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More => Old Versions => Media Center 15 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: kosmicken on August 27, 2010, 07:50:57 pm

Title: MC15 crashes frequently on netbook
Post by: kosmicken on August 27, 2010, 07:50:57 pm

I am evaluating MC15 on a netbook. I realize, of course, that a netbook is not the ideal setup for an HTPC, but this is just temporary until I am able to build or purchase an HTPC, and to get a feel for how the software works. MC crashes very frequently. I'll be playing an album or playlist, and suddenly it will stop, Theater View on my TV freezes, and the "Media Center has encountered an error and must close" dialog appears on the netbook's monitor.

Here's the setup:

Acer netbook running Win XP Home, SP2
Intel Atom 1.60GHz CPU
.98 GB RAM
143GB hard drive with 79GB free space
Netbook's VGA port connected to TV, extended destop mode enabled. Typically I drag MC onto the TV and then enable Theater View

Again, I realize the netbook is very limited, but it still meets the system requirements. I am going to try installing on my laptop, which is much beefier, but I wanted to use the netbook because I have no other use for it so I could just leave it connected 24/7, whereas I will have to disconnect my laptop and take it with me every day.

If anyone has any ideas why MC keeps crashing and what I can do to prevent that from happening, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Title: Re: MC15 crashes frequently on netbook
Post by: Matt on August 27, 2010, 07:56:19 pm

Hi there, and sorry for the troubles.

This isn't a common report, and MC should work fine on a netbook.  We have a few here we test with.

Does it crash if you don't use Theater View?  I'm wondering if your video driver is a problem.  Updating the driver would be a good idea.

It might help to get a log and see if it has any clues:
http://tinyurl.com/b8xdf5

Thanks.

Title: Re: MC15 crashes frequently on netbook
Post by: kosmicken on August 27, 2010, 08:05:59 pm

Thanks for the suggestion, Matt. I actually thought about running in standard view to see if it is an issue with the graphics on that net book. I'll give that a try, as well as updating the driver.

I'll look into getting the log files and sending them in.

EDIT: Logging was disabled, so I won't have any information on previous crashes, but I have enabled it now.

Title: Re: MC15 crashes frequently on netbook
Post by: kosmicken on August 28, 2010, 05:55:22 pm

I've had similar issues with my laptop. Very frustrating. I am emailing the log files from that setup.

Title: Re: MC15 crashes frequently on netbook
Post by: JimH on August 29, 2010, 04:26:48 pm

Please take a look at the links in my signature for ideas.

Title: Re: MC15 crashes frequently on netbook
Post by: Matt on August 30, 2010, 09:30:46 am

Thanks for the log.  I had to look in the source code before I could give a helpful response.

It looks like it crashes right after the system screen saver starts.  My guess is that the screensaver is using hardware accelerated drawing, and this causes some sort of conflict with Theater View.

As a test, could you try disabling the screensaver?

Thanks.

Title: Re: MC15 crashes frequently on netbook
Post by: kosmicken on August 30, 2010, 12:56:26 pm

Thanks for the input.

I figured out that seemed to be the timing of it. More specifically, it seems to crash when the computer locks. I have disabled the screen saver, by choosing none, and I've also disabled screen saver in Theater View in the MC options. But I cannot prevent the computer from requiring a password after 15 minutes of inactivity, because this is a company laptop and that is an IT policy that cannot be changed. I did find that there were no problems as long as I moved the cursor every few minutes to prevent the computer from timing out.

I will go back to using the netbook today now that I have enabled logging on it. If it crashes again, I will send the logs.

Thanks again for your help.