Burnin Test closes when running video test

[RzB]

I have a Asus P5GD1 motherboard, 2Gig of memory, Asus EAX700 Pro video card. I recently formatted and reinstalled Windows as the system was becoming a little unstable. Unfortunatly that did not fix the probem. No overclocking and all temperatures looking just fine. OS = XP SP2 + latest fixes.

I have run my registered Version 4 Burnin test and have found that CPU, Memory, 2D and 3D Test run just fine. However when I run the Video test Burnin puts up the stop button, thinks about it for about two seconds, then closes. Nothing in the Burnin Log or the System/Application Event logs. OS continues to run.

Th video file is the windows/clock.avi file. Interestingly, Windows Media Player will play this just fine but VLC and winamp have problems. I have installed all of the latest Asus drivers.

I have also downloaded Burnin Version 5.3 and that's exactly the same.

Any ideas why Burnin might just exit without any sort of error message?

Thanks,
Roy

[Ian (PassMark)]

I would first think that it is a bug (or corruption) in one of the Video codecs installed on the system. I would first try a couple of different types of Video File formats to help investigate the problem. A sample set of video files (from our local beach) can be downloaded from:
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/BIT_Video_test.zip

For example, a number of months back we spent quite a lot of time trying to work out a bug that turned out to be a bug in the DivX codec when multiple videos are played simultaneously (divxdec.ax - used for playing back DivX compressed videos that are packed in an avi file format).

Based on my experience, it seems to me that WMP includes its own video codecs, rather than using the codecs installed on the system (possibly only under some situations). This would explain why WMP works.


The fact you have a clean OS install, makes me think that maybe it could also be a fault with the graphics card. As a second step, I would try a different graphics card if you have one.

Regards,
Ian (PassMark)

[David (PassMark)]

Also check the DEP settings on this machine.

[RzB]

Gents,
Many thanks for your help.

DEP is set to "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only" - I don't seem to be able to turn it off altogether.

I downloaded the video files you suggested. This is what happened...

See table here....

http://www.gillandroy.com/odds/burnin

I couldn't get a table to format on the forum...

I'm lost in this area - is the above telling me something?

I have installed DivX 6.6 but that fixed nothing. How do I find out what codecs are installed, and how do I find out what codecs I need, and how do I refresh them etc... This is an area that has always been a mystery to me!!!

Unfortunatly I don't have a spare PCI Express graphics card to try - I'll go buy one if I'm unable to progress this along the codecs route.

BTW - Running Burnin in Safe mode gave the same results. Also - occasionally (about once a day) the system will reboot for no reason at all - when it's just sitting there idle. I'm concentrating on the Burnin/Video problem first - at least that is repeatable.

Many thanks,
Roy

[RzB]

OK - I have done some reading re Codecs etc and have downloaded a program called G-Spot. This program gives all sorts of information about video files including what Codecs are needed.

It tells me that "MS Video 1" codec is needed for BIT_CINEPAK.AVI and BIT_MICROSOFT_VIDEO1.AVI, and that this codec is not installed. Interesting as VLC was not able play these two. However it is in G-Spots list of installed codecs - d'oh. And the msvidc32.dll file is there in Windows/System32. Hmm time to look for another tool to verify what G-Spot is telling me...

I'll investigate further..

Roy

[RzB]

Ooooo - Have just found the list of Codecs that XP says are loaded in Control Panel / Sounds & Audio Devices / Hardware / Video Codecs / Properties. It says MS Video 1 is enabled and functioning properly. Hmmm... Now what!

Roy

[RzB]

Also I have taken msvidc32.dll from another machine and replaced the one on my machine in case it's corrupt.

And I have checked that...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/Drivers32 has a string value with name vidc.msvc and value msvidc32.dll...

And I have uninstalled Divx - just in case...

Hmmm - where to go from here?

Could this be hardware? Doesn't feel like it to me... Given that WMP plays ok, doesn't that indicate the hardware is OK?

Help!!!!!

Thanks,
Roy

[Ian (PassMark)]

Did your system ever work reliably, or can you trace the instability being introduced by some system change, such as adding hardware?

It would not surprise me if your 2 issues are not related. I would definitely turn off the Windows automatic system restart to see if you have a device driver bug for your intermittent system shutdown.


Do you get an error message just before BurnInTest closes? Could you try this version of V5.3 and let me know if you have the same problem:
http://www.passmark.com/ftp/bitpro531004_m.exe

Regards,
Ian (PassMark)

[RzB]

Ian,

I can't associate any changes with the system getting unreliable. I haven't made any internal hardware changes for ages, but there have been a few USB type things. New Phone, etc - I don't think that sort of hardware will cause a problem but I guess the associated software could have something to do with it.

The system did work reliably but then slowly got unreliable hence the XP reinstall. It sort of crept up on me.

I agree that the two problems are probably not related. I have turned off the auto reboot - I had forgotten that I could do that. Lets hope that gives me a useful error message.

There was no message from Burnin - it pops up the STOP button then just closes about 2 seconds later.

Interestingly the build that you sent me works fine with all of the videos! I have not run it for an extended period but they all play ok.

The other thing that is very remiss of me is that I have not run the other Burnin tests, for an extended period, for some time. I have been sort of concentrating on the Video problem that showed up immediatly. I'll run CPU and memory checks overnight.

Many thanks for your help,
Roy

[Ian (PassMark)]

I believe that the video behaviour you are seeing is related to copy protection with certain video codecs and I do not believe this to be a system problem.

There is an incompatability between BurnInTest and some of the codecs installed by Nero 6. If you have Nero 6, you might try uninstalling it to see if this really is the problem (normally you would see an error message). Please see:
http://www.passmark.com/forum/showth...ghlight=nero+6

We are working on a resolution to the issue in the above thread and hope to have a solution for this in the next few weeks.

Regards,
Ian (PassMark)

[RzB]

Ian,

Yep - Nero 7.

Uninstalled and Burnin 5.3 works just fine. (I have just purchased the upgrade from Ver 4)

I don't usually put bad things up in forums about anyone or any product.

However - sufice to say that Nero 7 has been my worst purchase ever - it's now uninstalled forever!

VLC still wont play some of these videos (I get audio only) - the ones with the Microsoft Video 1 codec. I'll continue with that debug and report back here if I sort it out.

I wouldn't be surprised if my random crash was caused by Nero as well - version 7 has some sort of indexing thing that runs on and off in the background... Hmmm we shall see.

Many thanks for your assistance.
Roy

[RzB]

OK - I turned off Windows auto restart. This evening my system has crashed twice - blue screen gives the following info on the first crash..

http://www.gillandroy.com/odds/burnin/crash

The second crash information was exacly the same but the 4th item in the "STOP" line line was 0xA6B87B4C instead of 0xA6B87B4C.

The system was idle when the crash occured.

Is this telling me something?

The system runs Burnin just fine - I ran Burnin CPU, Video, Graphics and Memory whilst running Prime95 - it ran for 24 hours with zero errors.

Anyone got any ideas?

Many thanks,
Roy

[RzB]

I managed to sort out the VLC problem. This is a problem with VLC nothing to do with setup of the machine. If you are interested see post on VLC forum...

http://tinyurl.com/37rz5w

It would appear that some of the test cases require some very old Codecs.

Did anyone have any thought about my previous post?

Many thanks,
Roy

[Ian (PassMark)]

The crash is within the Windows Operating system kernel, rather than a 3rd party device driver. Here's what Microsoft have to say about it:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827663


In regards to the sample video files we ditribute, the MSVC codec is old, but should still play in BurnInTest. FYI, the incompatability between BurnInTest and Nero 6 and Nero 7 has been resolved (worked around) in the latest build of BurnInTest, V5.3.1005, available from here (currently only the WIN32 Pro version has been updated):
http://www.passmark.com/download/bit_download.htm

Regards,
Ian