Problem with TMPGENC encoding...

[darkcyber]

I've taken some home videos I took with my Sony Mini DV recorder and got them onto my pc (I've been doing this with my personal pc for a while with no problem). Now I've built another pc to handle this so I can free up my pc. My pc is an AMD XP 2000 with an ASUS A7V266-E m/b. I can use TMPGENC perfect on it for encoding my avi videos to DVD to burn to my DVD drive.

But on my new system, which is an AMD XP 2000 also, with a PC Chips M830 m/b, when I start running TMPGENC to encode the video to DVD, it will either crash my pc or restart it after only a few minutes. Both systems have Windows XP Pro on them. My personal system has 512 megs of DDR ram and the PC Chips system has 512 megs of SDRAM.

It does not crash on anything else. I can't seem to find any help for the program on the net...any suggestions. Or is there another program that will encode from AVI to DVD format that I can try.

Thanks!
DarkCyber

[Sefy]

It might be a compatibility issues with TMPGEnc, the developers decided they are gonna support P4 more then AMD for some reason.

I strongly would still recommand you get rid of the PC Chips board and get a VIA or nForce mainboard

[gf]

Hi darkcyber,
I am using a Athlon xp1900+, Asus A7V333, 768 Mb ram, and win2000 on one machine and a Athlon 1100, Abit KT7A 256 Mb ram, and win ME on another. And both systems don't have a problem with TMPGENC. I am using version 2.51.33.127. Hope this helps.

Steve

[musher70]

I always thought everyone used AMD processors,
A lot cheaper and more durable i think, power
just isnt everything, just remember it took >>>>

<<<<<<30 YEARS>>>>>> to reach 1 gigahert

18 months for 2 gigs
less than a year for 3>>>>>

who knows whats next.....
try better memory....tmpg runs fine on xp pro
with my 1900+, got mushkin hi perf ddr 2100 512k
also got a real fast drive, a wd 1200jb...
saved my money and got a pio 105

[darkcyber]

Well, I don't think it's an AMD issue, if that were the case, then it would not run fine on my personal pc with the ASUS m/b. I'd never had one problem with it.

I'm running TMPGENC Plus version 2.58.44.152 and TMPGENC regualr 2.54.37.135 and both do the same thing.

It could be the PC Chips m/b or the ram...that's really the only two things that are major differences in my pc's. The PC Chips pc is just my server pc, that use to be a P-III 650, but it started locking up all the time and I changed everything out except the m/b and you can't find those Slot 1 m/b's anymore. So, I opted for a cheap solution, thus why I got the PC Chips m/b.

I may try my DDR ram out of my personal pc in the PC Chips m/b and see if that helps (it does have DDR and SDRAM slots). If that doesn't fix it, then it has to be the PC CHIPS m/b.

Is TMPGENC the only encoding software out there for encoding for VCD's and DVD burning? It seems to be the only one listed all over vcdhelp.com.

Thanks all for your input.

DarkCyber

[abrakadabra]

Hi!
This is almost an impossible task. Telling someone what is wrong with his setup.
But from what you wrote in your post, I would say you have a cooling problem.

When encoding the cpu is going full speed and generates a lot of heat. If your cpu-fan isn't up to it, computer lock up or reboot is what you get.

The same will happen if your RAM isn't up to it. Another possibility is "power failure". if your power-unit can't give the energy needed.

If any of those things are your problem, I would suggest you try clocking down your PC in the BIOS to 100 MHz

If that solves your problem, at least you have narrowed down the possible reasons.

Good luck!

[darkcyber]

Thanks! I might give that a try along with changing out the ram. I have an amlost new cpu fan, made for the high speed AMD cpu's. The power supply is a 300 watt and stable. I never run my pc's with the case on, so I'm not so sure it's heat related.

I agree, finding the problem is tuff. I just didn't know if someone else out there may have run into the exact thing I'm having. I'm really leaning toward it being either the PC Chips m/b (that's really my guess) or my ram. But this ram worked perfect in my old P-III 650 and I could encode with it in that system, before it just started locking up in everything. But the encoding took about 6-7 hours to encode an 1 1/2 hours of video on that P-III 650

DarkCyber

[Sefy]

Actually that last remark of yours, about the RAM working on your old PC may explain the troubles you are having, it's not fast enough for the AMD, it is a possibility for problems, especialy since Encoding is both CPU and Memory intensive.

[bbb]

I suspect it's the RAM too. Try out your DDR RAM. If that stabilizes your system, then get some new RAM for your system. I recommend Mushkin brand. Be sure to get the specific RAM type that your motherboard needs (look in the manual or online). New AthlonXP and P4 motherboards need new fast (DDR) RAM that can take the extra system speed.

Hopefully, it's not the motherboard. If so (if the DDR RAM and new RAM also causes instability), first try out new motherboard drivers from the manufacturers website. And, if that does no good, get it RMA-ed fast. I don't think it's the power supply (despite what others may speculate) or CPU/fan--those components tend to have very sturdy build and intensive quality control. Of course, it doesn't hurt to make sure that the fan is seatedly flatly and snugly on top of your CPU and that it has sufficient thermal paste/adhesive.

Also, make sure to download the newest Windows updates--just in case.

[Sefy]

bbb, he can't do that, one PC uses DDR RAM, the older PC uses SDRAM, they don't match, the RAM sockets are different and incompatible, he can cause a damage if he tries to force it inside.

[kitty]

If the new PC runs fine during normal tasks for long periods but flakes out on CPU intensive tasks it may be the heat. The heatsink nneds a bit of conductive grease to attach to the CPU and the fans etc have to get the heat off.

Some good motherboards have temperature sensors - your manual will say so. Some decent Intel MBs have this and a utility to monitor temperature, voltage, & more.

You might also check your memory modules - one might have a bad byte somewhere - take one out if possible, try, then if it doesn't work swap with the one you took out, try again.

[bbb]

Sefy,

From my reading of his post, he says that his older PC uses DDR RAM and his new one was using the old SDRAM. I thought that this was wierd so I recommended that he use the DDR RAM in his new system (as a temporary test) to see if this fixes the problem. I DID NOT recommend that he put the SDRAM into his other personal system. In fact, I never heard of a new system AthlonXP compatible motherboard that didn't use DDR RAM. Also, I did recommend that he read his motherboard manual to find out the type of RAM he needed.

[Sefy]

bbb,

You misread him 8)
Here is the line he said:

My personal system has 512 megs of DDR ram and the PC Chips system has 512 megs of SDRAM.

As you can see, two systems, two different RAM chip designs, there are some old Mainboards which use the SDRAM chipset and support the AthlonXP

I Hope that clears some confusion

[darkcyber]

Problem solved everyone

My PC Chip M830L m/b has SDRAM and DDR slots. I took out my SDRAM and put in a stick of my 2100 DDR ram and it works perfect. So, you were right the SDRAM was just to slow for it.

Thanks everyone!

DarkCyber

[Sefy]

Glad to hear everything works!

[tomclary]

Are there any memory/system diagnostic programs that will beat on a system as hard as doing MPEG encoding?

I have a similar situation to the one posted by DarkCyber. I sucessfully created two DVD from DV video earlier this year. Back in September, I tried to do my third and had crashes and lockups like he described when I tried to encode the video. I tried Tmpgenc, trials of the Ulead DVD programs under Window 98SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP pro, Windows XP pro SP1 with no luck. Same hardware configuration that had worked before. I finally put the video on 3 DVD-RW's and did the conversion using a friend computer.

I will also explore getting a motherboard monitor program.

Athalon XP 1500
512Meg Kingston DDR memory
500W Power supply (generic)

[Sefy]

There are a few, i'll check around to see which will be best for you!
Basicly most stability problems are actually mainboard compatibility more
then the RAM itself.

[tomclary]

Update on my situation. I installed some motherboard monitoring software. I found that when running TMPGenc that the processor would get too hot and produce an error in TMPGEenc. At which point it would stop running and the temperature would fall back down. Interesting to note that TMPGenc heated up the CPU more than any of the processor burn in programs I also tried.

This morning I opened the case and determined the fan on the processor heatsink was not running. Which tells me I have a damn stable motherboard and good case air flow or I would have seen other instability in the system.

The CPU fan was working when I built the system and I expect when I did my first two projects. I will try to follow up when I get the fan replaced and confirm this indeed fixes my problem.