Recordings not starting and stopping properly

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Windom

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Recordings not starting and stopping properly

#1

Post by Windom » Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:34 am

New issue on my MC tonight.

I started using the UI, either looking at recording programs or scheduled recordings and the PC rebooted. When it was back up, I went back into MC and it basically did the same thing again. I've done a manual reboot or two. MC isn't crashing now, but recordings are not working properly.

Scheduled recording weren't starting, but then they eventually did start but far into the program. One stopped recording early. Two others continued recording past when they should have stopped. I think they're still recording.

Live TV works fine, but when I try to add a new recording, it just gets stuck on the spinning wheel for the longest time and may eventually go back to the UI.

I did a manual import of the guide using epg123.

I'm not sure what is going on. Is it rebuilding something? Are some scheduled tasks messed up? Any ideas? Thanks.
Last edited by Windom on Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

Windom

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#2

Post by Windom » Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:46 am

It seems to have worked itself out. It eventually gave an alert that Media Center needed to be restarted. There was an event in Event Manager that "Recovery of the guide and the recording schedule had completed." The guide was empty though so I imported it manually via epg123. My series recordings were still there but nothing showed as scheduled to record for awhile, but eventually that came back too.

Windom

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#3

Post by Windom » Mon Feb 14, 2022 1:31 am

Hmmm, the saga continues. Was browsing my recordings in MC on the PC today and it rebooted again. It came back up and I just left it for a little bit. Later installed a few available Windows 7 updates. After that I shut the PC down and opened it up to clean out on dust. I've had issues in the past where playing shows in MC would make it reboot because the graphics card fan was clogged with dust. It wasn't too dusty this time.

So when I restarted it, it would get to the Windows login screen and then reboot after a few seconds. It kept doing this for awhile. Eventually I was able to login in, but then it would reboot a few seconds after getting to the desktop. Same thing would happen every time I was able to login.

It did do a scan disk at one point. Eventually I tried using Safe Mode which seemed to work fine. Event logs didn't show any obvious problem.

I tried just leaving it at the login screen, then opening MC using my XBox 360 extender. It wouldn't get into it first first times. Then eventually it came up. Tried looking at recordings and the PC rebooted again.

Tried again. Currently just at Windows login screen and using MC on the extender. I can watch shows and recordings are happening on schedule. I figure I'll let tonight's shows record before I try logging in again.

Not sure what might cause this. A corrupt recording in MC maybe? Not sure why it would keep rebooting when trying to login to Windows though.

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#4

Post by stuartm » Mon Feb 14, 2022 7:24 am

I have seen corrup recordings make WMC crash, but never cause the PC to reboot.

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#5

Post by Space » Mon Feb 14, 2022 11:55 am

Sounds like you may have corrupt system files somewhere, you can try running "sfc /scannow" at a CMD prompt (Run as Administrator) to see if any files get repaired.

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#6

Post by Windom » Mon Feb 14, 2022 9:08 pm

I ran "sfc /scannow". These seem to be the issues it found:

Code: Select all

2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003b3 [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003b5 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:20{10}]"tcpmon.ini" of Microsoft-Windows-Printing-StandardPortMonitor-TCPMonINI, Version = 6.1.7600.16385, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003b7 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:62{31}]"Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll" of Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell, Version = 6.1.7601.17514, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_MSIL (8), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003b9 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:62{31}]"Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll" of Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell, Version = 6.1.7601.17514, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_MSIL (8), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003ba [SR] This component was referenced by [l:176{88}]"Microsoft-Windows-MediaCenter-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7601.17514.MediaCenter"
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003bd [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:40{20}]"\??\C:\Windows\ehome"\[l:62{31}]"Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll"; source file in store is also corrupted
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003bf [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:20{10}]"tcpmon.ini" of Microsoft-Windows-Printing-StandardPortMonitor-TCPMonINI, Version = 6.1.7600.16385, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture neutral, VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003c0 [SR] This component was referenced by [l:202{101}]"Microsoft-Windows-Foundation-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.1.7601.17514.WindowsFoundationDelivery"
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003c3 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:46{23}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32"\[l:20{10}]"tcpmon.ini"; source file in store is also corrupted
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003c5 [SR] Repairing corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:40{20}]"\??\C:\Windows\ehome"\[l:18{9}]"ehres.dll" from store
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003c7 [SR] Repair complete
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003c8 [SR] Committing transaction
2022-02-14 13:05:01, Info                  CSI    000003cc [SR] Verify and Repair Transaction completed. All files and registry keys listed in this transaction  have been successfully repaired
So do I need to fix these somehow?

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#7

Post by Space » Mon Feb 14, 2022 9:29 pm

That program is supposed to find and fix any corrupted system files. From that log it does look like you had a few corrupted files, and a couple of them are related to WMC. It looks like it was only able to fix one of them.

I'm not sure what can be done from here, as it looks like even the source file is corrupted (the file it would use to "restore" your corrupted file).

I'm guessing a reinstall of WMC would fix this, but I'm not sure if this is the best option. Also, this would only fix the symptoms, not the reason why these files were corrupted in the first place (such as a failing hard disk or perhaps a virus, although due to the limited number of files affected, I don't suspect either of those).

There is also the possibility that the files that are "corrupted" are not really corrupted and are just modified by tools such as one of the various WMC tweak tools, but I'm not familiar with how those changes affect this repair function (and I would think, at the very least, the source file should not be corrupt).

Perhaps there are others here that may have better advice?

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#8

Post by Windom » Mon Feb 14, 2022 9:54 pm

Yeah, I've updated the background image using Media Center Studio, I think, and then other stuff like number of guide rows using epg123. Would that cause those files to be reported as corrupted then?

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#9

Post by Space » Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:21 pm

I don't know what would and wouldn't make the scan see those files as corrupt. If the tweak actually modifies the executable portion of the exe then I would think it would see it as corrupt, but I'm not sure if the resources of the exe are modified that it would be a problem (I think many tweaks just modify the resources).

But like I mentioned, I think there is a problem with the SOURCE file also being corrupted. I don't think this should happen, even if you used a tweak.

Again, hopefully someone else with more knowledge of this stuff will chime in here, as I don't know much about it.

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#10

Post by garyan2 » Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:24 pm

epg123 will modify Microsoft.MediaCenter.Shell.dll for the guide layout. MCS will modify ehres.dll for the background image. I'd suggest you uninstall WMC, reboot, and add it back to get it in a stable condition.
- Gary
Keeping WMC alive beyond January 2020. https://garyan2.github.io

Windom

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#11

Post by Windom » Tue Feb 15, 2022 3:41 am

Well, it seems the scan did change my ehres.dll because I'm getting the basic blue (yuk!) background now. I guess I'll have to figure out how to reapply the background I have. Everything's been working fine since last night, but I haven't tried using MC on the PC itself, just watching on extender. I'll wait until the weekend when I have time to mess with things.

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#12

Post by Windom » Wed Sep 21, 2022 12:50 am

Well, I've been ignoring this problem for a while now and it's just gotten worse.

I've pretty much stopped using MC directly on the PC as it would still cause reboots especially after deleting a recording or moving around the recorded show list.

Everything had been fine when using my 360 Extender, but now even that is starting to cause reboot sometimes. I just deleting a bunch of recordings from the extender and the PC rebooted. After that that PC came back up and I started the extender. When I went into the list of recordings, the PC rebooted again. I let it come back and waited a big longer and now the extender is working and I'm watching shows. I'm afraid to delete anything now, at least while something is recording.

I did turn off MalwareBytes in case that has anything to do with it.

I've been thinking of replacing the recording drive. It usually only has around 100GB or less of free space. I don't know if that might have anything to do with.

I'm not sure if I'm up to uninstalling and reinstalling MC. I'm not even sure where to start with that. I'm afraid that everything wouldn't configure properly after that.

Any more ideas? I can probably try the sfc tool again.

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#13

Post by Space » Wed Sep 21, 2022 4:56 am

Have there been any system dumps when the computer reboots? You can use a tool such as "WhoCrashed" to analyze the dump to see what could potentially be causing it.
Usually a hard disk failure will show itself through read/write errors, but you can also run a HD diagnostic program to see if it detects anything.

It could also be a bad memory stick (these also can be tested by running a stand-alone/bootable memory diagnostic program) or other hardware issues. Bad memory can cause disk corruption, as it will write stuff from corrupted memory to the disk.

If you have more than one stick of memory in the machine, you can try running with just one stick (assuming it is enough memory to run the system) and see if it makes the crashes go away. If not, then swap the memory stick and try again. If you get it to stop crashing, then you've identified the memory stick that is the problem.

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#14

Post by Windom » Thu Sep 22, 2022 6:18 am

The last system dump seems to be from back in May. Doesn't look like it's creating a dump whenever Media Center causes the reboot.

If it was related to memory, I would think it would crash at other times and not just when doing something in the list of recorded TV.

I did delete some recordings tonight that may have been corrupted. I was able to use Media Center on the PC for a bit and it didn't reboot. I feel like it has something to do with going into the recorded TV list immediately after starting MC. So I go into live TV first and then into recorded TV. Maybe it's updating some cache when it starts, or going to live TV first might not actually be doing anything. I'll have to play around with it more and see if anything improves.

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#15

Post by Space » Thu Sep 22, 2022 11:52 am

You should check to make sure you have system dumps enabled, I usually just have the minidump enabled instead of a full dump.

Memory issues can be strange, it could be a specific set of memory patterns that cause the problem, and perhaps only WMC is doing things in the exact order to cause the issue. This is why memory testing programs use several different data patterns because you could write one pattern over and over again and never have a problem but write another pattern just once and it fails.

In general, I would not think that WMC would cause the PC to crash by itself, maybe the program might crash, but not the entire system. System crashes are usually caused by device driver issues or hardware failure.

I'm not saying it can't be a software issue, WMC may be triggering a bug in a device driver, but unless you've upgraded device drivers or had a device driver get corrupted, it seems unlikely if WMC was running fine before this started.

I've actually been having periodic system crashes since I've upgrade to the new free version of Bitdefender. I think it is causing the crashes on my Win7 machine, but I'm not 100% sure.

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#16

Post by Windom » Sun Sep 25, 2022 4:53 pm

I do have Kernel Memory Dumps enabled.

I ran the memory diagnostic and I think it was ok. It finished and started Windows right away so I didn't see the result, but I assume it would have waited to start Windows if there was an error.

I have discovered another way to get it to restart in the same manner without using Media Center though. I ran the Windows Assessment Tool (WinSAT) and it rebooted the PC in the same way, no blue screen or events in Event Viewer. No memory dump.

I tried running the individual WinSat tests. I've gotten it to restart a few times when running "winsat cpu -encryption" but it doesn't do it every time that I run that. I'm not sure where to go from here exactly? Some CPU cooling issue maybe?

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#17

Post by Space » Mon Sep 26, 2022 4:31 am

Since you have experienced reboots even without using WMC, I doubt this is a WMC issue and is just a general PC crashing issue.

I would suggest maybe posting in another forum that is geared more towards Windows/PC problems as opposed to WMC, as the people that hang out here are less likely to have the expertise needed to troubleshoot the problem effectively.

Although I try to help here, I know I am no expert on general Windows or PC related issues (and I wouldn't even say I am about WMC issues either), and those other forums may have better resources and knowledge to narrow down your issue.

I feel bad giving this advise and not giving you any pointers to sites that may be able to help, so here are some potential resources:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/ - A forum I've used in the past to get help with a virus issue, very helpful people. Has a forum specifically for troubleshooting windows crashes.

https://forums.tomshardware.com - This a site that has been around a long time and has lots of people that can help. It's primarily a hardware site, rather than software (Windows OS), but they have specific forums for the different operating systems.

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#18

Post by Windom » Tue Nov 29, 2022 4:14 am

Just an update... (skip to LONG STORY SHORT if there's too much to read).

My system started getting more unstable back in October. I was getting more reboots just while using Media Center via the extender. It seemed to be happening when CPU temperature got up near 60 C. I figured maybe the CPU was overheating. I took the side of the case off for a while and that seemed to help things for some time. Then more reboots while using extender. It would also sometimes reboot if I tried doing pretty much anything on the PC (open file explorer, open Chrome).

Then I decided putting new thermal paste on the CPU might help. I did that but things just got worse after that. At first, the PC would just keep rebooting, I think before it would load Windows. After a while, it would start to load Windows but then reboot at the login screen. Eventually, it stayed up at the login screen, but anytime I tried logging in, it would reboot. Safe mode seemed to work ok though.

I thought it must be something with Windows then, so I installed a fresh hard drive and setup Windows 10 on it. It seemed ok at first, but then had a few reboots similar to before (opening file explorer or chrome, watching Youtube). I did get it run Youtube videos for over 3 hours without rebooting so I thought it might have "settled". I switched back to the Windows 7 boot drive and it was right back to rebooting over and over again.

Finally, it was able to get to the login screen and I just left it at that point. It was able to at least record shows and I could still pretty much use the extender to watch. It was fine for a few days like that but then another reboot while trying use the extender.

During that time I ordered a new power supply. I installed the new power supply and it was able to boot Windows 7 fine. I could login and no reboots. Used the extender a bit and no reboots. Eventually, I was brave enough to do other stuff on the PC and no reboots. Over a week later now, and not a single reboot.

LONG STORY SHORT: It seemed to be the power supply that was causing my PC to reboot. I noticed that I never saw the fan running on my old power supply, but have seen it running whenever I've looked at the new power supply. I don't know if my old power supply was supposed to run the fan all the time or not. It was the original power supply so it was 12 years old at this point.

It's amazing to be able to use Media Center without constant fear of rebooting now, though I still have it in the back of my mind that the next thing I do will cause a reboot, especially if I try anything in Media Center directly on the PC.

I do have one new problem now. I have two data drives for Media Center shows and one of them was missing from Windows. I checked connections and rebooted and it did show up, but then later it was gone again. I rebooted again and it doesn't show. It does show in BIOS but not in file explorer or disk manager in Windows. It did show in CPUID HWMonitor at one point, but now doesn't. Something I need to look into further when I have some time...

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#19

Post by faxedasto » Fri Dec 16, 2022 1:33 pm

I tried just leaving it at the login screen, then opening MC using my XBox 360 extender. It wouldn't get into it first first times. Then eventually it came up. Tried looking at recordings and the PC rebooted again.

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