Black Screen when running Media Portal (1 Viewer)

[Marvin Miller]

Newby here - just installed Media Portal 1 and I get a solid Black screen when I run it
This, after installing MP2 and not being able to continue due to seemingly bogus errors reporting that DirectX 9.0c is not installed....

I just got started but am being skunked on both versions...is it worth it?

 

[mm1352000]

Have you checked that your system meets the pre-requisites (in terms of minimum hardware requirements etc.)?
https://www.team-mediaportal.com/mediaportal/requirements

I can't help you with MP2 at all.
I can try to help you with MP1 if you can provide log files; without log files I cannot know what's wrong.
To collect log files:

1. Start the MediaPortal Watchdog tool (link in your start menu under Team MediaPortal).
2. Select option 1 - report a bug to Team MediaPortal - and click proceed. This will start MediaPortal.
   
3. Assuming you have a black screen, close/kill MediaPortal by whatever means necessary/possible (eg. Windows task manager).
4. As soon as MediaPortal is closed, the Watchdog tool should collect all the relevant logs and information into a zip file.
5. Attach ("upload a file") the zip file here.

 

[Marvin Miller]

Hi MM;

Many thanks for your reply! I've checked and my system does meet the min req's. Caution though, I have zero experience with MP - this is a 1st install. I'm using an different MySQL dB located on my LAN. I am running Windows 7 x64 with a Hauppauge Colossus.

Attached is the log file

 

[mm1352000]

Thanks for the log files.

Caution though, I have zero experience with MP - this is a 1st install. I'm using an different MySQL dB located on my LAN. I am running Windows 7 x64 with a Hauppauge Colossus.

That's fine... though somewhat complex, so you may find it a little tough to setup at first.

The relevant error seems to be:

[2016-03-27 13:58:00,062] [Error ] [MPMain ] [ERROR] - D3D: InitializeDeviceObjects - Exception: System.BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3DX.dll' or one of its dependencies. is not a valid Win32 application. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800700C1)
File name: 'Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3DX.dll'
at MediaPortal.GUI.Library.GUIFontManager.Dispose()
at MediaPortal.GUI.Library.GUIFontManager.LoadFonts(String strFilename)
at MediaPortalApp.InitializeDeviceObjects()
at MediaPortal.D3D.InitializeDevice()

In other words, you haven't installed the DirectX 9 redistributable. That's surprising as I would have thought that the installer would have installed it for you. Considering that you seem to have had a similar problem with MP2, I wonder if your installation is somehow borked. Anyhow, you can get what you need from here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109

 

[Marvin Miller]

OK, I just manually installed it from the link, with no errors. I then re-started the computer, set the watchdog to take another log and then fired up MP. Same thing
This is a really solid Windows 7 x64 install. I can't imagine it's an O/S issue at this point. Any ideas?

 

[mm1352000]

OK, I just manually installed it from the link, with no errors.

If I recall correctly, the thing you download is merely an extractor. In other words, when you run it, it extracts the actual installer to your HDD. You then have to run that extracted installer to install the thing. Did you do all this, or did you only do the extraction?

Alternatively from another perspective...
Have you checked for the DirectX redist in the list of installed software in Windows control panel -> add/remove programs?
[edit: It should be listed as "Microsoft DirectX..." something-or-other...]
If it's there, try uninstalling and reinstalling.
If it's not, it's most likely that you haven't installed it properly.

 

[Marvin Miller]

Yes, it self-extracts to a user-defined directory and from there I ran the install executable. The install window came up and it showed itself installing all the files and completed properly. It does not show up in Add/Remove programs though I wonder if this is by design. DirectXdiag seems to show no errors.

So the DX9 install completed OK.

 

[mm1352000]

...and from there I ran the install executable.

With admin privileges (ie. right click -> run as administrator)?

It does not show up in Add/Remove programs though I wonder if this is by design.

On my system - Windows XP, developer SDK instead of redist - it definitely shows. I know my system is different, but I'd have expected something to show regardless.

Try searching the HDD/partition which contains windows for the file mentioned in the error ("Direct3DX.dll"). Any hits? If not, it's not properly installed.

 

[mm1352000]

To be clear...

This is a really solid Windows 7 x64 install. I can't imagine it's an O/S issue at this point.

I'm not saying it's an OS issue.

This is the part I'm questioning:

So the DX9 install completed OK.

 

[mm1352000]

My "Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3DX.dll" file seems to be located in c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\DirectX for Managed Code\<version number>.
This causes me to wonder whether the issue could be partially or totally a .NET issue on top of or instead of a DirectX issue. I just don't know for sure whether those files were installed by a .NET redist or the DirectX redist.