Still unexpected crash MP RC3 + Vista 32

[mrbert]

I hope that someone can try to help me out of this loop because this is driving me crazy by now.
This is about the last thing I could think of to try but without result as you can read below.
I always had good feelings and sympathy for the open source community and I hope you won't let me down.
I would hate to give up end switch to micro$oft MC software.

This is what I tried as a last resort:

After all my previous experiments I decided to do a fresh and clean try.
I formatted the system HD
Installed a fresh vista ultimate UK version
installed AVAST virus scan,
disabled vista firewall
disabled automatic updates
Installed FFDshow_tryout
Installed latest ATI video drivers and latest mainboard drivers from gigabyte.
Installed coreavc
and the installed just the clean MP RC3. (MediaPortalSetup_1.0_RC3_rev20432.exe)
configured MP only for some media folders on the PC
I did not use any remote just keyboard control.

After this I started MP with fingers crossed.

I started watching a stargate AVI file
after some time I got a phone call and put MP in pause ( spacebar)
Because the call was long I decided to continue watching the next day and left the player in pause and switched of the TV set (HDMI)
This morning I just switched on the TV screen and saw to error messages on the screen:
1st That media portal unexpected terminated
2nd The video driver stopped working.

I looked en saw quite some error messages in the log but I do not understand anything of this

It will probably be a chicken egg problem but I would like to know what crashed first and what cased the crash?
I looked in the system logs of VISTA but was not able to see something related to the video driver in the error log.

I hope that someone can try to help me out




TV-Server Version: None
MediaPortal Version: V1.0RC3
MediaPortal Skin: blue wide
Windows Version: vista ultimate SP1 +last updates
CPU Type: AMD 4850
HDD: 750 GIG WB green
Memory: 4gig
Motherboard: gigabyte 780 mATX bios F5
Video Card: on board 3200
Video Card Driver: catalyst 8.10
Sound Card: on board
Sound Card AC3: SPDIF out
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card:
1. TV Card Type:
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec:
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
h.264 Video Codec: coreavc
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case: antec fusion 350
Cooling: scyte ninja mini
Power Supply: antec
Remote: harmony one
TV: Hitaschi plasma
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI

[geov]

I dont know what the problem is....I'm not the best at understanding LOG's...but have you tried the following:

1) Make sure you use EVR and not VMR9.... Using VMR9 on my vista system made it crash.

2) Enable the administrator account, then install and use MP under this account...this is how:
- First you'll need to open a command prompt in administrator mode by right-clicking and choosing "Run as administrator"
- Now type the following command:
net user administrator /active:yes
- Log off, and re-login using the administrator account.

3) I would not use the FFDshow, I use the instructions under the following post
Stand alone filters for MediaPortal

4) Test that DirectX works using the "dxdiag" function....

5) I see some "out of memory" errors in your logs....you can also stress test your ram to see if it does not cause system-crashes ....

I run Vista 32, and I have a very stable environment

[mrbert]

Hi Geov Thanks for your respons.

I am running as admin AUC is disabled.
I tried both EVR and VMR9 with similar results
I tried different codecs all with the same result.
No to exactly the config you point to but I expect that many more people would have similar problems as I have.
FFDSHOWTRYOUT is a quite common used one.

No I did not try all again after this clean install I am still not sure when the crash happens sooner.
But I have been trying for a few weeks now to find a solution.
I had MP running sometimes for two day and then when I started to feel happy *BANG* it ctrashed or stopped responding
So it is not just an easy Try this and know in half an hour if it has a positive result. That is why I hoped one of the GURU's could help me out.

I am running an ubuntu memory stress test now for more then 15 mins without any error.
I will keep it running for some longer but I do not expect any memory error.

I tried dxdiag and no problems there
So any guru help is more then welcome

[Paranoid Delusion]

FFDSHOWTRYOUT is a quite common used one.

No it's not, because MP will not accept it as a mpeg2 codec, also there is nothing good stated on any website about its mpeg2 capabilities, postprocessing yes it will work fine.

Chances are you have a driver failing, this may be related to a weak tv signal (tv card driver) or video\audio (graphics\audio driver)

Try a proprietry codec, either M$\PDVD7\8, download trial will install necessary codecs for test purposes without buying the software.

Also wise to check for any BIOS updates, what other software is running on machine also can make a difference, something is triggering the crash you are getting.

example : http://forum.team-mediaportal.com/331557-post8.html

Full post : Help with PC crashing in MP - Not like other issues?

[Snader]

I have the same motherboard as you!

Please try an older version of catalyst 8.10 (ie 8.9) OR the video drivers supplied by Gigabyte and see if it still crashes.

[mrbert]

Hi Snader,

I can try that solution. I hope that will work for me.
Did you experience similar problems before and where they cured by rolling back to the previous drivers?

Searching fot the display driver error message "display driver stopped working" learned me that there is quite some problem with vi$ta and both modern ATI and NVIDIA video resulting is similar problems ever since Vi$ta was introduced.
Especially with two displays connected to the PC ( as I have)

I am seriously considering shifting back to XP and hope that will give a stable system.

[mrbert]

OK tried it with the 8.7, 8.9 ati driver en MP + Vista did not crash bus messed up the screen.
I also removed FFDSHOw

I just started MP in the mail screen full screen mode on the HDMI plasma TV(1329x768). And on my normal VGA TFT screen (1280x1024)I had a photograph. Did not even start a playback of anything
Returning home some hours later I saw MP was in a kind of windowed mode but shifted and looked as if it was still full screen. My resolution on the HD was for some reason changed to 1920wide. I could normally select a next picture on the TFT

MP was still responsive to the mouse and when I changed the screen back to 1368 PM was full screen again and operated normal.

So to me this is pretty weird.

[mrbert]

OK update on the situation:
I hope that some can learn of my progress and experience and at least want to say thanks to the people who helped me

I have the older ATI driver 8.9 installed
and with thanks to Paranoid Delusion
I used these codec settings
I now have shortcutter in again and also shoutcast directory is running
Also I have the photo viewer program on the 2nd screen running all day.
For three days I did nod have any crash. I left the MP for a whole night with an AVI in stop mode as crashtest.
Theme blue3 is also normally installed
It begins to look promising.