MediaPortal Error log issue (2 Viewers)

[Anthony Vaughan]

I don't know if this is related in any way but I am starting to see the following error as well:

[2021-02-19 11:40:29,726] [Error ] [MPMain ] [ERROR] - GUIVideoFiles: LoadDirectory Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

I have just upgraded several of my client machines from standard BIOS to UEFI. I thought it was since then I have been getting this log message, but it may be something else, like the upgrade to 1.27.

I think this is happening when I navigate to the Recorded TV folder on TV Server machine. I have checked that the permissions are right for that folder and the clients can see the contents of this folder, but the log has started to display this error.

I've just tried reinstalling 1.27 and it fixed the issue on a couple of machines but not on all machines.

Could you explain when this error would be expected to happen - allowing, of course, that 'Object reference not set to an instance of an object' should never happen?

I'm happy to do any testing that might help.

Tony

 

[doskabouter]

well, that reinstalling helps sometimes is really strange, that would mean you first install wasn't completely correct...
Do you have the full mediaportal.log?

 

[Anthony Vaughan]

Here's the debug log for that machine.

What I did was to reinstall MP and the first time I used MP, after he re-install, the log showed the error above. But the second time I ran MP, after the re-install, the error went away - as you will see in the log.

But now I've run MP again and am getting the following error:

[2021-02-20 11:45:07,281] [Error ] [17 ] [ERROR] - Utils: GetUsbHardDisks Error: Thread was being aborted.

But then I ran MP in debug mode again and there was no error and still no error when back in error log mode.

So, the problem has gone away. But, speaking as a programmer, there seems to be a 'not captured' issue that then throws an 'Object reference not set to an instance of an object' error. In my experience, these are a nightmare to track down when you can't reproduce the problem.

I guess we'll have to wait until someone else gets this problem.

Thanks for your help and I'll let you know if the issue recurs.

Tony

 

[doskabouter]

Ok, thanks for the info.
Most of the exceptions in the log are due to me, I've added logging to all the empty catch-blocks, because I was always struggling when programming/testing Mediaportal.
Lots of times I was just missing a dll or some other resource/setting and it didn't show up in the logs so had to track it down by stepping through the code...
That's when I decided to fill in all the empty catches with logging in error mode, because I still think unforeseen exceptions should be errors.
As a consequence I still have to deal with the fallout of that

 

[Anthony Vaughan]

Ok, thanks for the info.
Most of the exceptions in the log are due to me, I've added logging to all the empty catch-blocks, because I was always struggling when programming/testing Mediaportal.
Lots of times I was just missing a dll or some other resource/setting and it didn't show up in the logs so had to track it down by stepping through the code...
That's when I decided to fill in all the empty catches with logging in error mode, because I still think unforeseen exceptions should be errors.
As a consequence I still have to deal with the fallout of that

That's great. I, for one, think you are doing the right thing. At least with the try/catches you'll know roughly where something is going wrong when, previously, the app would just crash.

Just when I thought the '[Error ] [MPMain ] [ERROR] - GUIVideoFiles: LoadDirectory Object reference not set to an instance of an object' problem had gone away, the object reference error came back again. It seems to be intermittent. The 'MediaPC01\Recorded TV' folder is the recordings folder on the TVServer machine and it has public rights for all of my client machines and each client has windows access rights to the TVServer machine. As I mentioned above, I tried re-installing MP and I also tried removing the link (in the config app) to the Recorded TV folder and adding it again (using the config app). But the error has not gone away.

Here' the log. Just search for "[error" and you'll land on the spot where the null object reference occurs. If you find the error, I'll happily test any changes.

Tony

 

[doskabouter]

This should fix it, can you verify?
It should go into the C:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\Windows folder

 

[Anthony Vaughan]

This should fix it, can you verify?
It should go into the C:\Program Files (x86)\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\plugins\Windows folder

I've loaded the dll on one of my client machines and it worked. I'll install it on all of the others and let you know.

Thank you!

Tony