Windows 10 - rare directx startup issues (1 Viewer)

[Rick164]

Just started playing around with Windows 10 (RTM) and Mediaportal runs great on it, only noticed that on rare occasions when I start Mediaportal it stops at "Initializing DirectX" and never completes.
Attached both logs which show an error during CreateDirectX9ExDevice().

The only workaround is re-logging into Windows (no reboot) and afterwards it works fine again so it's one weird bug and might just be unrelated to Mediaportal, any other users having similar issues?

System info

Mediaportal 1.12 final
Windows 10 x64 (10240 / RTM)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

 

[smarty12345]

That sounds very similar to issues people had back when 1.9 was released. I had the exact same issue too.
That time it was to do with MP trying to load the directx plugin before windows had a chance to load enough to initalize directx first.
(when MP was set to launch on startup)
What we had to do then was disable the start with windows option in MP cofiguration, and use windows task schedular to load MP after windows startup with a small delay.
Perhaps its the same issue here?

 

[Rick164]

What we had to do then was disable the start with windows option in MP cofiguration, and use windows task schedular to load MP after windows startup with a small delay.
Perhaps its the same issue here?

Currently minimize to tray or close Mediaportal when needed for gaming or browsing the web so its a bit of a hybrid HTPC, not launching it at startup at the moment so think it's an different issue.
With Windows 8.1 everything ran fine at least with 1.10 and up so think Windows 10 is the culprit but it being seemingly random makes it harder to pinpoint, did notice it today after playing Batman AC although that could just be a coincidence.
Tried to reproduce it by restarting MePo a few times in a row but had no result, basically have the same setup as with Windows 8.1 except for Avira as Kaspersky isn't supported yet.

 

[mm1352000]

Are you using the latest/recommended NVidia drivers for W10?

 

[Rick164]

Yeah, using:

Version: 353.30 WHQL
Release Date: 2015.6.22

Games seem to run a bit smoother with W10 which is nice but so many things still unfinished or broken with it, most of it is usability which is no big deal however noticed crashing apps (xbox / store) and that if you migrate accounts you still need to re-create them as otherwise integration in those apps refuses to work.

Mediaportal runs great at least and excluded the mediaportal processes and associated folder (program files / programdata) from Avira to see if that helps but since it's random it probably is something in W10 internally that is messing with it.

 

[Rick164]

Like @mm1352000 suspected it's caused by the combination W10 and Nvidia drivers, even with the latest there a few bugs that they need to work out.
Did get a W10 patch today and afterwards Mediaportal started fine after reboots / games etc.. but not 100% sure if it's solved or not, however there a are few other Nvidia driver bugs:

- Wrong HDMI content type set for Mediaportal, is set to Game mode (exactly at the point it starts init DirectX) while before it used the Graphics mode (default for 50/60hz) which is not that big of a deal except with Game mode on the Bravia every image enhancements technique is turned off.
For playback it's fine though it's just during Mediaportal UI while nothing is playing.

- Stereoscopic (3D) mode was set after latest W10 patch, so when 24P turned on it detected 3D
Easy fix was turning it off but this went on all by itself..

- HDMI audio driver is started too late during startup, resulting in the next default device being chosen permanently which I my case was their new Bluetooth Audio Renderer which didn't have anything connected to it even

But oh well it's still a new Windows release so bugs were to be expected

 

[Rick164]

After testing a few days the problem is now gone, received a few Windows updates which seemed to do the trick.
With Windows 10 updates are no longer optional by default, no normal way to turn off scheduled updates as well which is truly an awful idea from Microsoft as now you get scheduled reboots whenever the software thinks its appropriate.

To turn this off you have to edit the default update policy via gpedit.msc and changing the following setting:

Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update
No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled installations -> Enabled

 

[HTPCSourcer]

To turn this off you have to edit the default update policy via gpedit.msc and changing the following setting:

The group policy editor is not available on Win 7 Home Premium versions. While there are ways of adding this to a Win 7 HP installation, I have no experience with Win 8.1, not to speak with the cheap Win 8.1 Bing setups. My only Win 8.1 installation is a pro.

Any knowledge about this in Win 8 (and possibly Win 10)?

 

[fischy667]

There is no group policy editor in Win10 home. See e.g. http://www.computerbase.de/2015-07/windows-10-unterschiede-der-desktop-versionen/

 

[HTPCSourcer]

Hi fischy,

You didn't really read my posting, did you?

There is no group policy editor in Win10 home

There is no group policy in any Windows home version. But you can add it - at least to Win 7 Home installations.

But now we start getting really OT.