Strange error the first time MediaPortal starts after a Windows boot

[OMA]

Hello, I'm having a couple of issues with MediaPortal. I hope you can help me

Since a few days ago, I'm having a problem with MediaPortal I wasn't having previously. I've always had enabled the option to start MediaPortal when Windows starts, and it has always worked fine. But now, every time I start Windows, when MediaPortal tries to start I get the message you can see in the included attachment below. After hitting "Aceptar" (which is the "OK" button in Spanish Windows), then the screen goes blank, and MediaPortal doesn't show anything in the screen. But if I press ALT+F4, then the non-functioning MediaPortal application closes, and when I try to run it again, then it works! (I don't get any message that time, and the program works fine).

How can this be possible?. Since MediaPortal starts at the startup of Windows, maybe MediaPortal starts too early before some Windows drivers are properly loaded? (just a guess). I hope you can make out what's happening in my machine every time I boot it, when MediaPortal tries to start. This started happening some days ago, and I don't remember installing anything.

The second issue I'm having is that programmed recordings never start. Do I have to be in TV mode or is it enough to have MediaPortal running with the main menu on screen?.

Thanks a lot for your help. This is my machine info:

MediaPortal Version: 0.2.0.0
Windows Version: XP Pro SP2 Spanish
CPU Type: AMD XP 2600+ @ 1920 MHz
HDD: 160 GB Serial ATA
Memory: 256 MB DDR
Motherboard: Biostar V200 (mini)
Motherboard Chipset: VIA
Motherboard Bios: 0910
Video Card: nVidia FX5200 128 MB AGP
Video Card Driver: Detonator 91.31
Sound Card: Sound Blaster MP3+ External USB
Sound Card AC3: Installed
Sound Card Driver: Creative
1. TV Card: Hauppauge PVR350
1. TV Card Type: Hardware-based MPEG2 recording
1. TV Card Driver: Latest
MPEG2 Video Codec: Cyberlink PowerDVD Video Codec (PDVD7)
MPEG2 Audio Codec: Cyberlink PowerDVD Audio Codec (PDVD7)
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Digital+
HTPC Case: MiniPC iDEQ V200
Cooling: iDEQ integrated solution
Power Supply: 250 W (mini)
Remote: Logitech Cordless Desktop S510 Media Remote
TV: Loewe Xelos A32 LCD TV
TV - HTPC Connection: VGA (D-SUB) / RCA Stereo audio

Thanks again!

OMA

[Marcusb]

I'd first try unchecking the "MP Starts with Windows" box and start MP manually.
This will let you determine if it is what you think (IE, MP sometimes starting too early) or another program fighting with MP for DirectX access.

Also check out the log files to see if there are any errors showing up.

[mPod]

This problem comes up when the DirectX stack is not initialized yet when MP starts. Some systems behave like that (too slow or too many stuff loaded on windows start). Try disabling the "start with windows" option and put MP as a shortcut in your autostart folder. That's being loaded a bit later and could help you.

[OMA]

Starting MP manually always works so it seems something loaded at startup is preventing MP from running with Windows. But the strange thing is that this started happening only a few days ago (MP started with Windows fine before then), and I didn't install anything, so I don't know what could be causing this.

I already tried to disable the "start with Windows" checkbox and put MediaPortal in the startup folder instead, thinking it would load later, but I still get the same error. I even tried to use the Task Scheduler to make MP start with Windows, but again, I got that same "DirectX" message.

I need MP to start automatically when Windows is started, because this machine is supposed to be controlled only by a remote control. I think I'll have to write a little script to load MP after a few seconds delay.

What about the second issue I mentioned?. Programmed shows never get recorded. Manually hitting the "Record now" option works fine. So, what can I be doing wrong?.

Thanks for your help!

OMA

[OMA]

Just a quick reply to say that I solved the problem with a small *.vbs script that I've put in the Run key in Windows registry so MediaPortal loads with a small 2 second delay:

Dim oShell
Set oShell=CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WScript.Sleep 2000
oShell.Run("c:\Path\To\MediaPortal\MediaPortal.exe ")
Set oShell=Nothing

With that, MediaPortal runs fine. But I still have the other issue I was commenting: schedued shows for several days (I have Monday to Friday) don't get recorded at all. Any comments on that?.

OMA

[McChots]

Since a few days ago, I'm having a problem with MediaPortal I wasn't having previously. I've always had enabled the option to start MediaPortal when Windows starts, and it has always worked fine. But now, every time I start Windows, when MediaPortal tries to start I get the message you can see in the included attachment below. After hitting "Aceptar" (which is the "OK" button in Spanish Windows), then the screen goes blank, and MediaPortal doesn't show anything in the screen. But if I press ALT+F4, then the non-functioning MediaPortal application closes, and when I try to run it again, then it works! (I don't get any message that time, and the program works fine).

I'm having the same problem but only when switching my pc on manually after hibernation. I can't remember exactly right now, but the log says something about an error with GDI+ which I think has to do with DirectX.

[igalan]

Recordings take place as long as MediaPortal is running. It doesn't matter if you're watching TV, listening radio or playing a DVD or a recording.

I suggest you to update to the latest stable update 0.2.0.4 as some issues related to scheduling recordings from TVGuide have been resolved. Remember that if you ask it to "always record this" it will look for the exaxt same name, if you want to record "Stargate SG1" and the next week the TV Guide has it as "Stargate SG-1", the recording won't take place (yeah, it isn't flexible).

[Elconejo]

I got the same start-up problem since some days, everything worked perfect and one day i got this message. I didn't change any configuration or software.
Maybe it has something to do with automatic updates.

Could you tell mee exactly what to do to solve the problem. I'm not such a great pc expert.

Thanx

[OMA]

Originally Posted by igalan

Recordings take place as long as MediaPortal is running. It doesn't matter if you're watching TV, listening radio or playing a DVD or a recording.

Well, I don't think so. If you have the "Timeshift" option (inside "My TV") turned off, then it doesn't record anything. It's only that if it was turned on the last time MediaPortal was shut down, then MediaPortal records TV from the second it starts the next time.

Originally Posted by igalan

I suggest you to update to the latest stable update 0.2.0.4 as some issues related to scheduling recordings from TVGuide have been resolved.

I'll try that.

Originally Posted by igalan

Remember that if you ask it to "always record this" it will look for the exaxt same name, if you want to record "Stargate SG1" and the next week the TV Guide has it as "Stargate SG-1", the recording won't take place (yeah, it isn't flexible).

Well, I'm not using EPG, since my MediaPortal machine is not connected to the Internet, so they're just manually scheduled recordings (record from monday to friday, starting at this hour, and record for xx minutes). But those scheduled tasks never start. So the only option that works is the "Record now" button, but I also want to be able to schedule recordings, not just record immediately when I'm at the TV.

Originally Posted by Elconejo

Could you tell mee exactly what to do to solve the problem. I'm not such a great pc expert.

Just paste the code I wrote in my previous message into the Notepad (substituting "c:\Path\To\MediaPortal" with the actual path to your MP installation). Then save it with an .vbs extension and put that file (or a link to that file) in the startup folder (Start / All programs / Startup).

Make sure you disable inside MP Setup the option to start MediaPortal with Windows, since you will be loading it from the VBS file. If you still have the same problem, try increasing the wait time ("Sleep") by 1 or 2 seconds (3000 or 4000 milliseconds instead of 2000). That should solve the problem when starting MediaPortal when Windows starts.

Maybe this "delay MediaPortal load at Windows startup" trick could be implemented as an option in MediaPortal, for those of us who have this problem...

[kungfuafrica]

I'm having the same problem too. Media Portal suddenly gives me an error about not having rendering support and needing directx sdk, which I downloaded. Now I don't get the error, but the program is still almost completely unresponsive when it starts up with windows. If I shut it down and manually run it again, it runs great. This all happened suddenly today, when last night it worked fine. I wasn't even connected to the internet so no updates were downloaded, and it is a brand new copy of windows with absolutely nothing extraneous loading at startup to delay anything.

Strangely, I can't get the .vbs script posted here to function correctly either. It says "cannot find the file specified", but its correct because I can copy the path directly from the script and paste it into the "Run" dialog and it runs fine. Any idea why this would be? Thanks for any help you guys can give.. I'm really impressed with this program and would love to get it working just right (it already works better for me than mce ever did).