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An excess of 7MC problems
I've run three releases of W7beta(x86) and each developed problems. 'Just did a CLEAN install of the W7(x64)[store-bought] 'upgrade' and most of those problems continued -- along with a new one! I need advice on how to best-clarify The Issues and the Path To Fixing Them.
H/W:
Q6600, 4GB, Radeon4850, 3HD, [+ DVD, vCam, prtr, scnr, etc.],
Tuners: Haupp'2250[2x ATSC/NTSC]+AVerVolarMax(1x ATSC/NTSC],
Display: 4850HDMI -> Onkyo TXSR606 -> Vizio 1080p TV [HDMI]
S/W: -- all with latest patches/releases
W7(x64),
Endless other pkgs (not running concurrently w/ problems),
Folding@home [added long after problems began]
The ONLY problems I have w/ W7 are in 7MC... but they are enormous and persistent [6 months]. Well over 50% of attempts to initiate viewing recorded TV shows freeze, abort, or freeze-then-abort! No other s/w [e.g. MP] shares these issues. While some of these problems may be independent of one another, I expect some are related so I'll list all here:
- 2 minute Video freeze of whole computer -- almost always at the START of play, but, rarely, later on after doing multiple Forward/Backward clicks on screen's icons [searching for end of commercials].
- Sometimes a 1/4 sec' of sound or video precedes the lockup.
- Other processes then lock up if they write to screen -- again, those other problems never induce the lock up on their own
- Note: background proc's not writing to the screen seem to continue [per blinking of the disk activity light on the chassis]
- Usually the freeze is precisely 2 minutes long, but occasionally it's a multiple of two minutes
- MC usually recovers from this without a restart
- Oddly, programs often then begin about a minute into their programming -- despite the two minute hang
- Audio looping [15% of starts?], culminating with a video driver error msg and requiring an MC-restart.
- The first ~1 second of audio loops for a bit [15 seconds?]; video is usually frozen or never even started.
- Running Silent: the audio never starts [10% of starts?], culminating with a video driver error msg and requiring an MC-restart.
- The video runs normally until something times out and an error msg indicates a required reboot of the system or an MC restart. [A system reboot has never been required to skirt the problem.]
- I think the error msg suggests a missing codec -- which is bogus as restarting MC and retrying the viewing doesn't repeat the same error.
- MC often resumes from an extended pause [say, 30 minutes] in a troubled state [one of the above]
- Note: the computer runs in non-power-saving mode; only screen blanking occurs, so there's no hibernation issue.
- MC sometimes enters screen-blanking mode while watching a recorded show!
- I'm unsure if this has continued into the production 7MC, but it was certainly an issue in the last x86 build before production keys became required -- i.e., when beta keys were no longer of use. It's almost certainly independent of previous problems.
The above errors are not fixed/repeatable for a given TV program: restarting MC and re-selecting that recorded program produces random results -- any of the problems may happen on the next attempt, so there certainly is NOT a fixed issue with the material or with missing drivers/codecs. While I've largely thought of these as Video problems, it's not impossible that the underlying problem is in an associated area like the Audio driver.
Next issue solved -- see fifth post, below:
A new problem which only began with the production W7 release and my transition from x86 to x64 seems unrelated, but I'll list it:
- The recording side of MC is often [50% of time?] screwed up on non-cQAM recordings
- audio is raised [two?] octaves -- they sound like they're inhaling helium -- and the video speed may be faster.
- video quickly becomes jerky, then MC locks up
- I've never seen this on a cQAM show.
This post is way too long, but I'm unsure what should have been dropped! While I'm quite pleased with W7 otherwise, it's hard to ignore the level of problems I've had with MC.
A lack of similar posts suggests my unique set of H/W or S/W is creating a Perfect Storm, although I think there's nothing kinky about my lash-up. The recurrence of the problems across multiple W7 loads suggests it's not just one-time corruptions.
End-users need to be able to precisely identify the specific components provoking their problems, and the steps to fix them. I've spent years solving friends' problems with various Windows releases, but I've never understood the techniques of debugging driver issues, so I need some help identifying where to look and what debugging options might be set. Ideally, there would be a document detailing the analytic steps for identifying errors and solutions, but I'm unfamiliar with such documents. Any instructions someone could point me to would be appreciated!
I converted two computers to W7Beta because Vista-MC was so [@#$%^] limited/plagued. In W7-MC there's a hint of what an MC can become, but its trouble-identification/resolution needs a lot of work before the masses can solve problems on their own.
TIA for any pointers!
John
Last edited by Basilisk; 06 Nov 2009 at 19:27.
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