help diagnosing crashes

[crazy_gadgets]

HI

I have been having issues with something for some time now and wanted to get some advice on how to diagnose it and hopefully fix the problem.

The problem is that sometimes, and it really is sometimes, (I can't force it to happen well at least I haven't worked out how to) I'll be watching a program, either a recording or live TV and the audio will freeze. the video will continue for maybe 30-45 seconds at which point it will freeze also and the computer will lock up. can't switch programs, can't end process the only way round it is to turn the computer off and on again. I will then be able to watch tv as normal. If it was a recording then I can fast forward to to the point it crashed (the resume point is not updated) and watch as normal so the problem is not related to the recording i don't think.

I've had a poke around inthe log files and there never seems to be any errors or anything even indicating there was a problem.

I'm guessing it is a windows problem. Can anyone point me in the direction of how to solve the issue. I'd really like to learn how to fix it myself rather than always asking you guys so any help would be appreciated.

Also is there a page on the Wiki that details what each of GBpvr's log file records ie what problems to look for in each one?

As I said any help greatly appreciated

kind regards

Rich

[sub]

If its locking the computer up, then its almost certainly a problem in one of the drivers, most likely for either the capture card, or the video card.

[K.S.]

your guess is right, it is probably windows. check out under System Properties => Startup and Recovery => untick "automatically restart" & enable complete memory dump. your hope is to see some BSOD with a hint which driver / device is causing the crash. i would guess sub's right, it's a driver fault, either from the capture card or from the video card.

[JavaWiz]

Additionally, you may want to look at the event viewer (eventvwr.exe), to see if any suspicious error events are displayed.

[crazy_gadgets]

Thanks for the help guys. Gives me some ideas to look for.

K.S. Automatically restart on failure is already unticked, however when I get the crashes I just get frozen video rather than an automatic restart or a BSOD. Will it still memory dump somewhere in that situation? or do I just need to uninstall all the video drivers and capture card drivers and reinstall with fresh ones from the web sites? (VIdeo is onboard 6150 chipset, capture is 2 Nova-Ts) and hope that fixes the probelm

Which brings me to a side point. If i uninstall and reinstall my capture cards will i need to do anything special to GBPVR config (will the capture sources break).

Thanks again

Rich

[K.S.]

have you tried waiting after the freeze? depending upon how much RAM you have it may take some time to write the dump & bring the BSOD. if there is a dump, default location is %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP (if you haven't changed it)