PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

[neilthecellist]

Re: PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

Out of curiosity, which temperature monitor program are you using?

[codedragon]

Re: PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

I am using both the NVidia system utility and Abits's abiteq. I am notw positive the lock-ups are not heat or system related. Lastnight I ran 8 copies of DVDShrink concurrently to put a continuous heavy load on the machine. This process ran all night without any problems. When these processes completed this morning I trid to rip a CD and on track 13.. freeze.. Something is definately wrong in dMC.

[LtData]

Re: PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

Does it only crash with one CD or is it all of your CDs?
Idea: Check Device manager (Control Panel --> System --> Hardware tab --> Device Manager --> IDE/ATAPI Devices) for your IDE channels to make sure your CD drive is on DMA and not PIO mode.

Edit: The first question is to check to see if maybe that CD is copy-protected, but then it should just freeze dMC, not lock the computer up.

[codedragon]

Re: PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

I have not verified if it happens on any particualr CDs. I have verified that my CD drives are operating in DMA mode. I will perform some testing to see if this is CD related. Results tonight.

Damon

[codedragon]

Re: PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

I think I have an answer. My memory chips start cooking with dMC. The strange thing is , it is only dMC that does this. I am assuming some process dMC does make extreme utilization of the memory. Strange that it is only dMC that does this and not other software, such as DVDShrink. I am going to order some better memory heat sinks.

Damon

[codedragon]

Re: PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

I think I know why the computer now spirals out of control. On some tracks with reading problems, the ripping/encoding engine will get stuck. The processor seems to go into some strange infiinite loop where no progress is made but CPU utilization is pegged. If you allow this to continue, you will get a hard computer freeze. Unfortunately, dMC does not let you cancel a rip and stop it immediately, so you must use the task manager to shut it down before it hoses your system.

Damon

[LtData]

Re: PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

You cannot cancel a rip immediately if "Rip to RAM" is enabled. dMC finishes ripping the current track before canceling. You have to use Task Manager to kill it immediately, as you said.
Reading problems. Do you mean the CD is scratched?

[codedragon]

Re: PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

strangely, no... and now I have noticed it will also sometimes rip more and more slowly till a freeze happens. Again, this is on a blemish free CD (brand new).

Damon

[LtData]

Re: PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

Copy-protected, mabye?

[codedragon]

Re: PowerAmp Freezes computer while converting

Nero does not report any copy-protection. I am starting to believe the flaw may be in the Monkey's compression. I tried switching to simple WAVE to reduce processor usage. While my rpocessor was not overheating, I suspect my northbridge or memory was. Ripping then proceeded with no problems. I found my WAVE fiels were not ID3 encoded, so switched to using FLAC. Even on high compression, FLAC is not overheating or crashing my computer. Therefore I suspect something Monkey is doing is causing somethign to get extreme utulization, causing an overheat.

Damon