Bootloops beyond repair with Media Player Classic (MPC-HC)

[Glass]

So, it's the second time within the first year of my new PC that I am running into this ghastly, unrepairable Windows 10 BSOD / bootloop which appears to be somehow (at least to some degree) connected with MPC-HC.
I am saying this, because both times, it all started after playing a seemingly random video with MPC-HC.
The circumstances were pretty similar in both cases:

Bootloop 1, a few months ago: The "random video" was a .ts recording, stored on a Sandisk micro sd card, connected via a micro sd external usb adapter. I record TV programs using a DVBT-T2 receiver in .ts format, then edit them on PC or simply view them with video players (includ. MPC-HC), usually with no problems, meaning it was not the first time I did that.
Upon launching it with MPC-HC, the message "DX9AllocatorPresenter failed D3DERR_NOTAVAILABLE" appeared and I remember the video being flipped upside down (I can't recall if sound was playing or not).
Interestingly, the system didn't instantly BSODed so I didn't even realize something was (seriously) wrong.
On the very next boot though, a little later, Windows failed to boot, "CRITICAL DEVICE FAILED" message (unfortunately there was no code) appeared, then I am stuck in a dreaded bootloop limbo where no safe mode, disabling driver signature enforcement or other advanced startup setting or typical cmd line wizardry (fixboot/dism etc.) was able to do anything about it. Fortunately, "System Restore" came to rescue back then, and I was able to recover my system to a previously working state.

I 've started being a bit hesitant to keep using MPC-HC, so because of this (and also because of the minor annoyance of MPC-HC momentarily pausing when seeking around .ts videos - if not remuxed into .mp4 or .mkv that is), I've also started using GOM Player as my main player but still kept using MPC-HC now and then (as a secondary player), mainly while connecting my PC to my TV via HDMI to watch x265/10 bit encoded movies (it works really well with an android remote control app, which is convenient) and because well... it's the player I've learnt to love through the years.

Bootloop 2, a week ago. This time I had demuxed a .mkv, downloaded off youtube (stored locally on my hard drive) into elementary H.264 and .wav streams using Videoredo and the idea was remuxing the elementary H.264 with another .wav with Mkvtoolnix or Videoredo etc. But first, I wanted to load the video in a player then load the .wav file stream separately, so I test audio/video sync, adjust the audio accordingly, then note down how many ms I need to add or subtract, so I set the right sync setting on Mkvtoolnix later. I've opened the H.264 stream with Gom Player and I wasn't able to find a "load external audio stream option" (as I wasn't able to find it one on MPC-HC, but this is not our problem). It didn't show any error messages though. So I thought I'd give MPC-HC a go. Upon opening it, the "DX9AllocatorPresenter failed D3DERR_NOTAVAILABLE" showed up once more (this time without the video being upside down).
I said to myself: "Uh oh", because I knew what that meant... So I've rebooted my system and... sure enough... I was facing the exact same bootloop... Only this time, not even "System Restore" or even "Reset this PC" was able to save me (they both failed) and I was left with no choice but to reinstall Windows...

Now, I don't believe in recurring coincidences and I am sure you understand how why I suspect that MPC-HC might be responsible for my bootloops.
I could be way off, but to me, it looks like those two times MPC-HC was asked to play two files that for some reason didn't like and for whatever reason corrupted something on my system (most likely the video card driver) which Windows didn't like at all ,to the point they could not possibly recover...

I think it's also important to mention that when it comes to Bootloop #2, I do remember installing the K-Lite Codec Pack a could of days ago (latest version, from the legit, official site of course: https://codecguide.com/download_kl.htm) which I suspect it might also be (partially or even fully?) responsible for my issues. Why did I install it? Because Gom Player was complaining about not being able to play AC3 or AAC (I don't remember which one to be honest) with some .mkv movies AND because I wanted to give MadVR a go with MPC-HC, since everyone seems to love it. Had I installed K-Lite Codec Pack back then, when the Bootloop #1 occurred? I don't remember, but it's quite possible, because I remember trying to make MPC-HC play .ts files without those momentary pauses when seeking forward, before I resort in trying to find an alternative player. Researching online, I've figured many people seem to advise against K-Lite because it can cause various problems, including bootloops so I am now pretty skeptical about it.
The thing is, I've been using it along MPC-HC (the original one, not your fork), for years on my laptop with no such problems.
Of course, I fully understand that we are talking about a completely different system (Windows 7, Intel i3, on board Intel video card driver, different MPC & K-Lite versions) and a couple of different factors come into play, so that maybe doesn't say much.

Does anyone have any idea what's happening, why it does, how could I possibly escape the bootloop when that happened and of course, most importantly, what should I do to make perfectly sure this isn't happening ever again? It's been driving me nuts, to the point I am *this* close of trying to setup a Virtual Machine and try to replicate the problem, hoping I finally understand the reason. Would you advise that btw or since, AFAIK VSs use the host machine hardware, in case MPC-HC or something else cause a corrupt video driver for example, it's pretty likely this will cause bootloops to my main OS anyway, rendering the VM experiment useless or even dangerous? Thanks.

My system is as follows:
Ryzen 3900x
32 GB of RAM
Nvidia 1660 Super
Windows 10 1909

[DB83]

Entering that full error msg into a search engine will bring up a page full of hints and tips of how to fix MPC-HC including this one


https://www.wintips.org/media-player-classic-error-code-0x8876086a/


The issue does appear related to your graphics card driver so do ensure that is up to date from an official source and not some rando 'Update your drivers' site. Or even rely on what a Win10 installation gives you.


And codec packs, especially if you install too many options, can cause you grief and you really do not need them. Just a lazy way to get the system fooked.

[johns0]

I would quickly uninstall k-lite codec and just install the individual codecs you need.

[Glass]

I would quickly uninstall k-lite codec and just install the individual codecs you need.

Thanks for your input, greatly appreciated. Well, it's not a matter of uninstalling it anymore, since the bootloop was unrepairable and led me to reinstall Windows...
But, I get what you are saying, I see many people (here and other places) agreeing. I hear you, but I've got to ask, since this is really important in my case:

K-lite causing all sorts of problems in general could be one thing. But, apart from causing problems such as videos not playing (despite all these codecs, I know conflicts can be a bad thing...) or any other issue strictly related with a video player, is there any chance it can go as far (because of the aforementioned conflicts for example) as cause BSODs, let alone in the form of a bootloop so bad that Windows can't even recover from?
I mean, do you think or maybe heard of cases where it could cause video driver corruption? (which, in turn, can be responsible for the bootloop).

Furthermore, do you know whether something like that (corrupted video driver) could be possible (even under specific, rare conditions), by simply trying to play a corrupted video, regardless of the player you use?