Re: FAQ: #20050717 Crashes & Hangs
- From: "PapaJohn \(MVP\)" <PapaJohn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 00:50:28 -0400
Check the Problem Solving > Crashes and Hangs page of my website.
--
PapaJohn
Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 website - http://www.papajohn.org
tips and tricks: http://www.simplydv.co.uk/simplyBB/viewtopic.php?t=4693
Online Newsletters: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/Index.aspx
"jlr" <jlr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:90950509-07F9-4EBE-9429-59DE93366332@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I downloaded the utility and renamed the files it found. Did not fix the
> crashes though in WMM. It seems after I installed Photoshop Elements 3 I
> started having crashses with WMM. Any coralation?
>
> "webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" wrote:
>
>>
>> Movie Maker FAQ 1 Last updated 6th January 2005
>>
>> Crashing and Hanging
>> ================
>>
>> 1) What is a Codec?
>> ==============
>>
>> A Codec is software that was first created to deal with the transposition
>> of data from one form into another. One of the first important Codecs
>> was a procedure still used today called Soundex. I believe the first
>> proper use of Soundex was by the Mormons. Most of us use Soundex or its
>> equivalent every time we use a spell checker. The Mormons use it in their
>> vast database of all persons baptised by them. It enables very fast data
>> searches on similar sounding words that are not necessarily spelled the
>> same way. Soundex though is a one way procedure. Its a CODER The other
>> part of the word Codec is derived from the word DECODER. Joining the two
>> parts together we get the word CODEC...Codec.
>>
>> With regard to Codecs and any Video or Audio playing software. MP3 or WMA
>> audio files have been compressed using CODER routines. When you play
>> those files on your computer you are using the DECODER routines to
>> produce a sound or video signal that can be seen/heard on your machine.
>>
>> With regard to Audio/Video editing software. A Codec is used to compress
>> the data so that it occupies as small a space as possible usually on a
>> hard drive. But in the case of editing a file the Codec must first expand
>> the compressed data before the edit can occur and afterwards compress it
>> again when the data is saved to a new file.
>>
>> The problems with Codecs arise from "Calls" A call is the expression used
>> to define the way one software module talks to another so that
>> information can be passed between the two. The problem occurs when the
>> Call is not properly formatted, or the reply is not understood. This
>> becomes a problem that the calling software must handle. When the calling
>> software fails to handle the error it can do one of a number of
>> things....the correct way is to contain the error and respond with an
>> alternative approach and possibly inform the user that the error
>> occurred, the other approach we are all to familiar with, either the
>> software or the machine crashes and probably taking all of your hard work
>> with it.
>>
>>
>> 2) Movie Maker crashes, what can I do?
>> ============================
>>
>> From item one above there is a good chance that your problem arises from
>> a problem with a Codec. Movie Maker version 2.1 was supposed to address
>> this issue by giving you the user the ability to disable one or more of
>> the Codecs on your machine. The problem however is not fully addressed
>> and results in some Codecs not being exposed to the disable option. If
>> its that particular Codec that is causing the problem you are stuck.
>>
>> You need to know which Codec it is, where it is, possibly what other
>> software installed it and what other dependencies exist. In other words
>> you need to know a LOT of things. The proper way of dealing with the
>> issue would be to remove the offending Codec but that's not very
>> practical as you may really need the other software that depends on it.
>>
>> There is a temporary solution available in the form of a program called
>> "Rename Codecs" It has been in use for perhaps a year now by many
>> hundreds of people and with great success. There have been a total of 6
>> times that the program did not solve the users problem (At the time of
>> writing this) You can obtain your FREE copy of the program from
>> www.the-kellys.org The basics of the program are that it will offer you
>> the option of temporarily renaming Codecs that are known to be a problem
>> for Movie Maker. You would do that before using Movie Maker. Once you are
>> finished using the program you again run Movie Maker and use the RESTORE
>> option to put those Codecs back into operation...its very easy to use.
>>
>> There is an additional option. You can use the options within XP to turn
>> off the various levels of video acceleration that your graphics card
>> has. Doing this is not a good idea but if you do you must understand that
>> every program that relies on those abilities will either run badly or
>> not at all. To turn the acceleration down right click your desktop and
>> select PROPERTIES, then SETTINGS then ADVANCED and then TROUBLERSHOOT.
>> You will then see a slider bar which should normally be positioned on
>> the far right. You can move it one step at a time and then close the
>> dialog down and re-try Movie Maker. You can repeat those steps until
>> (and if) Movie Maker works properly.
>>
>> A lot of video programs give you the opportunity of taking a snap shot of
>> the video displayed, Intervideo WinDVD 5 does a good job of this. Movie
>> Maker also has this option. BUT, if you turn the acceleration down as
>> above, you will no longer be able to take those snapshots. This is not a
>> great problem of course as you can change the acceleration back. But it
>> is rather tedious.
>>
>>
>> 3) How do I make my system perform better and stop Movie Maker crashing
>> =======================================================
>>
>> This is by far the best way of doing things. Whilst the Rename Codec
>> program is a MUST when you really do need to keep "other" software on
>> your system, the following approach will ensure that your system runs at
>> its best speed and will be less likely to crash at all from Video or
>> Audio problems.
>>
>> You need to download the latest versions of DirectX and the Windows
>> Codecs pack together with the latest version of Windows Media Player.
>> You should NOT try to install these packages via the Internet, you should
>> get the standalone versions. The reason is obvious once you know it.
>> Suppose those updates you did some time back are not working
>> properly...it may be that they were not installed properly or it may be
>> that a file is either corrupt or simply missing. How would you know???
>> The more experienced may spot the problem but the average user will not.
>> So why download the full package??? That's easy. When you unzip a
>> package several checks are made to ensure the integrity of the files
>> inside the zip. If there is a problem you will be told there and
>> then...the file is corrupt or damaged in some other way....you do not
>> need to trust an install over the Internet and the possibility of data
>> being missed....
>>
>> You can get the packages via these links...
>>
>>
>> Codec Pack
>> -----------------
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/format/codecdownload.aspx
>>
>> DirectX
>> ----------
>> http://go.microsoft.com/?LinkID=1081813
>>
>> Windows Media Player
>> ---------------------------------
>> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b446ae53-3759-40cf-80d5-cde4bbe07999&displaylang=en
>>
>> Movie Maker for XP
>> ---------------------------
>> http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.aspx
>>
>> The link for Movie Maker is actually a link to SP2 (Service Pack 2). This
>> a large download. Its not to bad if you have a reasonably fast broadband
>> connection, but if the download fails its a long way back to the start!!!
>> Personally I would recommend you obtain A CD version of SP2...its
>> available on the Windows Magazine and from Microsoft directly
>>
>> Drivers for your graphics card
>> ----------------------------------
>> I have discovered that most people are confused on the issue of drivers
>> for their graphics card in that when advised to acquire the latest driver
>> they go straight to the Microsoft website and get one from them. Their is
>> a problem with that in that the drivers supplied by Microsoft are
>> Generic.
>>
>> I made the mistake of going direct to Microsoft some time back and the
>> result was that I could only run the machine in the basic "Safe Mode" the
>> driver was the most up to date and was definitely more recent than the
>> existing driver. It took some time to understand what was going on I must
>> admit......
>>
>> The graphics card was an NVidia GForce 4 etc and was manufactured by
>> Gainward. After several attempts at getting the Microsoft driver to
>> install I decided that the download MUST BE corrupted in some way, So I
>> went to the NVidia website and downloaded their driver (Same version
>> number as the one from Microsoft) I had the exact same problems!!! In the
>> end I went to the Gainward website and downloaded the most up to date
>> driver they had.....once installed the graphics card performed better
>> than ever and with more configuration options than I would ever need.
>>
>> So why did an older driver work better than the most recent from NVidia
>> ??? Its simple when you know why .... Gainward produce high capability
>> cards and in order to achieve some of their aims they change the way the
>> NVidia chipset works. This requires a modified driver....and they produce
>> their own. The card is still based on the NVidia and conforms to the
>> basic design....but it runs very much faster because of code
>> optimisation, and that optimisation is missing from the Microsoft or
>> NVidia drivers.
>>
>> The result of all this is that you should ALWAYS go to the website of the
>> MANUFACTURER of the card and not the manufacturer of the chipset (in my
>> case NVidia)
>>
>> The Method
>> -----------------
>> Reboot your computer and install SP2. After the install has completed you
>> should reboot your computer twice...yes boring but desirable
>>
>> After the reboot you should now install the DirectX pack and reboot
>> again.
>>
>> After that reboot install the Codec Pack and reboot yet again.
>>
>> After that install Windows Media Player and reboot again
>>
>> Finally install the latest driver for your graphics card.
>>
>> Rebooting the machine does perform an important task. It completes
>> installation process's and ensures that previously existing file locks
>> are removed. Under certain conditions XP will not overwrite a file if it
>> has been locked. Note that this is not the same as marking a file as
>> Read Only.
>>
>> Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> This utility can be obtained here...
>>
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/portablemediacenter/decoder.mspx
>>
>> A very useful program but with a problem. It reports that I have the MGI
>> MPEG-2 Video Decoder on one of my machines...I have NO MGI software on
>> my system!!
>>
>> I would not let that put you off using it as it does have a useful
>> purpose even though the same objective can be achieved via other already
>> existing routes within XP. I am in favour of this program as it does give
>> good advice on which Codec you should select as the preferred Codec
>>
>>
>> 4) What files does Movie Maker NOT like?
>> ==============================
>>
>> Any MPEG based file will cause Movie Maker problems even though they
>> seldom cause problems for Media Player. There are a number of
>> reasons...Media Player does not need the CODER part of the Codec and
>> there are many methods/procedures/algothims used to Code an MPeg file
>> and its that wide range of methods that Movie Maker can not address. Its
>> not really a bug but the method of dealing with the issue, well there is
>> no method...Movie Maker gives an error and crashes or it just crashes.
>> The particular file extensions are Mpeg, MPG and MP3.
>>
>> JPeg still images can also be a problem and for similar reasons to MPeg
>> files. There are a number of formats for a JPeg and it seems that the
>> older formats are not properly dealt with. To work around the issue you
>> can reduce the compression used in creating the JPeg and NOT use the
>> progressive format method
>>
>> The best solution for these problems is to convert the file into a more
>> acceptable format, and as it happens a format that is more easily worked
>> on by Movie Maker...the conversion you should employ are
>>
>> MPeg, MPG convert to AVI, MP3 convert to WAV and JPeg, JPG convert to a
>> standard bitmap BMP
>>
>> NOTES
>> ======
>>
>> There are several other approaches you can take to solving a Codec issue.
>> I have seen several other methods of solving the problem, and basically
>> they don't. Instead they treat the symptom and not the problem itself.
>> Several other methods involve damaging the picture of your computers
>> layout (that's a bad pun by the way) and simply doing that involves the
>> risk of permanent damage to that picture.
>>
>> The program Rename Codecs also damages that picture of your system but it
>> does at least provide a user friendly way of restoring your system and
>> that method requires no prior knowledge on your part about where, which
>> and how to make those changes.
>>
>> All efforts are made to ensure that the information is accurate. As no
>> one is perfect I would be happy to hear of any errors found in this
>> document (send an e-mail to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx). If you have any
>> doubts at all over following the advice given here you should NOT attempt
>> it.
>>
>> The contents of this FAQ are liable to change with out prior
>> notification.
>>
>> The Webmaster
>> Check out the Free Video and Stills Hosting at The Kellys
>> Coming soon Get your Personal News Distributor (PND from
>> www.the-kellys.org
>> www.the-kellys.org
>> www.the-kellys.co.uk
>>
.
- References:
- FAQ: #20050717 Crashes & Hangs
- From: webmaster
- RE: FAQ: #20050717 Crashes & Hangs
- From: jlr
- FAQ: #20050717 Crashes & Hangs
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