MP V1.1.2 Randomly Freezes (1 Viewer)

[SimondusMaximus]

My own experience of installing Windows 7 is to keep it as clean as possible. I only have Atom 330 ION clients attaching to TV Server, so slightly different setup to you lot. Nonetheless, if you're thinking about rebuild your machine, then try your install as I do and see if it works for you (nothing to lose eh?):

Install fresh Windows 7. When asked to do Windows updates, say no.

Once Windows has completed, turn off Windows updates in Control Panel. Also make sure you set the Power Scheme to "High Performance".

Now install the latest motherboard and hardware drivers which you should already have downloaded and saved to a usb stick somewhere. My mobos are Atom 330 nVidio IONs, so I only need to install 2 programs - 268.99 nVidia graphics and 15.51 nVidia chipset. I don't install any other software at all (no Anti Virus at this point either). You'll need to install TV card drivers, but avoid anything unnecessary at this point.

Then install MP 1.1.2, configure the TV section and all folder locations etc. With nVidia ION gpu I stick with all default codecs to start with and only change the MPC-MPEG-2 de-interlace method to Bob. This might be different for your ATI cards, I'm not sure, but try the defaults before anything else.

Install Haali splitter for MKV's - no other codecs at this point.

Obviously if you're running single-seat you'll need to configure the TV server too but keep it as basic as possible to start with.

Now run MediaPortal and see if it still freezes after this very clean build. Bear in mind without Windows updates or AntiVirus you should avoid browsing the web too much. Hopefully your router has a firewall on it! I also leave Windows Firewall on.

If everything runs well (which we hope is the case!) and you're happy with it, then start adding plugins and software one by one - not all at once as this could break it. This way if it's one thing in particular causing the freeze, you're able to single it out. Also worth taking regular images if you're so inclined.

Bear in mind this works for me, and may not necessarily work for anyone else, but from experience it's the cleanliness of Windows that helps for a good MP setup. Also realise that I don't use my clients to browse the web (other than online videos and NevermissTV) or games or anything else like that. But hey, if you're going to rebuild anyway, why not give it a whirl.

Hope that helps someone.

Cheers
Si

 

[revs]

Right I have:

Clean Windows 7
FFDShow (for Audio passthrough)
MS Codecs

Not much else.

I am seeing freezes when stopping a video, or skipping forward/back. I have yet to reproduce this using no plugins/blue3, so until i do I cant confirm its a mediaportal bug

More testing and hopefully logs this weekend

 

[gperkinson]

Hi All,

I posted a comment about my freezing issue on the SAF5 forum and Hoborg had a look at my logs. He made the comment that I should try disabling thumbnails in MP Config.

Do others with this issue have thumbnails enabled??

Might be worth a try disabling them?? Please let me know how you go if you make this change.

Regards

Graham

 

[revs]

I'm not sure if my issue is the same - but it sounds like it:

I get freezes when starting or stopping video.
I can reproduce it using no plugins and the default skin.
Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del will crash the PC.

See my thread here (no fix yet): https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/bugreports-74/windows-7-freezes-video-stop-start-random-94240/

I have just uninstalled FFDshow and realised I didn't actually need it anyway - in Windows 7, with the MS Codecs, and haali splitter, everything I have seems to play fine. This evening I will try and recreate the issue again, that way I can see if FFDshow is the cause or not.


Can we maybe try and find a pattern for those people who get the freezes? Please post your relevant details -

MP 1.1.3
Freeze on Play/Stop of videos
FFDshow installed
SPDIF Audio passthrough
ATI Graphics (11.2 driver)
Win 7 32bit
Crash when pressing Ctrl+Alt+del to exit after freeze

 

[tourettes]

Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del will crash the PC.

That usually means a buggy drivers, no software itself (unless it is using kernel side code which MP doesn't have) is able to crash the OS.

 

[revs]

Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del will crash the PC.

That usually means a buggy drivers, no software itself (unless it is using kernel side code which MP doesn't have) is able to crash the OS.

Its a very odd one, as per my bug report thread, CTRL+ALT+DEL is fine normally, its only after MP Freezes that when its pressed it will then freeze the whole PC.

I'm hoping to see a pattern once we get a few replies here!

EDIT: A bit of google-ing took me to some reports of other people seeing this freeze behaviour after hitting CTRL-ALT-DEL. They reported that everything (inc mouse) froze, but if they waited around 60 seconds the task manager would appear. Maybe i'll have to be very patient and see if its the same with me

 

[revs]

Possible Cause: I seem to have found the cause of my freeze/ctrl_alt-del issue - the ATI graphics driver. I was on 11.2, have installed and let Windows 7 revert to 8.xx and since then I haven't been able to reproduce the freeze.

 

[gperkinson]

Hi All,

Well, disabling the thumbnails looked promising, but tonight I had another freeze

Will now try rolling back the ATI Driver to 8xxx which I have seen commented in other forums.

Cheers

Graham

 

[Tesla]

Moved to SAF-5 thread.

Anyway, for me, it's:
Media Portal 1.1.3
- Using Default Blue Skin and No Plugins
SAF 5.x RC2