Fails to start MP or Test tool

[J-B-N]

TV-Server Version:
MediaPortal Version: MP 0.2.3.0
MediaPortal Skin:
Windows Version: MCE
CPU Type: Athlon64 3700+
HDD: Samsung SP2504C 250Gb
Memory: 1024 mb DDR PC3200
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9
Motherboard Chipset: NVIDIA nForce4 (4X)
Motherboard Bios: Ver: F11
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon X1300
Video Card Driver: Omega Drivers 3.8.273
Sound Card: Built-in
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver: Realtek
2. TV Card: TERRATEC Cinergy 2400i DT
2. TV Card Type: DVB-T
2. TV Card Driver: 1.0.3.255
3. TV Card: FireDTV
3. TV Card Type: DVB-T
3. TV Card Driver: 4.7
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: MPV
MPEG2 Audio Codec: MPA
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case: Accent HT-200 (Black)
Cooling: Golden Orb II
Power Supply: NQ4775-500S Ultra Silent
Remote: MCE
TV: SAMSUNG LE32R41
TV - HTPC Connection: Sub-D

I have encountered a very wierd problem. I installed MP 0.2.3.0 a few days ago and everything worked nice until this morning when MP refused to start. I get no logs in MP Log dir what so ever and when I try to start MP Test Tool i get the error below. Now when I was writing this I realised that perhaps Mediaportal.xml got trashed somehow, and I found a 0 byte large Mediaportal.xml and a MediaPortal.xml.bak size 63 Kb. So I simple replaced the MediaPortal.xml with the .bak version and everything works again. So in conclusion the error handling should be improved a bit, perhaps a show a window with some information...

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.Xml.XmlException: Root element is missing.
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ThrowWithoutLineInfo( String res)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent( )
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Read()
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.Load(XmlDocument doc, XmlReader reader, Boolean preserveWhitespace)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(String filename)
at MediaPortal.Profile.XmlSettingsProvider..ctor(Stri ng xmlFileName)
at MediaPortal.Profile.Settings..ctor(String fileName, Boolean isCached)
at MPTestTool.MPTestTool.LaunchMediaPortalAction()
at MPTestTool.MPTestTool.tmrUnAttended_Tick(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.OnTick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.TimerNativeWindow.WndPr oc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
MPTestTool2
Assembly Version: 0.2.3.0
Win32 Version: 0.2.2.9993
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Team%20MediaPortal/MediaPortal/MPTestTool2.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
Utils
Assembly Version: 2.2.2.0
Win32 Version: 0.2.2.9993
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files/Team%20MediaPortal/MediaPortal/Utils.DLL
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.832 (QFE.050727-8300)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

[infinityloop]

i will see if we can do something about the detection of the broken MediaPortal.xml.

http://mantis.team-mediaportal.com/view.php?id=1161

[J-B-N]

Thanks! It sure would have helped me if the app had catched the error and produced some sort of message to fix Mediaportal.xml or to zap the entire installation (incl all dirs) or something else. Anyhow I hope this thread can help if someone experience the same problem.