Need solution for Tmpgenc freezing system!!!

[purejunk]

I've tried everything I found on this site: reinstalling tmpgenc 2.54a, using CBR rather than my usual 2 pass VBR, using different source materials, lowering cpu speed in BIOS, giving higher priorities to VFAPI settings in Environmental Settings, etc. etc. I always used Tmpgenc without any problems but suddenly a few days ago, EVERY time I try to encode, my system freezes midway at various positions. When I say freezes, I mean seriously freezes: not even CTRL ALT DEL unfreezes it, only resetting does the trick. My setup is XP1800+, WinME, 256 DDRAM, KG7 mobo with all latest drivers. This is very frustrating! Please anyone if you have an answer, please share it with me. Thanks!

[BillTheKatt]

You're probably going to have to go through the standard steps to figure out why your system is unstable.

You must have changed something on your system a few days ago that caused the problem to occur. Did you change any drivers, maybe upgrade to newer Nvidia Detenators? Did you start overclocking? Something probably changed that is responsible for the problem.

Personally, I'd recommend you switch to Windows 2000 instead of using ME. 2000 and XP are far more stable than 95-98-ME. If you don't want to do that then I'd suggest you try a few things, first clean out your temp directory (ususally c:\temp or c:\windows\temp), sometimes leftover stuff can cause problems in there. Defrag your hard drive and run a scandisk on it to check for problems. Then maybe try reinstalling TMPGenc or trying an earlier version. Maybe check that you have the latest video and audio drivers. Video encoding will also put a heavy load on your CPU. Sounds like you are overclocking, do you have a good cooling solution on your processor? Check the CPU temp.

[Fred©]

Also,

remember to shut down as many softwares as you can that run underground, like antivirus... I had some problems with Ontrack Fix-it running when encoding... I removed it from memory and problem was gone...

Fred©

[purejunk]

Thanks for the answers guys. Nothing else is running in the background - antivirus is disabled. I haven't changed anything I can think of recently, I encoded last week without problems and now nada. I don't overclock, my cpu is set in BIOS to 1800 (133) and I initially thought it could be an overheating problem so I checked the CPU's temperature while encoding which was cpu=46° and system=41°, so I guess that's ok. I have now emptied my temp file eventhough I don't really see how that could affect anything, I'll give it a try later. I'll also defrag and scan my HD. What exactly are the nvidia detenators? Also, where can I download a previous version of tmpgenc? Thanks again! Appreciated...

[Rich927]

I would first shut down all unessary programs including firewalls(disconnect your puter from your dsl or cable) and viruscheckers. I have also found that if I disable the USB ports, since I don't use them when I do video, frees up resources. your problem may be a low resource problem. ME is not good at handling resources.

[purejunk]

Well, I tried everything you guys suggested but the problem remains... I really don't know what else to do. Could it be a bug in Tmpgenc? Does anyone know where to download an older version which I could try? I guess the last thing I could try is a format... something I dread.

[bbb]

If you have a VIA AMD MoBo, install the two drivers below.

4in1 Drivers:
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2

IDE Drivers:
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=66

[purejunk]

I tried everything and the ONLY thing that worked for me was uninstalling 2.54a and using a previous version (2.53). Could there just be a bug in 2.54a? It seems I am reading quite a few posts about Tmpgenc freezing up systems. Thanks for all the answers though!

[bbb]

2.54a is working great for me after reinstalling my system and installing the VIA drivers.

Your system files could be going bad, meaning time for a re-install.

Or, your system could be overheating since it's get warmer these days.

[purejunk]

I followed your advice and decided to go for a clean Windows install, so formatted my c drive, installed Windows and all necessary drivers for my system (inc. VIA drivers) and Tmpgenc v. 2.55 - and guess what? Same problem!!! This must be a bug, no? I really can't figure what else it could be! Why would v 2.53 work and 2.54a and 2.55 not? Since I now have to use 2.53, is there any difference in picture quality when decoding in 2 pass VBR between the two? Thanks in advance!

[purejunk]

I guess no one has a solution for my problem then... too bad...

[mrtristan]

What codec are you using to compress your avi files? I've found that PICVideo's Mjpeg codec is "buggy" on my system. Sometimes it works, sometimes it causes a reboot, when I'm encoding with Tmpgenc.

[purejunk]

Actually it's a d2v (dvd2avi) file I'm using in Tmpgenc...

[bbb]

When all else fails, reformat your HD and reinstall all new updated drivers (new mobo bios, all mobo/ide/dma/4in1 drivers, all video/sound/directx8.1 drivers, all new video codecs, all video apps). Then backup this clean system with ghost.

[purejunk]

Hi bbb,
That's what I did as I mentioned in a previous reply and it still didn't work, however, I just gave it another shot with resetting BIOS to Fail Safe Settings and it seems to work this time! Can you or anyone give optimum and working BIOS settings (Award) for failsafe Tmpgenc working? I really don't know which setting in BIOS would crash Tmpgenc!

[bbb]

So you reformated your harddrive?

Then you reinstalled all the drivers and download a new version of Tmpgenc.

And it still crashed?

Or did you skip something? Like reformating?

[purejunk]

Yep, I reformatted my c drive (left other partitions as they were), reinstalled Windows ME, installed all mobo driver (inc. VIA 4/1) and other necessary drivers such as video and audio. I then dloaded the new version 2.55 and installed it (hoping it would work better than 2.54a which was causing the troubles initially) and yes it crashed again - then as a final resort I decided to use fail safe BIOS settings and it worked.... Do you have any idea what in BIOS could cause this? Any settings in BIOS that are an absolute no?