or higher, available on this board.

Uninstall any third party plug-ins.

Turn off podcasts.

Turn off any MC servers (Library Server, UPnP, etc.).

Please report the virus checker you run and other utilities like pop-up blockers.

Thanks.


Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: BartMan01 on January 25, 2007, 12:47:56 pm
Tested smaller batches and was successfully syncing in 151 with groups of 300 or less this morning.  I had also experienced the same 'lock up' issue in 151 with large batch changes (as in changing tags on ~6000 files at once).  Processes in 151 were also running noticeably slower (tag updates for instance), but that may have been due to full logging turned on.

Just updated to 154, made sure podcast auto-download was disabled, purged the log file, plugged in the iPod and started a large sync job (the one it had been hanging on after just a few minutes).  Been running for 1/2 hour or so now and still going strong - will post up results.  One thing I noticed was the the iPod 'recognition' (the time lag between when it sees the 'Apple iPod Photo' and then realizes it is really the device 'Bart's iPod Photo') seemed to take a lot less time with this build.

Edit: never mind - just as I posted this got the 'Media Center has encountered a problem and needs to close.' error.  What data (if any) do you want from that before I dismiss it?  I am going to let MC continue to run until it completely hangs since it is still actively building the cache directory even though it has 'crashed'.

Running Avast Anti-Virus, FireFox as main browser, no active software firewall currently running.  Disabling anti-virus did not help when testing with 151.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: BartMan01 on January 25, 2007, 08:23:54 pm
we need logs and feedback

Where do we send the logs?
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: JimH on January 25, 2007, 08:29:20 pm
Under MC's Help/Logging, choose "Click to email log files"
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 26, 2007, 12:14:13 am
I can't turn on logging, MC slows to such a crawl I can't use it.

I loaded 12.0.54 and tried a small synch... locked up in less than 3 minutes.  I had to kill MC again,  re-initialized and tried again, locked up in 2 minutes.

When doing small batches, MC seems to load the files in the order of my playlist.  When trying to do my entire collection, the load order seems random.

Oh well, back to iTunes again....

0100am  Okay, I tried logging again and painfully waited for MC to connect to my ipod and I started a synch to a clean initialized 80 gig ipod.  It started, but it was SLOW.  It was uploading at about 1.5mb per second, even after it finished converting a bunch of tracks from ape to mp3.  And then suddenly sometime later, it broke free and jumped up to 6-8mb per second and has been going for over an hour now.

It started out saying it would be 1.2 hours, and now after running well over an hour, it says 1.3 hours....

I will let it run all night, and hopefully it will be completed in the morning.

Bartman may be on to something, maybe the logging is changing/slowing the pgm conditions enough to stop whatever ever is causing the lockups to occur.

Media Center Registered 12.0.154 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Intel Unknown 2666 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 2097 MB, Free - 1530 MB

Internet Explorer: 7.0.5730.11 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82.2900 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.0.2900 / Shell32.dll: 6.0.2900 / wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0002) , ASPI for Win32         DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.71 (0002)

Ripping /   Drive X: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S182M  Mode:Normal  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Drive Y: ATAPI   DVD RW            Mode:Normal  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: No /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
  Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: Yes  Soundfile:   D:\Graphics\Humor\Sounds\Simpsons\burns-excellnt.wav

Burning /  Drive X: TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182M   Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  BurnProof:Yes
  Drive Y: TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182M   Addr: 1:1:0  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: THUMBDRIVE (G:)

Device info dump for 'xxx80 (P:)':

WMDMName: xxx80 (P:)
DeviceUID: $$?$storage#removablemedia#8&32329413&0&rm#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}$0
CanonicalName: \\?\storage#removablemedia#8&32329413&0&rm#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}$0
VendorName: ; VendorID: 1452
ProductID: 4617; FirmwareVersion: 1.62
WMDMSerialNumber: NULL
DeviceType: 3; DeviceID: 8L637XJQV9R; DeviceName: Apple iPod; UnsupportedDevice: 0
IsDrive: 1; DriveLetter: P:; DrivePath: ; MainDriveLetter: P:
IsJanusCapable: ; IsIpod: 1
SupportsAlbumArt: 1; AlbumArtEnabled: 1
SupportsFolders: -1; PlaylistFormat: 0; EjectMode: 0; AlwaysPumpCOMMessages: 0
SupportedFileTypes: mp3;wav;mp4;aa;m4a;m4b;m4p;aiff;aif;bmp;jpg;jpeg;gif;tif;tiff;png;sgi;psd;mov;m4v
ContextMenus: Delete
MemoryTypes: Internal Memory
InstallURL:
ApplicationName: Media Center
ImageName: Apple iPod Video (black)
RootBasePath:
AudioBasePath: Music\[Artist]\[Album]\
ImageBasePath: Images\
VideoBasePath: Video\
DataBasePath: Data\
PlaylistBasePath: ROOT\
DatabaseBasePath:
AudibleBasePath: Audible\
MatchKeyExpression: If(IsEqual([Media Type], Image), [Name][File Size, 0], [Name]Clean([Artist], 1)[Album][Genre]FormatNumber([Track #, 0])[Media Type])
ChangeKeyExpression: If(IsEqual([Media Type], Image),,[Rating][Composer][Date Modified])
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: BartMan01 on January 26, 2007, 07:48:34 am
Under MC's Help/Logging, choose "Click to email log files"

When I do that it creates an email, but with no 'to' addressee.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: BartMan01 on January 26, 2007, 07:51:02 am
Tried a second full sync last night.  This time it just locked up at some point during the night, the program was non-responsive to the point I had to use task manager to kill it.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: nickharambee on January 26, 2007, 07:52:41 am
same for me. there is no email address to send the log to

nick
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: JimH on January 26, 2007, 07:55:03 am
Send to matt at jriver.  Include a link to this thread and any other helpful details.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: JimH on January 26, 2007, 07:56:20 am
I can't turn on logging, MC slows to such a crawl I can't use it.
That sounds very odd.  Uninstall any third party plug-ins.  If that doesn't do it, uninstall your virus checker (to test).
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 26, 2007, 09:15:06 am
That sounds very odd.  Uninstall any third party plug-ins.  If that doesn't do it, uninstall your virus checker (to test).

I tried it again last night, and it took forever for the pgm to start and become usable.  Then when I started the synch to a freshly initialized ipod, again, it was painfully unresponsive.  I'd click on MC in the task bar and it would draw part of the screen and then minutes later it would finish up the screen.  Finally it did start the synch at a very slow rate, but some conversion was going on (I saw lame in the task manager).  Even when the conversions finished (no more lame), it was at least 30-60 minutes before things broke loose and MC took off!

Once it took off, the synch rate jumped to 6-8mb per second and I let it run overnight.  This morning I had a fully synched ipod with 69gig of data.

So far the only thing I have done to allow a synch to prevent a total MC lockup is to turn on logging.

When MC locks up, I must kill it with the task manager and my ipod is corrupted and must be reinitialized to reclaim the space for all that was copied by MC before it crashed.

Another strange thing I notice is that when first starting a synch, MC begins uploading any files which are already in mp3 format in the main library (not the cache) and then it starts going through the list of files that are not mp3, converting as required, or uploading from the cache. 

This slows things down, since MC does not even try to upload the cached file until it gets to it in the list, even if it can be uploaded since it's in the cache.  MC can spend hours converting files and uploading the just converted file, but not uploading the cached files in parallel the files already in the cache.  It's like MC thinks all files need conversion, and then at the last minute it sees the cached file and use that instead.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: JimH on January 26, 2007, 12:30:38 pm
Uninstall any third party plug-ins.  If that doesn't do it, uninstall your virus checker (to test).

Are you using MusicLobby or Netremote or Playing Now or ...? with MC?

Define "forever to start".
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 26, 2007, 01:25:09 pm
Uninstall any third party plug-ins.  If that doesn't do it, uninstall your virus checker (to test).

Are you using MusicLobby or Netremote or Playing Now or ...? with MC?

Define "forever to start".


I'd say at least 4-5 minutes to become responsive with the ipod connected at start.  This means it was connecting to the ipod and "working" figuring what all was needed for the synch of my entire music library.  Normally this takes less than 30 seconds without any response issues.

I have a dual core E6700 and 4 gig of memory, so processing power should not be a issue.

And like I wrote above, the first part of the synch was painful, the screen would not redraw immediately, parts would show up and it would  draw slowly over minutes and then part way though the synch, it took off, totally responsive and it even completed without a lockup.

No MusicLoby or Netremote, I was not trying to play music during this synch operation.  I have writeplayingnow installed or playing now, the free one that writes my playing now info to a file that I can use for my email signature file.

I can try turning off my virus checker - Norton.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 26, 2007, 01:45:38 pm
Wishful thinking...

After MC spent the night loading my ipod80 and looking like success this morning, I just now tried to use it, not one track on the ipod...
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: JimH on January 26, 2007, 03:04:01 pm
4 to 5 minutes is absurdly slow. 

Try redetect devices under Handhelds options.

Uninstall the virus checker.  Stopping it won't help.

Uninstall the Playing Now plug-in and any others you have.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: BartMan01 on January 26, 2007, 05:10:52 pm
Using the 'small batches' method mentioned above, I was able to get my music back on in 200-500 song groups (talk about painful).  It still isn't a clean load (need to re-initialize/re-load again once the issue is resolved), but it gives me a work around for the moment.  Bad news is that based on recent experience the crashes/false loads really  take their toll on the iPod performance/responsiveness as the clutter up the drive and the database so I will have to do this 'work around' fairly often until this is resolved.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 26, 2007, 08:52:15 pm
4 to 5 minutes is absurdly slow. 

Try redetect devices under Handhelds options.

Uninstall the virus checker.  Stopping it won't help.

Uninstall the Playing Now plug-in and any others you have.

Logically, uninstalling my virus checker or any existing plug-in's will have no effect.

I have not installed any new plug-ins, and my virus checker has not changed since I first purchased MC in 2004.

I do believe MC will get this fixed.

I'll use MC to build my cache dir and iTunes to load the ipod in the meantime.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: JimH on January 26, 2007, 09:13:59 pm
Logically, uninstalling my virus checker or any existing plug-in's will have no effect.
Plug-ins can definitely cause problems that MC can't prevent.  If you don't want to uninstall, that's your choice.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 26, 2007, 09:21:32 pm
Plug-ins can definitely cause problems that MC can't prevent.  If you don't want to uninstall, that's your choice.

I do believe that plug-ins can cause trouble, and so can any other software,  but since I have not installed any new plugins in YEARS nor have I changed my virus checker in YEARS, I can't believe they are the problem.

I'll just wait this one out.  You'll fix it eventually.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: nickharambee on January 27, 2007, 03:59:02 am
just to say that i have switched back to MC11 to do my ipod syncs.  the problem i am having with MC11 though is that it isn't updating the ratings in my MC library (i have checked upload stats and am using latest version of ipod software).  so i have fully synched my ipod in MC11 and now use MC12 to connect the ipod to so that ratings are updated.  this will work for me until the problem with MC12 is fixed

nick
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: JimH on January 27, 2007, 07:25:53 am
I believe that Matt may have found the root of the problem in testing last night.  Stay tuned.  It will take a few days to make the fix, test it, and move it over here.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Magic_Randy on January 27, 2007, 11:35:28 am
I believe that Matt may have found the root of the problem in testing last night.

Jim did not mention it, but 'Last Night' is actually going on 1:00am this morning.  Matt and his team have working this issue very hard.  If we can be patient for a few more days, this issue should be closed out.
Title: Re: MC 12 Syncing
Post by: paulfife on January 29, 2007, 12:05:36 pm
Sounds really strange. My H10 20GB (Firmware 2.51) works really fine with the same release. Presently I'm on release 12.0.151 and my iRiver works still great in both MTP and UMS modes. I am using the UMS-trick to generate M3U-playlists and finalizing/converting the database/playlists using easyH10. Works great.

I'm having similar problems with my other player from JVC, because there is no UMS-mode available and therefore I can only syncronize the files in MTP mode but the creation of playlists is unfortunately impossible...

Rgds, Thomas

So do you normally sync in UMS mode? I have been trying to stick with MTP since (if it works) Media Center will avoid the need to use Easy H10 and handles all playlists (including M3U) just fine.

Just curious, are you using MC to sync you H10 at all? I don't have trouble at all connecting or transferring anything when not using MC.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Matt on January 30, 2007, 01:16:33 pm
If you were experiencing handheld hangs, please try build 157 or newer.  It's at the top of this board now.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: BartMan01 on January 30, 2007, 02:18:51 pm
I can confirm that 157 fixed the issue for me.  I did it in 3 large passes - 1 to put on the files that will likely never change, 1 to put on the files that may change, and 1 to put on the files that are either temporary (podcasts) or will change (unrated tracks) - just to cut down on fragmentation effects.  Went pretty fast (about 2 hours) since almost all of the APE files were in the cache.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 31, 2007, 08:04:57 am
I tried 157 and attempted to synch to a newly initialized ipod80.  It looked good running.  It said it would take 4 hours so I left it run all night.

This morning MC was crashed and said it needed to close.

The ipod has no music.  MC said the ipod db was corrupted and needed to reinitialize.  I said okay and it hung for over 5 minutes, finally I had to kill it.  I reinitialized it again with itunes.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Matt on January 31, 2007, 08:18:51 am
I tried 157 and attempted to synch to a newly initialized ipod80.  It looked good running.  It said it would take 4 hours so I left it run all night.

This morning MC was crashed and said it needed to close.

The ipod has no music.  MC said the ipod db was corrupted and needed to reinitialize.  I said okay and it hung for over 5 minutes, finally I had to kill it.  I reinitialized it again with itunes.

Please provide a log if you're able to make it crash again. (matt at jriver dot com)

Thanks.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Craig on January 31, 2007, 05:04:04 pm
Didn't Randy have some database problems after initilising in ITunes?

Craig
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 31, 2007, 06:04:55 pm
Please provide a log if you're able to make it crash again. (matt at jriver dot com)

I am unable to keep logging turned on.  With logging turned on, the MC screen will not redraw in a reasonable amount of time.  When I try to make MC active, little parts of the screen will draw, then a few minutes later, a little more draws. Even when I can see the entire MC screen, as the files upload, the grid does not redraw properly and gets all distorted and out of whack.

Since I last posted about this issue, I have upgraded my processor from an Intel E6700 to an QX6700.  I point this out since it was mentioned that the synching issues were more likely to show up on fast machines.

I think MC is synching during all this, but who knows?  The log is growing.  The progress bar is empty and underneath is says "working", that is all.

With logging turned off, the upload is only betwen 2-3mb per second.  Last night it was between 6-8mb per second.  There is no conversions going on.

Last night MC said it would take over four hours to synch, now it says 1.6 hours and I just started it again.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Magic_Randy on January 31, 2007, 06:28:44 pm
Didn't Randy have some database problems after initilising in ITunes?

Craig

I had 2 types of problems.

1) Problem with the MC library.  I think this was due to manualy terminating MC after the hang and some operator errors (importing during syncs).  The result was duplicate records in the library.

2) Problem with the iPod database.  After a hang I had no confidence in the database, so I would always initialize after a hang.   The symptom was the music was transfered but did not show up on the iPod.  I had a similar problem once after a successful sync (or what appeared to be successful), but I think I just ran out of room.  I don't think this was related to iTunes.  Often I would do restores using iTunes as it was faster than doing an initialize in MC.  I don't think this created any issues with MC.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Magic_Randy on January 31, 2007, 06:34:38 pm
I think MC is synching during all this, but who knows?  The log is growing.  The progress bar is empty and underneath is says "working", that is all.

With logging turned off, the upload is only betwen 2-3mb per second.  Last night it was between 6-8mb per second.  There is no conversions going on.

When I was having trouble I would use Task Manager to help indicate if the sync was really doing anything.  I would see ~10-20% CPU utilization during the sync (your mileage may vary) and it would drop to ~0% when the sync stopped.

As for speed, I was always running at ~2-4.5 mb per second.  I never got 6-8, but I also have my music on an external hard drive connected via USB.

Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 31, 2007, 06:44:58 pm
I stopped the synch and rebooted, to clear things out, fresh memory and restarted the synch with a clean system.

Now MC says it will take 2.7 hours to complete.  Screen redraws are slow, the grid does not scroll right as it's uploading files, half lines are drawn at it tries to scroll up.  Synch speed is still 2-3 mb per second.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 31, 2007, 10:13:07 pm
This is unbelievable....

I've been trying all night to get a full load of my ipod80.  I have 11,473 files to load.  I've been stopping and starting it in an attempt to get it all loaded.

I just stopped it with 9226 files loaded and ejected and shut down MC.  The ipod shows it as the 9226 files.  Okay so far.

I restarted MC and plugged in the ipod.

Now MC says there are 2247 (which is about right) files to synch and it's 145mb over capacity.  What is going on?

MC says I have 74.4gig capacity and 14.7gig free.  I have changed no files or the library all night, I have not played a track all night long, my MC db has not changed all night.  And now suddenly, it says I'm over capacity and it refuses to load the remaining tracks.

Does anyone know what the last version of MC worked properly with ipods?  I may be able to find an old installation file on one of my backups and just use that one until MC is fixed.  Until then, I have no choice but to use <shudder> iTunes, but it works.

(I think I'm allowed to complain now, this is not beta software anymore)

Media Center Registered 12.0.157 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 12\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Intel Unknown 2665 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 2097 MB, Free - 1698 MB

Internet Explorer: 7.0.5730.11 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82.2900 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.0.2900 / Shell32.dll: 6.0.2900 / wnaspi32.dll: 4.71 (0002) , ASPI for Win32         DLL, Copyright © 1989-2002 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: 4.71 (0002)

Ripping /   Drive X: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S182M  Mode:Normal  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Drive Y: ATAPI   DVD RW            Mode:Normal  Type:Auto  Speed:Max
  Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: No /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
  Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: Yes  Soundfile:   D:\Graphics\Humor\Sounds\Simpsons\burns-excellnt.wav

Burning /  Drive X: TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182M   Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  BurnProof:Yes
  Drive Y: TSSTcorp CD/DVDW SH-S182M   Addr: 1:1:0  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: THUMBDRIVE (G:),GKERBER (G:)

Device info dump for 'gek80 (P:)':

WMDMName: XXX80 (P:)
DeviceUID: $$?$storage#removablemedia#8&32329413&0&rm#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}$0
CanonicalName: \\?\STORAGE#RemovableMedia#8&32329413&0&RM#{53f5630d-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}$0
VendorName: ; VendorID: 1452
ProductID: 4617; FirmwareVersion: 1.62
WMDMSerialNumber: NULL
DeviceType: 3; DeviceID: 8L637XJQV9R; DeviceName: Apple iPod; UnsupportedDevice: 0
IsDrive: 1; DriveLetter: P:; DrivePath: ; MainDriveLetter: P:
IsJanusCapable: ; IsIpod: 1
SupportsAlbumArt: 1; AlbumArtEnabled: 1
SupportsFolders: -1; PlaylistFormat: 0; EjectMode: 0; AlwaysPumpCOMMessages: 0
SupportedFileTypes: mp3;wav;mp4;aa;m4a;m4b;m4p;aiff;aif;bmp;jpg;jpeg;gif;tif;tiff;png;sgi;psd;mov;m4v
ContextMenus: Delete
MemoryTypes: Internal Memory
InstallURL:
ApplicationName: Media Center
ImageName: Apple iPod Video (black)
RootBasePath:
AudioBasePath: Music\[Artist]\[Album]\
ImageBasePath: Images\
VideoBasePath: Video\
DataBasePath: Data\
PlaylistBasePath: ROOT\
DatabaseBasePath:
AudibleBasePath: Audible\
MatchKeyExpression: If(IsEqual([Media Type], Image), [Name][File Size, 0], [Name]Clean([Artist], 1)[Album][Genre]FormatNumber([Track #, 0])[Media Type])
ChangeKeyExpression: If(IsEqual([Media Type], Image),,[Rating][Composer][Date Modified])
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 31, 2007, 10:14:18 pm
sorry dup message, see above
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Matt on January 31, 2007, 10:34:18 pm
We need a step-by-step describing your problems.

Many people are using an iPod without issue, so something "special" is happening.

One possibility is that a hang or crash from an older build got the iPod and the iPod database out of sync.  A Reinitialize is needed if this happens.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on January 31, 2007, 11:14:23 pm
We need a step-by-step describing your problems.

Many people are using an iPod without issue, so something "special" is happening.

One possibility is that a hang or crash from an older build got the iPod and the iPod database out of sync.  A Reinitialize is needed if this happens.

I reinitialized before trying to synch with the latest public build tonight.

I stopped and started the synch many times this evening, and ejected properly each time and shutdown MC and restarted MC and restarted the synch.  After the last stop/restart MC now says I don't have enough capacity to finish the synch.

That is the whole process I followed this evening and ended up with another failed synch attempt.

I've started deleting files from the ipod using MC and then having it recheck synch.

Now it says I have 1552 files to synch and that I'm 424mb over capacity.

I deleted more files from the ipod.

Now it says I have 4318 files to synch and that I'm 174mb over capacity.

Deleted more files.

Now it says I have 5514 files to synch and that I have 8.8mb of space available.

I'd guess this space problem is caused by incorrect calcs on available space.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: jmx on February 01, 2007, 12:16:56 am
I don't know if this is related to the above problem, but here's a problem I've been having:

If I have some large .flac files that I want to xfer to my handheld (CL MuVo, WMDM disabled),
MC 12 won't let me sync them because the .flac size is greater than the free space on the handheld.
even if I've set the transfer options to transcode the files to a much smaller format (WMA VBR).

Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: BartMan01 on February 01, 2007, 01:03:06 am
Slipknot - what format are those files in (sorry if you said and I missed it)?  I've had lots of trouble over the last few builds, but absolutely no trouble getting my 60GB unit loaded with the latest build.  All my files are APE and MP3.  I have seen a few complaints about how MC has been calculating free space with FLAC with 12 - but since I don't currently use FLAC I haven't really paid attention to the current status.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 01, 2007, 01:34:13 am
Most of my files are APE, with very few MP3 files.  I have my cache setup and working.

I finally got my ipod loaded... and there is space left on the ipod, but MC will not allow me to do another synch, it says I'm 245mb over....  It seems MC is not calculating space correctly and this prevents full use of the ipod hard disk space.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Matt on February 01, 2007, 08:49:00 am
Conversion gets accounted for when figuring available handheld space.

For example, I just dropped 85 GB of APE files on an iPod.  MC correctly shows that the 30 GB iPod could still hold 10 GB more stuff.

Perhaps there's some overflow condition, or a problem with a certain encoder?

Any more details would be great.  Thanks.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 01, 2007, 09:09:37 am
Conversion gets accounted for when figuring available handheld space.

For example, I just dropped 85 GB of APE files on an iPod.  MC correctly shows that the 30 GB iPod could still hold 10 GB more stuff.

Perhaps there's some overflow condition, or a problem with a certain encoder?

Any more details would be great.  Thanks.

I am using the VBR mp3 encoder in the handheld options at HIGH quality.  I do not have the "fast" option checked.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Matt on February 01, 2007, 11:55:49 am
Remember that MC intentionally leaves a little free space on the iPod.  (for the database, cover art changes, etc.)  This could be a few hundred MB with a large iPod.

Could this explain what you're seeing?
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 01, 2007, 12:23:26 pm
Remember that MC intentionally leaves a little free space on the iPod.  (for the database, cover art changes, etc.)  This could be a few hundred MB with a large iPod.

Could this explain what you're seeing?

Quote
I've started deleting files from the ipod using MC and then having it recheck synch.

Now it says I have 1552 files to synch and that I'm 424mb over capacity.

I deleted more files from the ipod.

Now it says I have 4318 files to synch and that I'm 174mb over capacity.

Deleted more files.

Now it says I have 5514 files to synch and that I have 8.8mb of space available.


Would the extra space MC reserves account for the results shown above?
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Matt on February 01, 2007, 12:30:03 pm
Would the extra space MC reserves account for the results shown above?

Those sizes likely include both what is on the iPod AND what is queued for transfer.

So I think the fact that it changes as you change what is on the iPod is just the difference between the estimated file size after conversion and the real size on the iPod.

The file size after conversion is, of course, only a ballpark when dealing with VBR encoding.

Does that make sense, or am I missing the boat?
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 01, 2007, 12:51:13 pm
Those sizes likely include both what is on the iPod AND what is queued for transfer.

So I think the fact that it changes as you change what is on the iPod is just the difference between the estimated file size after conversion and the real size on the iPod.

The file size after conversion is, of course, only a ballpark when dealing with VBR encoding.

Does that make sense, or am I missing the boat?

I think it makes sense... but if the files will really fit and MC prevents the synch based on an estimate, well that is not good...  I would think MC should warn based on the estimate, but allow the synch to continue if desired, and then stop with a message if the space really does run out before the synch completes.

And in my test cases, all files to synch were either already mp3 files or were in my cache, no conversions were required, so all the file sizes to copy to the ipod were already available for MC to add up - if MC only looked at the cache instead of estimating.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 01, 2007, 10:27:33 pm
MC LOCKED UP AGAIN.

I had deleted all the files on my ipod, cleared my cache and changed my mp3 conversion to a fixed 192kbs conversion rate in an attempt to regain some space by lowering the conversion bitrate.

MC was screaming along, 4 simultaneous conversions and uploading, my processor was at about 80% utilized.  All four cores were working hard.  And then suddenly after about 4 hours into the synch, the processor utilization dropped to 3% and MC was locked.  I waited 5 minutes and then killed MC.

I used iTunes to re-initialize the ipod again.  It showed about 20 gig used for music and another 20% for "other" ?

Starting over again...  this is getting tiring.

I'd love to send some log info, but as already described, when I turn on logging, MC is so slow and so unresponsive, the screen takes over a few minutes to even draw itself.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Matt on February 01, 2007, 10:29:06 pm
I'd love to send some log info, but as already described, when I turn on logging, MC is so slow and so unresponsive, the screen takes over a few minutes to even draw itself.

It shouldn't be.  You may have an over-active virus checker.

We really need the log to be much help.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 01, 2007, 10:42:54 pm
It shouldn't be.  You may have an over-active virus checker.

We really need the log to be much help.

Norton AntiVirus is what I've used for years.

I rebooted to be safe and restarted the synch.  This time there are files in the cache.

MC is crawling this time, uploading at around 1mb per second. 

Before MC locked up a few minutes ago, it was screaming along, and said it needed another 5 hours to complete.

Now MC says it will be 20 hours to complete.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Matt on February 01, 2007, 10:56:58 pm
You should try disabling Norton -- logging should cause very little performance difference. 

Anti-viruses are great at making fast things slow.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 01, 2007, 11:35:34 pm
You should try disabling Norton -- logging should cause very little performance difference. 

Anti-viruses are great at making fast things slow.

I unistalled Norton AntiVirus and restarted the synch with logging turned on.

No change, still won't redraw the screen right and > 20 hours to synch, processor is at 10%

After 10-20 minutes it now redraws sluggish but usable.  Down to < 10 hours and processor is now at 80-95%.

I've sent along more info and some screen shots to your email.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 02, 2007, 09:25:53 am
MC was crashed this morning when I work up, and the log file has been sent to Matt.

Looks like the ipod is fully synched. 

So far, I get a good synch with logging turned on, and it locks without logging.

With logging turned on, MC is almost totally unresponsive with many minute screen redraws for 10-20 minutes on a start synch and then it gets slowly back to normal as the synch progresses.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: hakuin on February 03, 2007, 02:29:30 pm
I upgraded MC12 .157.  I am unable to sync a large number of files to my iRiver Clix.  I know it is not a hardware problem because I can sync the same set of files using WMP11.  MC12 syncs a few tracks, and then hangs....the device remains in "USB Busy" state, and I even after unplugging the USB connector I have to do a hard reset of the device to bring it back to life.   
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: nickharambee on February 04, 2007, 04:56:25 am
just thought i'd say that since uprading to 12.0.157 i have carried out a few large syncs/conversions to my ipod (2,000+ songs) and had no problems.  thanks for your work on this

nick.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 04, 2007, 12:19:02 pm
just thought i'd say that since uprading to 12.0.157 i have carried out a few large syncs/conversions to my ipod (2,000+ songs) and had no problems.  thanks for your work on this

nick.

I try to synch 11k+ tracks, which just about fills up my 80gig ipod, and the only time I have successfully completed a full synch recently is with logging turned on.  And that's by having MC almost totally unresponsive, with minute+ screen draws for the first 5-10 minutes of the synch (then it breaks loose ?).
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: hakuin on February 04, 2007, 02:14:44 pm
Possible fix (and bug in MC12) that I just discovered. Facts are as follows:
(1) Using MC12 .157 and syncing to iRiver Clix (latest firmware 2.0)
(2) When I choose a few files to sync, MC does it with no problem
(3) When I tried syncing a large list, MC would hang on the first track. Would have to unplug device to bring it and MC back to life.
(4) WMP11 synced the same list to my device with no problem

Solution as follows:
(1) I figured out that it wasn't syncing a large list that was problem, but rather there were a handful of tracks within the list that were the cause.  If I tried to sync only one of these files at at time, it caused the problem.
(2) I tried turning off the sync option "Enable Album Art Support If Possible" -- and MC was able to sync these files. 
(3) I tried to figure out what about the album art for these files might be problem.  As a test I tried syncing another track with an album cover that has a larger file size (>230KB) than the problem track, but large album art synced fine.  I also tried the same test, but with larger jpeg size (> 900 x 900) and this also worked fine.
(4) I then deleted the album art for these problem tracks, and turned the enable album art option back on -- and the files synced.  I then downloaded a different album cover (from internet, manually)....and the files synced fine.

Summary:  Something about some of my album art was causing MC12 to fail to sync the files to my Clix.  It wasn't because of filesize or image resolution, but the problem was definitely MC as WMP11 synced the problem files (with the art) just fine.   So, for those having trouble syncing, maybe turning off album art is worth testing?
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Matt on February 04, 2007, 04:55:58 pm
Possible fix (and bug in MC12) that I just discovered. Facts are as follows:
(1) Using MC12 .157 and syncing to iRiver Clix (latest firmware 2.0)
(2) When I choose a few files to sync, MC does it with no problem
(3) When I tried syncing a large list, MC would hang on the first track. Would have to unplug device to bring it and MC back to life.
(4) WMP11 synced the same list to my device with no problem

Solution as follows:
(1) I figured out that it wasn't syncing a large list that was problem, but rather there were a handful of tracks within the list that were the cause.  If I tried to sync only one of these files at at time, it caused the problem.
(2) I tried turning off the sync option "Enable Album Art Support If Possible" -- and MC was able to sync these files. 
(3) I tried to figure out what about the album art for these files might be problem.  As a test I tried syncing another track with an album cover that has a larger file size (>230KB) than the problem track, but large album art synced fine.  I also tried the same test, but with larger jpeg size (> 900 x 900) and this also worked fine.
(4) I then deleted the album art for these problem tracks, and turned the enable album art option back on -- and the files synced.  I then downloaded a different album cover (from internet, manually)....and the files synced fine.

Summary:  Something about some of my album art was causing MC12 to fail to sync the files to my Clix.  It wasn't because of filesize or image resolution, but the problem was definitely MC as WMP11 synced the problem files (with the art) just fine.   So, for those having trouble syncing, maybe turning off album art is worth testing?

If you still have a file that won't sync well, could you send a copy to matt at jriver dot com?

Thanks!
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: hakuin on February 04, 2007, 05:30:02 pm
Absolutely...just sent you an email. Please let me know if I can test/try anything else to help out.  Thanks for taking the time to look into this....
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: paulfife on February 05, 2007, 10:58:44 am
All of my major syncing issues were resolved by the latest MC (157), except for the issue with random errors appearing. When this happens sometimes retrying the sync will work fine, other times I need to disconnect the device and reconnect it. I never have any problems transferring outside of MC. Here's a log snippet (I can email the full log if needed):

0015265: 504: Handheld: CWMDMSupport::SafeInsert: Insert3(...) hr: -2147024865
0015265: 504: Handheld: CWMDMSupport::SafeInsert: Finish (47 ms)
0015265: 504: Handheld: CWMDMSupport::UploadFile: Finish (6781 ms)
0015265: 504: Handheld: CWMDMSupport::Upload: Transfer error 0: Slate Daily.mp3 transfer failed (-2147024865).


Also what is the long delay at the end of the sync? Is it setting up playlists or something at this point? If so it would seems like a major optimization could be done by not re-syncing playlists that have not changed, or have no files affected. Since that may be complicated, it would be nice to be able to not sync playlists, but leave the ones on the device alone.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: Matt on February 05, 2007, 03:02:59 pm
Slipknot,

I think we found (and fixed) the hang you were seeing.  Please test build 163 and later.

Hakuin,

We couldn't reproduce the transfer problem, but we'll bring a Clix in tomorrow to test that specific device.  One little thought, the playing (or paused) file may not transfer to a WMDM device.  Could this explain what you're seeing? (also, this will be changed in a coming build)

Paulfife,

I'm not sure why it's failing to sync.  What type of device are you using?
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 05, 2007, 03:58:08 pm
Slipknot,

I think we found (and fixed) the hang you were seeing.  Please test build 163 and later.


Cool.  Thanks.  when will it be available to the civilians?

Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: hakuin on February 05, 2007, 08:30:33 pm
Matt,

I did notice that the track currently selected in Playing Now would cause a hang...but this was not the cause of the problem I reported. 

One other note:  I synced the track I sent you to my Clix (with album art disabled). I was playing that track today on the Clix, and noticed that the artist and album info were not transferred.  No idea why, but I think there are tag issues with the files that won't sync --- but note that all these files synced via WMP11. 
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: paulfife on February 06, 2007, 01:18:36 pm
Paulfife,

I'm not sure why it's failing to sync.  What type of device are you using?

I'm using an iRiver H10 20 Gig with firmware 2.51.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: slipknot on February 07, 2007, 11:33:09 am
Quote
Fixed: Transferring a handheld cancel could fail when conversions were in progress. (especially with 4 running at a time)

I synched a number of 2000 track sets (with few conversions) last night, worked perfectly.

Then I did about 6000 tracks with full APE->MP3 conversions (deleted from ipod and cache) and went to bed.

MC was crashed this morning, with the dialog box saying MC had to close.

The ipod looked to be fully synched when I used the OS to eject it.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: jbholtz on February 14, 2007, 08:25:01 am
I've experienced this as well.  When I try to sync my whole library (~75GB) It seems to make it through but after I eject it the iPod doesn't have anything on it.  MC seems to have a second dialog window open with nothing on it.  I never actually see it but it's in the task bar.  When I reconnect it it says that it needs to be re-initialized.

Now the new part to this is that if I hit Sync Handheld and drag a couple of albumns to the drop zone and sync....everything works alright.  Since it takes about 5 hours to resync 75GB I'll try to drag everything to the drop zone instead of hitting a smartlist All Songs Sync tonight.  Hope this helps.
Title: Re: MC 12 Handheld Syncing Problem
Post by: jbholtz on February 14, 2007, 08:28:19 am
Sorry.  BTW I'm on a 80GB iPOD 5th Gen and using MC 12.164