SplashScreen hangs when no audio device available (1 Viewer)

[peque]

Jira issue - https://issues.team-mediaportal.com/browse/MP1-4134​

MediaPortal Version: 1.4.0

Description
Quite easy to explain. If I start MP with my AVR off (so no audio device in my system), Splashscreen hangs. This happens every day to me, as I've got my HTPC programmed to reboot itself each morning at 5.00 am. Obviously, at that time my TV+AVR are off. When I switch them on I find my MP completely freezed, and Splashscreen "not responding" in windows procces list. I can reproduce it also starting MP connecting to my HTPC through remote desktop (AVR off), so it's not related to the "start on boot" feature in MP. If I start MP with AVR on, there's no problem.

Splashscreen always hangs, but sometimes it doesn't prevent MP to finally start and even I can use it. Also I've tested fullscreen splashscreen also. No difference. I had no problems with 1.3.0 (I've upgraded to 1.4.0 two days ago).

This seems related to this bug report:

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/splash-screen-still-running.120444/

I can see this entry in my mediaportal.log:

[2013-08-06 09:01:22,680] [Log	] [BassAudio] [INFO ] - BASS: Initialize BASS environment ...
[2013-08-06 09:01:22,701] [Log	] [BassAudio] [INFO ] - BASS: Loading Settings
[2013-08-06 09:01:22,709] [Log	] [MPMain  ] [ERROR] - Exception: System.InvalidOperationException: Operación no válida dado el estado actual del objeto.
  en MediaPortal.Mixer.Mixer.Open(Int32 mixerIndex, Boolean isDigital)
  en MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler..ctor(Int32[] volumeTable)
  en MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler.CreateInstance()
  en MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler.get_Instance()
  en MediaPortalApp.OnStartup()
  en MediaPortal.D3D.OnLoad(Object sender, EventArgs e)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
  en System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
  en System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
  en System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
  en System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
  en MediaPortalApp.WndProc(Message& msg)  Message: Operación no válida dado el estado actual del objeto.  Site  : Void Open(Int32, Boolean)  Source : Core  Stack Trace:	 en MediaPortal.Mixer.Mixer.Open(Int32 mixerIndex, Boolean isDigital)
  en MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler..ctor(Int32[] volumeTable)
  en MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler.CreateInstance()
  en MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler.get_Instance()
  en MediaPortalApp.OnStartup()
  en MediaPortal.D3D.OnLoad(Object sender, EventArgs e)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
  en System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
  en System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
  en System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
  en System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
  en System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
  en MediaPortalApp.WndProc(Message& msg)

... I assume MP doesn't see any audio device in my system, and then hangs BASS inicialization startup process.

Steps to Reproduce:
Just Start MP with no audio device in windows.

 

[peque]

No one confirms? I would say it's quite a common scenario. Many of us use an AVR with HDMI inputs currently, and they're not 100% of the time ON... If you reload MP with AVR off (and no other audio device in system), it should hang Bass loading... ¿?

 

[Owlsroost]

Just tried it on the dev laptop (by disabling all audio playback devices) - splashscreen hangs, but MP starts up and is not frozen.

From the log:

[2013-08-07 13:39:41,850] [Log	] [MPMain  ] [INFO ] - Main: Initializing volume handler
[2013-08-07 13:39:42,465] [Log	] [BassAudio] [INFO ] - BASS: Initialize BASS environment ...
[2013-08-07 13:39:42,673] [Log	] [MPMain  ] [ERROR] - Exception: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80070490): Element not found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070490)
  at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHRInternal(Int32 errorCode, IntPtr errorInfo)
  at MediaPortal.Mixer.AEDev..ctor()
  at MediaPortal.Mixer.Mixer.Open(Int32 mixerIndex, Boolean isDigital)
  at MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler..ctor(Int32[] volumeTable)
  at MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler.CreateInstance()
  at MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler.get_Instance()
  at MediaPortalApp.OnStartup()
  at MediaPortal.D3D.OnLoad(Object sender, EventArgs e)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
  at MediaPortalApp.WndProc(Message& msg)  Message: Element not found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070490)  Site  : Void ThrowExceptionForHRInternal(Int32, IntPtr)  Source : mscorlib  Stack Trace:	at System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHRInternal(Int32 errorCode, IntPtr errorInfo)
  at MediaPortal.Mixer.AEDev..ctor()
  at MediaPortal.Mixer.Mixer.Open(Int32 mixerIndex, Boolean isDigital)
  at MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler..ctor(Int32[] volumeTable)
  at MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler.CreateInstance()
  at MediaPortal.Player.VolumeHandler.get_Instance()
  at MediaPortalApp.OnStartup()
  at MediaPortal.D3D.OnLoad(Object sender, EventArgs e)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
  at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
  at MediaPortalApp.WndProc(Message& msg)
[2013-08-07 13:39:43,086] [Log	] [MPMain  ] [DEBUG] - Main: WM_SIZE (SIZE_RESTORED: 1280x720)
[2013-08-07 13:39:43,087] [Log	] [MPMain  ] [INFO ] - GUIMusicPlaylist: Default Playlist loaded
[2013-08-07 13:39:43,242] [Log	] [BassAudio] [INFO ] - BASS: Loading Settings
[2013-08-07 13:39:43,832] [Log	] [MPMain  ] [INFO ] - Visualization Window: Loading skin settings...

....so basically I can confirm there is some sort of problem.

@Developers @Testers - What should happen here ? Should MP continue to load if there is no audio device available, or just quit at this point (which is what some other multimedia software does) ?

 

[peque]

Yes, I can confirm sometimes MP starts and doesn't freeze (is SplasScreen that keeps not responding in windows process list)... If you leave MP open, maybe after some minutes it becomes unresponsive.

 

[mm1352000]

I vote just quit. If there is no audio device available we would have issues with even little things like menu sounds. MP is not designed to run without audio... so I suggest we don't make it more complex than necessary.

 

[peque]

The problem are HDMI audio devices, that appear/dissapear whenever you switch on/off your AVR/TV, even while MP is running (and there's no issue with that)...

 

[mm1352000]

The problem are HDMI audio devices, that appear/dissapear whenever you switch on/off your AVR/TV, even while MP is running...

...and this causes really annoying issues like this:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...ff-than-back-on-windows-program-error.119967/

 

[peque]

We all agree HDMI on/off stuff in Win7 is a serious problem... but... Do we, users, have an alternative? We can't leave AVR/TV On 24x7 (while HTPC IS)...

 

[kiwijunglist]

There are some hardware hacks/tricks that are designed to get around similar issues to this.

They are called:
Gefen HDMI Detective
Dr HDMI
"HDMI Pin 19 trick"
Using an always powered on splitter with it's own EDID handshake etc.

I can't really speak for the success rate of above as it's very situational.

 

[peque]

I know all of them:

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/htpc-hdmi-win7-and-its-many-issues.109242/

....and even I've tested the cheap ones myself (including pin19 trick in two different flavours), with no success... and I can't believe I have to spend 60-100 $ in a box that simply simulates my AVR...