hang: AAC/AC3 audio on Nforce3 with Realtek AC'97 driver
Posted: 09 May 2009 22:41
This has already been for two or free years (for all the time I use VLC, don't remember exactly). I've been using VLC nightlies and releases, I've updated my Realtek AC'97 drivers (from version 3.86 to 4.06 nowadays), I've reinstalled Windows (though, they all were XPs SP2). But bug has always existed for me. I post about it only now, because I didn't know the cause of all this, I thought, videocard (or drivers for it) were guilty. But now I know steps to reproduce
Steps to reproduce:
1. install some old motherboard with nVIDIA nForce3 250 (CK8S) chipset with Realtek ALC655 onboard (actually, don't do it );
2. setup any of Realtek AC'97 drivers;
3. set your audio Hardware acceleration to Full (4/4) or Standard (3/4) (Control Panel >> Sound and Audio Devices >> Volume tab >> Advanced... button in the bottom >> Performance tab);
4. setup any version of VLC (yes, any, the latest release and todays nightly are included in "any"), default settings;
5. open some movie with AAC or AC3 audio stream(s) (avi, mkv, mp4, vob containers are affected, maybe others too), maybe, even m4a (audio container with ALAC) counts too, haven't tried, I'm afraid for my system;
6. then stop it (not pause), or open another video in the same window (thus closing the first) or kill VLC process.
Actual results:
In 2-3 seconds after closing the system completely hangs. Reboot is the only solution. (So, if you once open such video, you know, that Windows won't be restarted normally this session, point.)
Expected results:
Normal closing of VLC or video without such disasters.
Such a gruesome behaviour isn't seen in any other media player. I've tried Light Alloy, WMP, MPC, Winamp, Crystal Player, Zoom Player (though, almost all of them are DirectShow only). And I've figured out recently, that having Hardware acceleration set to Basic (2/4) or None (1/4) helps to avoid the hang.
Hope, this helps. Ask everything you want about my system or whatever, that might help the investigation
Steps to reproduce:
1. install some old motherboard with nVIDIA nForce3 250 (CK8S) chipset with Realtek ALC655 onboard (actually, don't do it );
2. setup any of Realtek AC'97 drivers;
3. set your audio Hardware acceleration to Full (4/4) or Standard (3/4) (Control Panel >> Sound and Audio Devices >> Volume tab >> Advanced... button in the bottom >> Performance tab);
4. setup any version of VLC (yes, any, the latest release and todays nightly are included in "any"), default settings;
5. open some movie with AAC or AC3 audio stream(s) (avi, mkv, mp4, vob containers are affected, maybe others too), maybe, even m4a (audio container with ALAC) counts too, haven't tried, I'm afraid for my system;
6. then stop it (not pause), or open another video in the same window (thus closing the first) or kill VLC process.
Actual results:
In 2-3 seconds after closing the system completely hangs. Reboot is the only solution. (So, if you once open such video, you know, that Windows won't be restarted normally this session, point.)
Expected results:
Normal closing of VLC or video without such disasters.
Such a gruesome behaviour isn't seen in any other media player. I've tried Light Alloy, WMP, MPC, Winamp, Crystal Player, Zoom Player (though, almost all of them are DirectShow only). And I've figured out recently, that having Hardware acceleration set to Basic (2/4) or None (1/4) helps to avoid the hang.
Hope, this helps. Ask everything you want about my system or whatever, that might help the investigation