FREEZING during ENCODING no matter which program is used.

[bganthis]

Hey there,

I have tried TMPEG, ROXIO VIDEO PACK, NERO BURNING ROM.


They all FREEZE my Machine during MPEG encoding. The freeze happens in a Random Location in the conversion. I have to hold down the POWER BUTTON on the case for a FULL POWER DOWN.
Im running a AMD 1.4 with 512 Ram and WIN XP.
I have tried converting MANY different types of files. AVI, MPG, ASF....

What would the ENCODING process do to my machine to freeze it?

I am running the ACE MEGA CODECS pack.

I have tried to pulling the .WAV audio too. Still random lockups.

I have had successful conversions but ALWAYS on shorther files. Such as 20MB or less. I rarely can get a successfull convertion on larger files.

I would think that my MACHINE has plenty of CPU POWER. I don't know what happens during encoding but my MACHINE has a problem doing it.

Please, your suggestions.

Thanks
Will :D

[bugster]

During encoding your machine is running at full CPU load for the whole process. The fact that shorter movies convert OK is the BIG CLUE. Your CPU is overheating and so locking up. Try running with the case covers off for a while and maybe point a desk fan towards the machine. If this fixes the problem you should investigate installing an extra case fan to permanently solve the problem.

[Fred©]

Or simply disable your screen saver and BIOS power management / windows power management to avoid standy modes...

Fred©

[bganthis]

Hi,

Thanks for the input guys. I will pull the cover and put a fan pointed directly at the CPU. I hope this works.

I already have been keeping the SCREENSAVER turned off and the POWER SETTING for the monitor is set to NEVER TURN OFF.

Now if this does NOTHING. Whats next? Remember running a program before to show the CPU heat and it was not going out of the Manufactures Specs. But I WILL TRY the fan trick.

What else could it be?

Codec related? All of my Video files play fine with media player. This would indicate that I have all the codecs I need. BUT could the CODECS be causing conflict? HMM

Well. what do you think?

Should I Re Intall/Repair XP? Im not talking a FRESH INSTALL with Formatting of the Harddrive though.

HELP

[Lamont Cranston]

I had my AMD Athlon lockup during mpeg encoding and it was caused by some MMx instructions in the encoder software not being emulated by the Athlon. When you were using TMPGEnc did you try turning off the MMX instructions under the CPU tab in Environmental settings? If they were on click them off and give it a try. You may have to close and open TMPGEnc to get the change to take effect

[bganthis]

Darn,

I was hoping the MMX disable was going to be it. I tried to convert a DV-AVI file that was 40 mins long (20GIG) and it got half way (2 HOURS INTO IT) then froze.

Did turning of your MMX make it work fine everytime for you? Were you having the SAME problem before?


I still have to try taking off the case and pointing the FAN at the CPU and see if that works.

Any other IDEAS why it would freeze me up?

Thanks for your help guys.

[Lamont Cranston]

Did turning of your MMX make it work fine everytime for you? Were you having the SAME problem before?

When I discovered the problem my system was freezing up much the same as yours is. I was working with the Ligos encoder in Ulead's MSP V6.5. In talking to Ulead tech support they pointed out the problem with MMX instructions and AMD processors. At that point I built a new Pentium 4 based system and have not had a problem since. To answer your question I have not tried turning off the MMX instructions in TMPGEnc with the Athlon. Take a look at this thread http://forum.vcdhelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=90801&highlight=

[bganthis]

Well are there any more settings that can help my stability in TMPEG?

I looked and NERO BURNING ROM does not seem to have an option to remove MMX from encoding.

It sure would be nice to be able to do encoding without lockups.

HMMMM

[bganthis]

Well I just checked my CPU heat in the BIOS when I locked up during encoding and had to reboot.

I was at 60 C.

Is that hot for my AMD 1.4 Athlon? The MB is a Abit KT7-A Raid.

Hmmm

[Dragonsf]

60°C is not too hot for an Athlon Thunderbird, but indicates that heat is an issue with your process.I had a similar problem and opening the case helped definitely.Temparature now is a steady 58°C.

[bganthis]

Does it matter if I have my NORTON ANTIVIRUS and NORTON INTERNET SECURITY RUNNING while encoding?

I have not been touching my computer while encoding. Just to be safe. Should I be able to use the computer to surf the web and do email WHILE encoding to VCD MPEG?

I have not tried yet. I figure if my computer FREEZES while encoding when I dont use it, I would not help by running applications while encoding.

Thanks for all the input. I wanna get this problem licked.

[Dragonsf]

If I want to work with my PC while enconding, I set the program priority to lower as normal for the encoder (with the Taskmanager):You can do anything you like while encoding, which of courses takes a little bit longer to encode (during the times, the other program is using the CPU).
Running Antivirus and Browsing has no influence on the encoding.
This is not true during capturing:while capturing, you should leave the PC alone.

[Lacko]

I've had the same prpblem. It has nothing to do with the MMX instruction set. The Athlon is a perfect processor. I have an epox mainboard and if I load the optimal setttings in the BIOS I have the freezing problem with encoding. Try loading a the fail-safe settings, or if you load the optimal, somewhere in the processor's settings the core voltage should be put back to normal. My mainboard sets it a little higher and that cases the problem.
I hope it solves your problem too.

[Fred©]

Ok. Screen saver is disabled. But and what about the hard disk and system standby option? Is disabled too? The harddisk, when enabled the standy mode, can really freeze a writing process... So the system, because it will slowdonw the CPU...

I had an ASUS A7Pro, that uses a VIA chipset... My Duron temp was about 55/60 Cº... when I installed a software called VCool, it cooled the temp into 35/40º!!! Only in VIA chipset, that has a bug in its cooling instruction... Now my mobo has a ALI chipset... Vcool was removed...

ANY antivirus has influence when converting/encoding, if its REALTIME protection is enabled, because, while the encoder TRIES TO WRITE to disk, the antivirus INTERCEPTS its instruction and DO A SCAN in the file that is been created.. it is a good idea disable the antivirus when encoding. the same to surfing. Although you do can surf, surf without an antivirus isnt safe... and the task required to surf will steal time to the task of encoding, that is pure mathmatics procedure..

I never use antivirus when encoding, because it can, at least, slows down the encode procedure. If norton internet security is similar to ZoneAlarm, there is no need to disable it when encoding...

Fred©

[bganthis]

Yee Haw,

I think the problem is licked,

THANK YOU

I went to my bios and used FAILSAFE DEFAULTS.

It put my settings at 1ghz instead of 1.4ghz among other changes.

I turned the MMX back on too.

I just converted 20GIGs with NO LOCKUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully that was it.

[bugster]

Well, I still think your CPU is overheating, slowing it down like that will significantly reduce the strain on your processor and so reduce the heat generated. If you are happy running your PC much slower than it is capable of then fine, thats up to you. But it seems like a waste of money to me!

[bganthis]

Don't get me wrong. I would like to run as fast as possible. Does 60 Deg C. sound too hot?

I am planning on increasing the BIOS settings untill I reach the point where it starts to lock up.

I am just happy to be able to convert without the lockup.

I will still try the home FAN pointed at the CPU with the CASE off and see what happens too.

Thanks

[bugster]

60 deg is quite hot but you also have to consider how the temp is measured. On most AMD MB's temp is measure with a thermistor underneath the processor. Unless you built the machine yourself you cant even be sure it is touching the processor never mind making good thermal contact in order to get an accurate measurement. The Bios temp should only be taken as a rough guide, it is quite likeley that actual CPU core temp is much higher.