Help wanted: stuttering playback and system freezes (NOT MP-related) (1 Viewer)

[rich76]

Last time I had a lot of random freezing it was my SSD causing the problems. Can't say it will be the same for you but all the tests I did on my old SSD drive showed it as working correctly but as soon as I swapped it for another SSD drive all my freezing went away. I restored my old image to the new SSD drive so couldn't of been a software fault.

Only way I nailed down my problem was to take the risk and try a new drive.

Rich

 

[Requiem]

Everything that happens on your PC is logged into your system logs. You should be able to find a pointer to your solution in there somewhere.

I know. But as I stated before, Windows system logs are clean.
The system just freezes, until then everything is fine in the system logs. Nothing crashes. But when the system freezes, logging also freezes, so there is just an unexpected reboot in the logs, but no hint on where to look.
Exchanging hardware is a last resort, if I change it blindly, I may very well be changing my whole hardware and if I have no luck, this wont change anything.
Or it may change with my first changed device....

This is why I asked if anyone know a way to nail it down to a single hardware/software....without echanging hardware as a first line option

 

[breese]

Can you reproduce the issue with Watchdog turned on?
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_MEDIAPORTAL_1/16_Support/Submit_a_Bug_Report

 

[Requiem]

I will try, but as these crashes are not reproducible at will, this may take some days. I really dont think they are related to MP at all, they also happen in the same way when MP is not even started. But I will try.

 

[breese]

One of the options is to run a System Health Report ( I see you have Win7)
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Performance Information and Tools\Advanced Tools

You can also run a memory test
%windir%\system32\MdSched.exe
It is located in Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Administrative Tools

Last because it seems you are booting from an SSD, maybe clear all the Application and System Event logs, reboot and after it freezes the next time, see if it is drive related.

Do you have any other HD storage in that machine? Maybe a Block Check might turn something up.

 

[HomeY]

As an alternative you can do a check for integrity of your system files. Open a command prompt and type:
sfc /scannow

 

[Requiem]

@breese @HomeY
Thanks for your ideas. Everything done. No results so far, all tests and reports showed no errors.
I've double-checked the windows event logs, all I see is the critical error for kernel power failed (of course, system freezes, unexpected reboot -> kernel power failure) without any other suspicious entries surrounding this.

I have a feeling that it might be related to the APU, as I only get these errors when I am not on the desktop. (Happens in MP Main Menue with StreamedMP as well as when I start games via Steam, they will run fine for a while and then suddenly freeze. This may happen after minutes or hours and after a reboot, everythnig works again for minutes or hours...). I wonder if adding a dedicated graphic card and disabling the APU inbuilt graphics adapter could be a solution. I'd just need to find a low profile one that fits into my HTPC:...

I have deleted system logs now. I will post them after the next freeze, maybe someone is able to see more than I do.

Thanks again for your support!

 

[breese]

Happens in MP Main Menue with StreamedMP as well as when I start games via Steam, they will run fine for a while and then suddenly freeze.

Do you ever see it freeze from a local application or game that is installed on the system? Everything you talk about is Networked Access and or High Video demand.
If the current video is an on-board type, most likely its using shared memory with the OS.

hmmmm Another thought just came to me: Reset the Bios back to original. Maybe there is something happening with it. Along that same line, see if there is a Bios Update... There really sounds like a Memory / Hard Drive (virtual memory is HD), or something with the video... If it once worked, then something has failed or become corrupt.

 

[Requiem]

The freezes are happening for a long while and persisted over complete reinstallations of windows and all software after a format c:
I only have the SSD installed locally on the system. All media files are streamed from the server.
Steam and Games are installed locally, I see failures when running these also (also completely independent from MePo, it may as well crash when MePo is not running. In fact, it freezes much more often in games than it does in MePo (but it occasionally also does that)).

BIOS has been updated to the current version on original setup of the system. There has been no new release since then and I don't think there'll be in the future.
Only things changed in BIOS options are ACPI settings to allow system standby, Boot priority order and fan speed settings to a quit profile (but as I said, internal sensors show no temperatures over 50°C even if the system is running with full power).

As I neither see read/write failures nor do I see any memory errors on any tests run I still believe it might be video related.... but maybe I am worng, it's just a feeling.

 

[breese]

Without something like HDDScan to verify the SSD, it is possible the drive is failing.
Tools like HDDScan read all the parms on the drive and can see if there are errors listed within the S.M.A.R.T. attributes
For the system to go from working to freezing and affect local applications, I am really leaning towards the SSD but.... I cannot see the machine and I could be wrong.... If a complete rebuild of the OS and applications reproduce the same freeze results then it most likely has to be hardware

I don't suppose you see the HD light Fully On when the machine is in a frozen state?
would be a lot to ask but hey... got nothing to loose at this point