36 replies to this topic

[Tarq57]

Recently I've noticed that Windows Media Player will not play a new file (video or music) if it is closed, and commanded to re-open straight away.
Looking at it in Taskmanager, the process continues for about 10s after it's closed; the GUI disappears immediately.
Once the process vanishes from Taskmanager, the player can be re-opened normally.
Tried a registry clean with CCleaner, an optimize with Iobit's AWC, uninstalling and re-installing the media player, from a fresh download from MS, all no go.
Some guru help and advice requested, please.
Windows XP SP3, (was working fine for a while with SP3), Avast Av, Threatfire, Comodo Firewall 2.4. AMD 3500+, 2G RAM. Nothing changed recently.

[Tarun.]

Do you have any codec packs installed?

Also, offtopic but is there any reason why you have not updated to Comodo 3?

[Tarq57]

Codec packs?
Yes, with no recent changes. FFDShow, XP Codec pack 1.3.3, plus the qt/real alternative packs that belong to Media Player Classic.

I had updated to Comodo 3, but after a time the self diagnostic test reported errors that it was unable to fix, despite the firewall appearing to operate correctly. (Long story, only if you're interested.)
I also use Threatfire, and didn't feel the need for an extra behaviour blocker.

[Tarun.]

Try uninstalling the codec packs. I've recently got a couple bluescreens that only happened with WMP during playback of certain videos. Just had to remove the codec pack and it's fine.

If you want to tell me about the firewall issues, go for it. I had some horror stories trying to go from Comodo 2 to 3. And it was on more than one machine. Ironically, SP3 fixed it on one machine, and the other (my main computer) I did a clean install (after 3 years!) due to a hard drive with some bad sectors.

[Tarq57]

The codec packs have been there for a long time. Why would they suddenly cause this? Other thing is, of course, WMP without added codecs can be a little useless at some vids, and the "download codecs automatically" never seemed to work. Hence my decision to install a couple.
Will uninstall if you think it's really needed, for troubleshooting.

Re Comodo. There's a thread Here (Comodo forum) detailing the issue. It's not a big issue, but slightly irritating nonetheless. Warning: the thread runs to 4 pages, and concludes with the recommendation to reinstall Windows.
I'm putting that action off as long as I can, but have some of the programs I need to - for example - slipstream SP3. Just need to learn a it more about where/how to include current drivers etc in the installation disk I want to create, and think a bit more intelligently about what to include (and not) and how to only format the OS partition while leaving personal files/pics etc on the storage partition.
Since the 'pooter is currently running well (apart from the issues indicated, which I can actually live with) I'm in no rush to do too much. Next step will be to get an external HD, install Karens Replicator, and make a decent backup. Still. No rush.

[Tarun.]

I would actually use VLC for videos that wouldn't play with WMP.

As it's late and I've been programming all day, I'll check back on this in the morning and see if I can help you fix both of these issues.

[Tarq57]

Many thanks.

[davey]

Tarq57, on Jun 14 2008, 01:32 AM, said:

Many thanks.

And I thought your post was going to die on the vine.
I was tempted and now I will say that SP3 did have a lot of "fixes" related to WMP.
davey

[Tarq57]

Quote

And I thought your post was going to die on the vine.

I'd started to wonder that, myself. But, "Patience, Tarq," I thought, "Leave it a couple more days for a bump. Nobody's going to die if it don't get fixed."

Quote

I was tempted and now I will say that SP3 did have a lot of "fixes" related to WMP.

You reckon installing SP3 might be related to this problem, perhaps? Or an example of a problem SP3 should have fixed? I only really noticed it after the last patch Tuesday. Might've started before then, I just didn't notice.

Thanks for the support so far, folks. Just so y'all know, I have also posted this at Wilders, and Scotts' forums, hope that's not a bad protocol. One has suggested disabling security software,as a troubleshoot (done); another has suggested uninstalling URGE, which wasn't installed anyway.
We'll see how this pans out.

[davey]

Tarq57, on Jun 14 2008, 04:01 AM, said:

I'd started to wonder that, myself. But, "Patience, Tarq," I thought, "Leave it a couple more days for a bump. Nobody's going to die if it don't get fixed."

You reckon installing SP3 might be related to this problem, perhaps? Or an example of a problem SP3 should have fixed? I only really noticed it after the last patch Tuesday. Might've started before then, I just didn't notice.

Thanks for the support so far, folks. Just so y'all know, I have also posted this at Wilders, and Scotts' forums, hope that's not a bad protocol. One has suggested disabling security software,as a troubleshoot (done); another has suggested uninstalling URGE, which wasn't installed anyway.
We'll see how this pans out.

You mean to tell me that several posters haven't suggested just turn off WMP ?
Believe me I am with you.But I don't have all the bad experiences that other users have had with many products.
I think MS should always provide good basic products for it's users.
The direction is to have billions of more users needing to know less and less about PCs.
Somewhere over the rainbow!!! Well ToTo it looks like we're still stuck in Kansas!!! (nothing wrong with Kansas)
We are getting there.Sorry I missed much of the journey so far.
davey

[hazelnut]

Seems WMP11 and taskmanager problems are not unknown to microsoft

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPo...3&SiteID=17

[YoKenny]

hazelnut, on Jun 14 2008, 04:48 AM, said:

Seems WMP11 and taskmanager problems are not unknown to microsoft

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPo...3&SiteID=17

I don't have a problem with WMP11 on my XP systems.

It looks like I'll have to win a lottery sweepstakes to afford a Vista capable system as things like rent and food keep getting in the way.

Quote

Well ToTo it looks like we're still stuck in Kansas!!!

Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!
http://www.laureland...otographics.com

[Tarq57]

hazelnut interesting food for thought. Seems most of those reports were from Vista users, with one or two from XP users. They all, however, differed from the issue I'm having, in that in my case, the player stops. The music/film stops, the GUI vanishes, just the process continues, and WMP cannot be reopened until the process exits (or is killed.)
In the reported cases, the player seemed to minimize, rather than exiting.
I tried one of the fixes suggested, that of registering the wmp dll's, but without a comprehensive list of them, was limited to registering the ones listed on the users' post. Doesn't appear to have made any difference. (Hasn't appeared to do any harm, either.)
davey it seems that just as I'm starting to learn enough to actually start to take care of the OS, someone (Redmond) starts making that more difficult, by removing the ability for the user to do same. Darn.
I still don't understand why this problem started recently. (Maybe I never will. Too bad.)

Have uninstalled the codec packs. XP codec pack was a right bu@@er to remove...no uninstaller. Think I got it all. Hasn't actually made any difference to the problem.

[Andavari]

Tarq57, on Jun 14 2008, 05:30 AM, said:

They all, however, differed from the issue I'm having, in that in my case, the player stops. The music/film stops, the GUI vanishes, just the process continues, and WMP cannot be reopened until the process exits (or is killed.)

I wonder if you have a corrupt video you're trying to play, although I don't necessarily think WMP may be able to play through a damaged video - however some combinations ("hacks") to the encoding and/or editing after the video is encoded can crash many players. I've only ran into two damaged videos, and one would crash every player I used.

Although removing a codec pack, followed by a reboot, and reinstallation of it may actually solve the issue. It doesn't take much to mess them up, i.e.; another software installation could modify something or use the same codec but have it installed elsewhere.

[Tarun.]

Tarq57, on Jun 14 2008, 12:17 AM, said:

The codec packs have been there for a long time. Why would they suddenly cause this? Other thing is, of course, WMP without added codecs can be a little useless at some vids, and the "download codecs automatically" never seemed to work. Hence my decision to install a couple.
Will uninstall if you think it's really needed, for troubleshooting.

Re Comodo. There's a thread Here (Comodo forum) detailing the issue. It's not a big issue, but slightly irritating nonetheless. Warning: the thread runs to 4 pages, and concludes with the recommendation to reinstall Windows.
I'm putting that action off as long as I can, but have some of the programs I need to - for example - slipstream SP3. Just need to learn a it more about where/how to include current drivers etc in the installation disk I want to create, and think a bit more intelligently about what to include (and not) and how to only format the OS partition while leaving personal files/pics etc on the storage partition.
Since the 'pooter is currently running well (apart from the issues indicated, which I can actually live with) I'm in no rush to do too much. Next step will be to get an external HD, install Karens Replicator, and make a decent backup. Still. No rush.

I've had my run-ins with Comodo Support too. To be honest, they're not very good at acknowledging problems. It looks like you too got the run around. When I installed SP3 on one machine, I was able to install Comodo 3 without it hanging on boot or any of the other symptoms. There's a 2.x cleanup script also hidden deep in their forums.

Tarq57, on Jun 14 2008, 03:01 AM, said:

I'd started to wonder that, myself. But, "Patience, Tarq," I thought, "Leave it a couple more days for a bump. Nobody's going to die if it don't get fixed."

You reckon installing SP3 might be related to this problem, perhaps? Or an example of a problem SP3 should have fixed? I only really noticed it after the last patch Tuesday. Might've started before then, I just didn't notice.

Thanks for the support so far, folks. Just so y'all know, I have also posted this at Wilders, and Scotts' forums, hope that's not a bad protocol. One has suggested disabling security software,as a troubleshoot (done); another has suggested uninstalling URGE, which wasn't installed anyway.
We'll see how this pans out.

Some passing thoughts, have you tried the Work Offline mode or just disconnected from the Internet to see if it still hangs? When it hangs, does it eventually unload or does an error occur.

I would go ahead and uninstall the codec pack and leave it uninstalled for now. Once we resolve the issue then you can start adding things back slowly to make sure it wasn't the item.

If worse comes to worse, we can generate a memory dump to see what's making it hang.

[Tarq57]

Thanks Tarun. It wasn't till I read the large post at the Comodo forum that I realised what a pig the FW could be to uninstall completely. When you say "there's a 2.1 cleanup script.." do you mean the .txt file a member has created to run as a .bat to remove the vestiges? (Done that.)

The media player only hangs on closing, and the only evidence of that is that (1) it can't be re-opened within about 11seconds, (2) the process is visible in taskmanager for 11s after closing it.
I can't see any errors in the event viewer that appear to pertain to it.
CORRECTION The event viewer records errors under "system" each time this occurs. The information in the error under "properties" is pasted:

Quote

The server {204810B9-73B2-11D4-BF42-00B0D0118B56} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft....link/events.asp.

The information in the MS link indicated leaves me none the wiser, and doesn't appear to pertain to this circumstance. Still, maybe it's a lead? Navigation to the key indocated in regedit leaves me none the wiser, either. It is under HKCR, Default UPnP registrar; and an App ID {E495081B-BBA5-4b89-BA3C-3B86A686B87A} That same ID appears in several other registry locations, in HKCR and HKLM, and all mention UPnP as a common factor, IIRC.
I have just tested this action again, and for the first time since the issue first occurred, got an error message, to say the WMP may not have closed correctly last time. As a precaution, all (third party?) plugins have been disabled. (The only plugin listed is for the Nero cd burner.)
Can not reproduce this error, now.
Is this getting fairly "techy", or what?

[Tarun.]

That event log helps tremendously.

That is trying to talk to a service as you mentioned. So let's check these two services:

SSDP Discovery Service - set to Manual
Universal Plug and Play Device Host - set to Automatic

You may also want to run Dial-a-fix.

If they needed to be reset, let me know.

As for Comodo, it is a pain to try and clean up to get v3 installed and working. You may want to try Revo if you haven't already. Also jv16 PowerTools Reg Cleanup and CCleaner's Issues cleanup helps too.

[Tarq57]

UPnP device host was set to manual; now reset to auto.
What settings/tools to check for dial-a-fix?
Already used (and use) Revo uninstaller. A keeper! Pretty confident the vestiges of CFP3 are no more, was anally quite thorough about it.

[Tarq57]

Used dial a fix, just ticked all in the last category- registration, restarted, unfortunately nothing has changed.
I wonder if there could be a left over .dll file in system 32 somewhere, from one of those codec packs, that is trying to lock a process somehow?
Part of the XP codec pack included a codec detective. It reported some "broken" codecs present.
Just a thought.

[Tarun.]

Is WMP reacting properly? When you reset it to Auto, did you manually start it?

In the Registration Center...
Explorer/IE/OE/shell/WMP

Whoops, slow reply. Was watching a good movie.