VLC Crashing

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Grape Crusher
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VLC Crashing

Postby Grape Crusher » 28 Nov 2009 13:35

Since I installed Version 1.0.3 I have has many crashes.

I am running Windows 7 64 bit

When the crash occurs, I get a message that Windows is trying to find the cause, but it there are no results.
Then, when I attempt to restart VLC, I get a message asking me if I wish to submit a report to you. I say yes, but nothing happens. I assumed that the crash report would be sent automatically. But then I get the same message when I try to restart VLC again. So I end up saying no.

Am I supposed to be looking for some specific file to send to submit? Is there a specific procedure I am supposed to follow? I would be happy to oblige, if I knew how to do it.

Thanks

VLC_help
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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby VLC_help » 30 Nov 2009 13:57

crash log is stored to %appdata%\vlc if you want to manually look at it (or remove it).

Grape Crusher
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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby Grape Crusher » 30 Nov 2009 14:15

where exactly am I going to find this file? A search for it yielded nothing.

and when I find it, just chuck it? Don't submit it to anyone at Videolan?
VLC is not interested in seeing it?
Is it not potentially useful?

VLC_help
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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby VLC_help » 01 Dec 2009 16:41

where exactly am I going to find this file?
Open %appdata%\vlc in Windows Explorer
and when I find it, just chuck it? Don't submit it to anyone at Videolan?
VLC is not interested in seeing it?
Is it not potentially useful?
In most cases debug logs are completely useless. The better thing is to report us a way that can be used to replicate the crash.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby Joe M » 02 Dec 2009 01:59

I have exactly the same problem. I updated to 1.0.3 on my XP Pro 32 and immediately noticed that VLC was very flaky. I assumed that my battered old OS, which I had not rebuilt for a long time, must have been at fault and didn't pursue it any further.

I have now built a Windows 7 Ultimate 64 on brand new i7 320 /GTX 295 hardware and downloaded and installed VLC. Guess what! Exactly the same problems. VLC hangs or crashes and sometimes the task does not exit at all. There are NO logs in %appdata%\vlc !

This is a shame because VLC is quite a versatile player and I have grown to like it. But right now I can't use it. I may go back to the previous version if I still have the loader.

(Just as an aside, the XP system logs recorded the application crashing because of an illegal instruction, but I guess on an Intel CPU that can mean anything.)

Grape Crusher
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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby Grape Crusher » 02 Dec 2009 02:53

this is the first time I have had any problems with VLC.

And I gotta say they don't seem really interested. I have been unimpressed with the response so far. They really seem disinterested.

It's a good player, but not the only one.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby Jean-Baptiste Kempf » 03 Dec 2009 12:05

"My VLC crashed" is so vague it is useless...
Most crashes happen with broken preferences so, that is why people advise you to delete %appdata%/vlc folder.
Moreover, if we don't know what you were doing when it crashed, we can't help you.
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If you want an answer to your question, just be specific and precise. Don't use Private Messages.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby Grape Crusher » 03 Dec 2009 18:48

Silly me. I thought that reporting crashes was intended to help you to isolate and fix a problem.

What was I doing? Watching a video. Opening a file. Exiting the program. Using the seek bar. All of those, and more.

And I come to this forum, as I have over the years, to get answers. Which until this event, was always the case.

I don't need to be talked down to.

As I said above, there are other, even potentially better, free players out there.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby Jean-Baptiste Kempf » 04 Dec 2009 07:42

So instead of detailing your issue, you complain? Ok.
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If you want an answer to your question, just be specific and precise. Don't use Private Messages.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby Grape Crusher » 04 Dec 2009 09:01

Detailing my issue?
I told you. It crashes. While viewing a video. While opening a file. When using the seek bar. At all kinds of other times that I can't remember. What more can I tell you?
That is what crash logs are supposed to tell you. If yours are inadequate, you need to look into that, and not insult your users.
I came here to find out how I could best provide information about problems with your software to you. What I got abruptness and dismissive attitudes.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby novice » 05 Dec 2009 00:23

I have resolved the same problem, in my case it got progresivly worse. Until I had to look at other media players, all of which just dont cut the mustered.

at first I thought it was VLC 10.3 so I erased - re installed, without success, then I erased it again and fished around for 8.6 still no joy. Fustrated i went for a purge, I removed all from the start path together with AVG ( I had just upgraded but the problem was there B4)

This worked with complete success I can seed and watch now, so all is good. thanks VLC

however iam on Vista Home pro not 7, yet with purge don't see why that would matter

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby bcherry » 07 Jan 2010 02:38

What do you mean you purged it? How do you remove start paths?

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby derhasefee » 09 Jan 2010 17:52

Same problem here, Windows Ultimate 7 64 bit running on i7 975 processor. The first time I became aware of the issue was a message from the Action Center, not actually doing anything with VLC. Un- and re-installed 1.0.3, VLC keeps crashing every now and then for no apparent reason. Works fine on the old computer XP SP3 on Pentium 4. Also had those reports submitted. Microsoft says VLC 1.0 is compatible with Windows 7 64 bit.

Message reads:
Address a problem with VLC media player

VLC media player has stopped working properly.

Support for this product is community-based, providing solutions to common problems through an online user forum. Typically, this type of support lets you search the postings of other users for solutions, or ask the group a question if a solution to your problem is not immediately available.


That's why I am here.

There is no log in %appdata%/vlc that I could find, only
CACHDIR.TAG
ml.xspf
plugins-04041e.dat
vlc-qt-interface
vlcrc

Since VLC is my favorite media player, I hope this issue can be resolved shortly.

VLC_help
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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby VLC_help » 09 Jan 2010 19:53

derhasefee: different video and/or audio output modules work any better?
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-1.0 ... _output.3F
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-1.0 ... _anomalies

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby Veeon » 10 Jan 2010 00:01

I've also got issues with crashing vlc.

I'm running on W7 Home Premium 64.

When I run a *.img file, vlc starts up just as it should. Since I'm from Sweden and trying to play a swedish dvd.img I get the option to select a language (swedish, norwegian, danish and perhaps finnish). As soon as I choose a language, vlc crashes. I can get around this, by choosing the root-menue, where I still can choose my sub language. This problem I can live with. The other crash-problem I've got is that vlc crashes when I try to skip chapters. This is really annoying cause I often fall asleep when I'm watching a movie in bed :) and I don't want to watch it from the beginning every time...

Hoping for a solution...
derhasefee: different video and/or audio output modules work any better?
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-1.0 ... _output.3F
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-1.0 ... _anomalies
This is not the problem for me, I'm sorry to say. When video is playing, there is no problem. As I said above, vlc just goes down...

Seems to work just fine with *.mkv files though... :D
... and *.iso and I just tried a couple of more *.img, and they all work fine... not much of a problem anymore :) for me anyway.
Last edited by Veeon on 10 Jan 2010 22:43, edited 3 times in total.

VLC_help
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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby VLC_help » 10 Jan 2010 14:02

Veeon: img works better if you mount it?

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby derhasefee » 10 Jan 2010 14:06

derhasefee: different video and/or audio output modules work any better?
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-1.0 ... _output.3F
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-1.0 ... _anomalies
Will give that a try and report back. Thank you.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby menomnon » 30 Jan 2010 06:27

I'm having the same problem. Just got a new laptop loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium. I typically download a nightly zip of vlc and put it somewhere other than c:\program files.

Run vlc, drag and drop (the wrong kind) of video file onto it and vlc crashes.

"The wrong kind" ... N.B. AVIs don't play - but MPEGs do play. Why is this? Further data point, the problem is not just vlc, Windows Media Player also won't play avi.

I'm a programmer. Figured "ah, it doesn't have the codecs". Downloaded xvid and installed it. Things still don't work.

But then remembered, a 32-bit kit like xvid installs not into c:\windows\system32 but rather c:\windows\sysWOW64. WOW64, despite the name is the 32-bit subsystem on a 64-bit Windows machine.

I'm guessing that vlc looks for its codecs only in c:\windows\system32 (which is actually the 64-bit system) and not c:\windows\sysWOW64.

Tried going into WOW64 and identifying the xvid codecs - found a .ax and two .dll's and copied them to vlc.exe's home directory.

Still didn't work I guess, I haven't found all the DLLs, etc that are needed to support the avi style codecs.

Think it's time to download http://www.dependencywalker.com/

Dependency Walker can sometimes help me sort out DLL hell. Except in this case (I believe) the DLL hell is a matter of navigating between the 32-bit and 64-bit subsystems to found in any 64-bit version of Windows.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby VLC_help » 30 Jan 2010 16:52

I'm guessing that vlc looks for its codecs only in c:\windows\system32 (which is actually the 64-bit system) and not c:\windows\sysWOW64.
Wrong. All codecs VLC use are on VLC directory (plugins folder). VLC cannot use DirectShow or VfW codecs.

Your WMP and VLC issues aren't related.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby menomnon » 30 Jan 2010 17:54

I'm guessing that vlc looks for its codecs only in c:\windows\system32 (which is actually the 64-bit system) and not c:\windows\sysWOW64.
Wrong. All codecs VLC use are on VLC directory (plugins folder). VLC cannot use DirectShow or VfW codecs.

Your WMP and VLC issues aren't related.
OK fine - what's more I learned something. Something I read already but somehow ignored (vlc gets all its codecs from its own installation).

So that will eliminate a good deal of further, useless chasing about on my part.

But I don't care about any particular theory that I have. What I care about is why vlc is working on 64-bit Windows 7 with mpeg files but not with avi files? The most likely candidate I can think of now, based on what you told me, is that there's a problem with the vlc codecs. In particular XVID.

I find nothing of use (a LOG file) in %appdata%\vlc

pat

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby menomnon » 30 Jan 2010 18:18

I see.

Trunk doesn't work, but Branch (1.0.5) does work. For at least XVID that is.

Don't know exactly why. But the fix to get things working was simple enough.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby Dearth » 31 Jan 2010 06:25

I'm running XP Pro.

VLC Media Player crashes when I try to play a music directory by right-clicking on it and choosing "play with VLC..." from the menu.

I've gone back to using a previous version even though the old version cannot play a directory of music using a right-click. I have to highlight all the songs in the directory and then hit play.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby TitanFan » 31 Jan 2010 08:03

I have replicated a crash on both Windows XP and Windows 7 using VLC version 1.0.3. I have a "VIDEO_TS" format movie that crashes VLC every time immediatley on startup. I checked the VLC directory for a crash dump, and there is a crashdump file, but its zero bytes. As I said, this happens on both XP and Windows 7 immediately after trying to start to play the movie. I also have PowerDVD, and PowerDVD is able to play this movie without an issue, so this crash is unique to VLC. Any idea on the next steps to debug this crash?? This seems like a good opportunity to fix a bug, as this crash is very easy to repeat.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby TitanFan » 31 Jan 2010 08:12

Oh, I should add that I tried to delete the %appdata%/vlc folder, and it still crashes. Also, I’m able to play my other videos just fine with VLC (VIDEO_TS, .iso, .avi, .mp4, .wmv). VLC only crashes on this one particular video.

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Re: VLC Crashing

Postby VLC_help » 31 Jan 2010 15:26

TitanFan: you have ripped VIDEO_TS to hard drive or is it a store bough DVD?


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