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[kaiynne]

I have ripped all of my cds using various versions of media center 10.  I rip them as wav files and then batch encode overnight into .ape files.  I am encountering a really annoying issue though.  It seems like every third album there are decompression errors on one or two tracks.  At first I just assumed these were places where the cd was scratched.  Last night though I bought about ten new cds opened them ripped them and then encoded them.  3 of those cds ended up with decompression errors.  This is extremly frustrating obviously.  Especially because i have 600+ cds and have no idea which ones have errors on them.  

I have isolated the problem to the ape encoding proccess because after ripping them i listened to them as wav files and they were fine as well as the fact that the log said they were ripped at 100%.  I also took the same ape files and listened to them in winamp and am getting the same error.

I really need a solution for this problem if you have any ideas i would love to hear them.

Kain

[Matt]

How are you making the APE files?

What happens if you let MC do it for you while you rip?

This isn't a common problem.  You may have bad ram or a similar hardware failure that's causing CRC failures.  Remember that WAV files won't report bad bits even if they're there, so it doesn't necessarily mean you have an APE-specific problem.

[kaiynne]

I have tried both ways letting MC rip and encode and ripping to wav and then batch encoding.

So you think that there might be errors during the ripping process?  Wouldn't that show up in the log file? as in it would show that the cd was ripped at 98% instead 100%.

I don't think this is a MC issue otherwise more people would probably be reporting it, but it could be a hardware incompatibility issue with my hardware and ape or MC.

here are the specs of the machine i use for ripping:

MB: ECS K7VTA3
CPU: Athlon 1800+ stock speed
RAM: 512 ddr 2100 kingston
Video: ATI 9000 Pro
Sound: Audigy 1
CDR1: 52x generic burner
CDR2: 40x liteon
HD1: seagate 60GB
HD2: maxtor 60GB
HD3: WD 160GB

thanks for the quick reply matt.

[Matt]

If there is an APE decompression error, there are two possiblities:

1) There's a bug in the APE encoder or decoder.  This should be easy to reproduce since it'd happen everytime you encoded or played the same file.

2) There is a memory error when the APE encoder works with the file and writes the data to disk.  In this case, it thinks it's doing one thing but the buggy hardware does another.  Many of these reports in the past turned out to be cooked memory.

So, please try to reproduce it.  You can quickly test an APE file by using the "Verify" mode in the stand-alone Monkey's Audio program.

Thanks and let us know what you find.

[kaiynne]

ok so this is where i am on this issue.

i have been tagging all of the files i know to have errors so it is easy to go and check them.

most files have only one error which in MC manifests itself as a 1 to 2 second silence.  In winamp the ape plugin generates an error and stops playback.

The errors are there every time during playback and allways in the same place.

If I re-rip the cd the error will be gone, but there have been a few instances where there will be a new error on a different track, this is infrequent since it seems to happen about once every 3 cds.

So I went through and verified one of the cds with errors and it showed up saying invalid checksum on the track with the playback error.

So what is your recommendation at this point?

thanks for the help matt, just the info about being able to do a batch verify is amazingly helpful, i had a topic a few weeks ago asking if that was possible and no one had a definitive answer, you saved me an unbelieveable amount of time showing me that trick.

thanks,
Kain

[paulr]

This sounds exactly like some problems I was having, and posted about.

In my 4000+ file APE library,  I had 18 files that had invalid CRCs.  All 18 of them were created in EAC using APE 3.97.  No album had more than 1 corrupt file.  Each corrupt file had about 2 to 3 seconds of silence when played in MC.

The only thing I could figure out, is that there was either a problem in EAC, or they were ripped when I was overclocking my system.  I still do not know what caused it, but I suspect that it was the overclocking (considering how many people use EAC and APE and never have issues).  I haven't had any problems with any of my newer rips since I stopped overclocking.

Overclocking can exacerbate memory timing problems as well as overheat components.  Since you aren't overclocking, it may be faulty memory.  I'd suggest using Memtest86 to test your RAM and see if the problem isn't there first.

[kaiynne]

Ok looks like I had the same problem, thanks paul I ran memtest and it showed a bunch of errors, so i need to replace my ram.

I also ran a batch test of all files for errors and found about 250 out of 7500+ files.  here is the problem i have now, I will replace the ram and then rerip the offending files, but when I try to copy the list of files with errors in them the monkey's audio program crashes.  There doesn't seem to be any way to generate a log either as far as I can see.  I just need to be able to make a list of all of those files somehow.

Any suggestions matt?

Thanks for your help guys

[JimH]

You should test the files for errors after you replace the memory.

[kaiynne]

The errors are in the files now, they occured during the compression proccess.  I verfied this by playing them in my other pcs.  the errors are allways there.

I need to rerip but i need to get a list into excel or something so that i know what to re rip.

[GHammer]

Hello,

A sure way to do it is to move the files out of their current location to a holding directory after they fail to verify.
Once the ram is replaced, rerip everything in the holding directory.

[paulr]

I basically did what GHammer suggested, but I only had 18 files to deal with.  This is what I did:

1.  Move all corrupt files to a "Corrupt" directory
2.  Open a command prompt in the "Corrupt" directory
3.  Exectued this command:  "dir > corrupt.txt"
4.  Moved all the corrupt files back to their original directories

The only reason I did #4 is because the errors were small and I wanted to be able to listen to the albums (in full) while I searched for my CDs.  As I re-ripped the individual tracks I would remove them from corrupt.txt and replace the corrupt file with the newly ripped file in the proper directory.

I could not find a way to make the Monkey's Audio program to generate the list for me.

[kaiynne]

Thanks guys

That looks to be a great system.

Looks like I have another 30+ hour verification program to initiate.

Kain

[GHammer]

Just wondering if after you run the Verify from standalone Monkey's Audio, try File->Copy File List

This gives the filepath and the status:
File Name   Original (MB)   Compressed (MB)   %   Time (s)   Status
C:\Install\Love Scenes\01. All or Nothing at All.ape      19.18      18.31   OK   
C:\Install\Love Scenes\02. Peel Me a Grape.ape      25.72      23.17   OK   

Don't know why I didn't see that earlier.

[kaiynne]

You Sir are a genius,

I didn't see that option either.  I have about 15 hours to go before all my files are verified, so i will have to try that when it gets finished.

Thanks,
Kain

[kaiynne]

Ok this is getting weirder.

The verification process completed.  With the new ram.

last time I had about 250 files detected with errors.  with the old ram
This time I have about 150...

So I checked some of the ones that say they are ok and they actually have errors.  So i reverified some of them and they came out with no errors.

So now I am in a situation where some of the files with errors are still there I just can't find them.

I think I am going to put the new ram in and check them and see if they come out with the errors.

But the situation is basically that there are files with errors that the verification proccess is not detecting.  Any Ideas why this would be matt?