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[glynor]

Media Center is usually a well-behaved application. Many users on Interact have it installed on a wide variety of known-stable hardware, and for most users it runs trouble-free with little needed system modification. However, MC is also a powerful application. It has a high-speed database at its core, that is custom designed to do what it does with the lowest possible latency. And, of course, it has a raft of options, some esoteric, and supports an immense amount of weirdo, high-end, often misbehaving, nerd hardware.

And, of course, it runs on a computer. Which is... Well, a computer. So it is subject to all of that regular stuff too.

So, unfortunately, sometimes everything doesn't go so smoothly.  If you are experiencing an issue such as crashing, hanging (intermittent or dead-locked), or stuttering playback, then this guide very likely contains the solution to your problems.  These are common troubleshooting steps that we'll use to help diagnose any related performance or crashing problem.  Some things could be a problem in Media Center itself, and if so, JRiver staff will try to track it down and fix it.  However, it only wastes everyone's time to hunt for bugs that turn out to be caused by something else.  I've written this guide to capture most of those kinds of general troubleshooting steps.

Before reporting a performance-related or crashing issue on Interact, please work through (at least) the First Steps in this guide to see if you are able to resolve your issue (or gather additional useful details).

Media Center Troubleshooting Guide

If you have any comments or feedback on the guide itself, please respond below.

If you are actually having an issue like this, though, please work through the first steps in the guide above, and then if needed, post about your issue in a new thread on Interact.  Replies to this thread that are requests for help with specific issues will be moved or deleted.

[glynor]

Reserved and someone should sticky this (thanks, Jim).

I'm trying very hard to keep this OS-agnostic (or to comment where it isn't).  I'm not positive how SMF works, but it would be nice to have this "stickied" somehow (but to this thread, not a duplicate) over on that other board.  After I finish, and get some feedback integrated, and whatnot, I'll try (no promises) to methodically convert this into the Wiki as well.  But I thought the best way to get it written and get feedback, would be to have it here, not there.

A few things I haven't addressed, but plan to are:

1. Malware removal (basics only).
2. Basic hardware validation (memtest86+, Prime95, and 3DMark or something similar).
3. Many MC-specific little tweaks and gotchas, like the one suggested by kstuart here.

A couple other housekeeping things I should mention, though...  If you have good suggestions for additions, please speak up!  I'll monitor the thread and add things that are valuable (probably via a short blurb and link to your post).  If you can, do your best to write them up methodically and well, so that I can link to it and it is useful for regular users.

Along those lines, though... My goal with this is not for it to be a "MC Tweaking Guide".  I'm trying to focus on problem solving, and common things we all encounter here over and over.  If something happens and a weird esoteric thing fixes it that you've never heard of or thought about before, well, that's probably not worth adding (here, certainly post your own Thread about it, in case it does happen more than once).

This is for the big, common cases.  Hopefully, it helps us stop having to post the same things over and over and over (with varying degrees of quality and friendliness of explanation).

Likewise, if you find links to good "definitive threads" where someone explained any of these steps (especially those that I gloss over above) in great detail, give me the links and a suggestion of where I should link/insert it above.  I'd like to have many more links to these kinds of things, but I'm busy writing, not searching for exemplar threads.

I'm not done.

[InflatableMouse]

Thanks! Looks good.

I'm looking into adding a link to the wiki::stability page to this . I guess I could do several things. The current wiki page has an overlap with this; I could remove the steps and link to this thread or simply add this thread as a bullet to the list of steps. Or, completely replace the page and copy this over (which would require maintenance whenever this changes). How does this look? (2nd alinea) Suggestions?

I noticed that nowhere you suggest to enable logging in MC. I think one of the first steps in case of MC crashing (as in, exiting) is to enable logging and uploading/sending the log somewhere.

[6233638]

Great work!
 

1. Go to: Options > Startup > Update Channels and change it to Latest.

I feel like making auto-update automatically grab the "latest" build whenever an update is manually initiated (because you normally only do that when troubleshooting) would avoid a lot of support-related posts on the forum. ("I have the latest version", "how do I change channels", "I only want stable builds" etc.)

[Arindelle]

Excellent ! Looks like a "sticky" to me in progress

[JimH]

I love glynor when he goes verbose.   

Thanks, Ed!

[mwillems]

Really excellent stuff here; this will save folks a lot of heartache 

[nwboater]

Glynor - Great thread!!!

A couple of months ago I needed to reinstall Win7 on our HTPC. (This had nothing to do with MC - it was a corrupted OS.) Prior to the OS reinstall we would get several hangs and crashes a week. Since the reinstall I don't think we have had one. A wonderful improvement obviously!

Really don't have a clue what had been causing all the grief before the reinstall but there were a few versions of MC and lots of unneeded stuff on the system. There had also been many installs/uninstalls of a variety of software. I am now trying to keep our HTPC as lean as possible.

I find a periodic OS reinstall very beneficial on any system. It can be a good bit of work but I am usually rewarded with much better performance. In this case it made a tremendous improvement.

Cheers,
Rod

[jmone]

Just sat down with a cup of coffee to read through - great stuff.

[glynor]

Just sat down with a cup of coffee to read through - great stuff.

I'm actively modifying it and adding to it now.

I find a periodic OS reinstall very beneficial on any system. It can be a good bit of work but I am usually rewarded with much better performance. In this case it made a tremendous improvement.

I prefer to save this as a solution of last resort.  If you are careful with your installation, you can usually get years (and even multiple physical hardware platforms) of life out of a single Windows installation.  But, sometimes, a good old Nuke and Pave is certainly the easiest solution.

Before you proceed with this, I'd certainly verify hardware stability.  Nothing is more frustrating than blowing away a working copy of Windows, and everything that goes with it, only to discover that it was a bad RAM stick or flaky motherboard that caused the issue (when it recurs with a brand-new build).

[jmone]

Nothing is more frustrating than blowing away a working copy of Windows Multiple Times, and everything that goes with it, only to discover that

...it is a leaking NIC Driver

[kstuart]

If MC18 or MC19 hangs, try changing the Internal Browsing Engine from Chromium to Internet Explorer.   About a dozen people reported that this change fixed a "hang" for them (including moi).

The problem has never been thoroughly diagnosed, but the workaround works fine for those who don't need any specific internal browsing engine (99% of users).

[glynor]

If MC18 or MC19 hangs, try changing the Internal Browsing Engine from Chromium to Internet Explorer.   About a dozen people reported that this change fixed a "hang" for them (including moi).

The problem has never been thoroughly diagnosed, but the workaround works fine for those who don't need any specific internalo browsing engine (99% of users).

That's a great point, I'll add it as I continue.

...it is a leaking NIC Driver

+1000

[glynor]

I updated one of my reserved posts with details on my goals for this, and plans.

[JimH]

I simplified your title.

[glynor]

I noticed that nowhere you suggest to enable logging in MC. I think one of the first steps in case of MC crashing (as in, exiting) is to enable logging and uploading/sending the log somewhere.

Thanks.  Yes, I've added that now.  It was on my list (along with Make a Backup!!) but I was tired last night and had worked on it long enough. 

I simplified your title.

Good.  Simpler, but less funny.  That's fine though.

I'm looking into adding a link to the wiki::stability page to this . I guess I could do several things. The current wiki page has an overlap with this; I could remove the steps and link to this thread or simply add this thread as a bullet to the list of steps. Or, completely replace the page and copy this over (which would require maintenance whenever this changes). How does this look? (2nd alinea) Suggestions?

As I (now) mentioned, I'm hoping to flesh this all out here, and then (when it is pretty "stable") add it to the Wiki.  If you're volunteering to do that annoying labor (MediaWiki is often equal-parts nice and maddening to me), please, have at it!

[JimH]

Good.  Simpler, but less funny.  That's fine though.

The humor was lost on me.  I'm sure it was there.

[glynor]

The humor was lost on me.  I'm sure it was there.

I amuse myself. 

[nwboater]

I amuse myself. 

Maybe Jim can change the title back on your personal version of the Forum.

Cheers,
Rod

[DoubtingThomas]

If MC18 or MC19 hangs, try changing the Internal Browsing Engine from Chromium to Internet Explorer.   About a dozen people reported that this change fixed a "hang" for them (including moi).

The problem has never been thoroughly diagnosed, but the workaround works fine for those who don't need any specific internal browsing engine (99% of users).

About once a week... if I pause MC and let it stay paused for hours... MC will hang and w7 will show it as not responding.  I cannot even display the gui from the Taskbar.  I kill it...

I already have my browsing engine changed to IE.

[MrC]

About once a week... if I pause MC and let it stay paused for hours... MC will hang and w7 will show it as not responding.  I cannot even display the gui from the Taskbar.  I kill it...

I already have my browsing engine changed to IE.

Yup, same thing here.  I think I reported this quite a while ago.

[mykillk]

I just started recently using the library features of MC19. Never touched the library before this. As soon as I started using the library, the behavior of MC19 changed significantly. Previously, I never had any freezing issues or other hiccups. Now MC19 will freeze up for 30-60 seconds at a time and it will often go totally unresponsive when I try to close the application. I wanted to use the library so that I could analyze my files' audio and use the adaptive audio feature but with such instability it's not worth it.

My media files are stored on a network drive (library database is stored in default location) so I will see if your suggestion on disabling that option helps.

[JimH]

If you have a problem, please start a new thread with all the details.  Include your OS, your setup (network if any, drives, etc.), what you're playing and what version you are using.  The latest version is always in a thread near the top of this board.

Before any report, uninstall any antivirus software.  We have seen a lot of problems lately that turned out to be the Antivirus program.
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=86096.0

[glynor]

I've migrated the essentials of my guide to the Wiki now.  For now, I'm keeping the content of my other posts because I need to move those over to the guide still (and then add the other stuff I have already).

This is a better repository, and can be updated in the future, and I think I was able to get a basic framework down pretty well.  We can use this thread to discuss the guide itself, and future modifications to it.  Thanks for the help so far!

PS.  If you find this guide was helpful in resolving your issue, drop a note in this thread so everyone can see how common these issues really are!

[glynor]

I tweaked the layout of the Guide a bit, to make it simpler to follow.

I moved the index for all of the targeted "solutions" guides to a separate article here:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Troubleshooting_Solutions

This keeps it simpler, as the steps we're asking everyone to take if they encounter an issue are encapsulated completely on that single page (with no extra "noise").

[MrC]

I haven't said it, but thought it.  This is a great piece of work glynor.

[mykillk]

I just started recently using the library features of MC19. Never touched the library before this. As soon as I started using the library, the behavior of MC19 changed significantly. Previously, I never had any freezing issues or other hiccups. Now MC19 will freeze up for 30-60 seconds at a time and it will often go totally unresponsive when I try to close the application. I wanted to use the library so that I could analyze my files' audio and use the adaptive audio feature but with such instability it's not worth it.

My media files are stored on a network drive (library database is stored in default location) so I will see if your suggestion on disabling that option helps.

Glynor,

Your suggestion on the wiki to:

One other issue you can encounter relates to a particular option in MC. If many of your media files are stored on a slow external or network disk which often "disconnects" (or goes to sleep), performance in MC can suffer when viewing large lists of files. If you have your files on a slow disk like this, and you find that MC hangs for a long while when first launching, or when first opening a particular view in the tree, then try:

Options > Tree & View > Advanced > Display missing file image in lists: Disable

Completely fixed the 30-60 second hangups I was experiencing after having started to use the library feature of MC19 (my media files are indeed on a network drive). Great work on this guide, never would have found that on my own. As a suggestion for the wiki, I was also experiencing total lockups when trying to close MC19 after having viewed videos in my library, which disabling this option also fixed.

[randycw]

glynor;

THANK YOU for this!  I installed MC19 a about 2 weeks ago on a fresh w7 installation and was having terrible troubles with stability.  I used your guide and walked myself through the trouble shooting you've provided here and I fixed it!

This is a great tool to have and I am glad it is stickied.

[glynor]

I installed MC19 a about 2 weeks ago on a fresh w7 installation and was having terrible troubles with stability.  I used your guide and walked myself through the trouble shooting you've provided here and I fixed it!

This is a great tool to have and I am glad it is stickied.

Thanks for the note!  I'm thrilled that it helped.

[Raimy]

On the very rare occasions iv had issues identifiable as an MC issue, i'm afraid this website has been lacking in terms of reference help. Like a month back when transitioning from standard view into display view would cause a hang, i looked for a solution but couldn't find one.

No problem it fixed itself. Anyway this guide looks like a first point of call if i ever encounter a similar problem in the future. Thanks very much for taking the time Glynor it will be invaluable i'm sure. Also thanks to the developers for making such a complex bit of software incredibly reliable.

[pcstockton]

Well done. Just saw this.

[thedon_1989]

If MC18 or MC19 hangs, try changing the Internal Browsing Engine from Chromium to Internet Explorer.   About a dozen people reported that this change fixed a "hang" for them (including moi).

The problem has never been thoroughly diagnosed, but the workaround works fine for those who don't need any specific internal browsing engine (99% of users).

Where do you change this?

[glynor]

Where do you change this?

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

Changing this isn't really recommended.  It has been shown to solve certain, specific, problems, but generally it is best left at the default (which is IE, not chromium).  If you already changed it to Chromium for some reason, and you're having trouble (especially with web-based content), it is worth switching it back to the default (especially if you didn't have a good reason to switch it to Chromium).