ajb666
Hi all,
I got a nice Samsung Q35 from work (120GB hd, 2GHz Core Duo 2, 1.25GB memory) and have a serious issue with Virtual DJ 4.x through to 5.0.
If I attempt to use the "Add to search DB" option or try to search a drive with an existing database (e.g. from another PC) Virtual DJ just quits suddenly without warning. There is some cryptic information in the crashguard logs which I could post if anyone's interested.
The really odd thing is none of the other PCs I've tried have this problem. With version 5 having a database on each device I've scanned an external hard drive on a working machine then tried the drive on the laptop. The even weirder thing is, I don't think it's the usual corrupt name / long name issue...
I tried chopping files out of the XML by hand and the database stopped crashing Virtual DJ when it got to 128K in size!!!
I've previously had Sony and before that Fujitsu-Siemens laptops neither of which had this issue. The Samsung has, AFAIK, the same installs as the previous two: Win XP SP2, Office 2003, Nero, and VS2005. All machines (latops, tested desktops) have Symantec Anti-Virus.
Really, really weird, with only the extremely small database offering any clue. Any ideas?
I got a nice Samsung Q35 from work (120GB hd, 2GHz Core Duo 2, 1.25GB memory) and have a serious issue with Virtual DJ 4.x through to 5.0.
If I attempt to use the "Add to search DB" option or try to search a drive with an existing database (e.g. from another PC) Virtual DJ just quits suddenly without warning. There is some cryptic information in the crashguard logs which I could post if anyone's interested.
The really odd thing is none of the other PCs I've tried have this problem. With version 5 having a database on each device I've scanned an external hard drive on a working machine then tried the drive on the laptop. The even weirder thing is, I don't think it's the usual corrupt name / long name issue...
I tried chopping files out of the XML by hand and the database stopped crashing Virtual DJ when it got to 128K in size!!!
I've previously had Sony and before that Fujitsu-Siemens laptops neither of which had this issue. The Samsung has, AFAIK, the same installs as the previous two: Win XP SP2, Office 2003, Nero, and VS2005. All machines (latops, tested desktops) have Symantec Anti-Virus.
Really, really weird, with only the extremely small database offering any clue. Any ideas?
发表时间 Fri 24 Aug 07 @ 7:02 pm
cstoll
First; do not modify the database by hand, you risk corrupting it further.
VDJ now has a Check, Clean, and Fix option for the Databases. Use those if you feel the DB has issues OR you get a message telling you the DB is corrupt.
Also, if you are using a hard drive that has already been attached to a working VDJ v5 system. Do Not attach that drive to a NEW v5 install until after you have launched v5 on the new system at least 1 time. During the initial launch of v5 it tries to build the databases from the v4 DB on that system. If no DB from v4 exists and it is a v5 only install it might try re-building a perfectly good DB on that external drive. So, Install and launch 1 time to built the CORE V5 Database. Shut down VDJ, connect the hard drive (let Windows find it and scan it ), then launch V5... Now what happens?
Also, after you have build a Database(s) and feel all the tags have been appropriately read and applied - go to Config -> Browser tab and change the Taps option to Read on Load -- this will help the performance and search.
VDJ now has a Check, Clean, and Fix option for the Databases. Use those if you feel the DB has issues OR you get a message telling you the DB is corrupt.
Also, if you are using a hard drive that has already been attached to a working VDJ v5 system. Do Not attach that drive to a NEW v5 install until after you have launched v5 on the new system at least 1 time. During the initial launch of v5 it tries to build the databases from the v4 DB on that system. If no DB from v4 exists and it is a v5 only install it might try re-building a perfectly good DB on that external drive. So, Install and launch 1 time to built the CORE V5 Database. Shut down VDJ, connect the hard drive (let Windows find it and scan it ), then launch V5... Now what happens?
Also, after you have build a Database(s) and feel all the tags have been appropriately read and applied - go to Config -> Browser tab and change the Taps option to Read on Load -- this will help the performance and search.
发表时间 Fri 24 Aug 07 @ 7:37 pm
ajb666
All valid points, thanks but the central issue is a fresh install on my Samsung will not scan even a single folder whilst other machines can. Given an already existing database the Samsung will not read it until it is reduced in size.
Not quite sure what you mean by not touching the databases: they're only XML... thought the reference to VS2005 might hint at my knowledge :D
Anyway, at the moment I can only see testing a fresh install as the next option, something I'm loath to do considering Visual Studios painfully long install time.
Not quite sure what you mean by not touching the databases: they're only XML... thought the reference to VS2005 might hint at my knowledge :D
Anyway, at the moment I can only see testing a fresh install as the next option, something I'm loath to do considering Visual Studios painfully long install time.
发表时间 Fri 24 Aug 07 @ 9:56 pm
cstoll
I wasn't challenging your knowledge level. But, I would say that in general there is no need for manually changing the XML since VDJ has the tools for correcting the DB. if VDJ identifies there is a problem.
Also, question -- do all the other machines have the same load of applications that you listed above?
Turn off the active scan of Norton. Does it change?
Did you try my recommendation to change the Tags option to 'Read on Load'?
Also, question -- do all the other machines have the same load of applications that you listed above?
Turn off the active scan of Norton. Does it change?
Did you try my recommendation to change the Tags option to 'Read on Load'?
发表时间 Fri 24 Aug 07 @ 10:06 pm
ajb666
Yeah, I fiddled with all the settings under "Browser" to no avail. Strange that the "Check" option seems to do its thing yet actually running a query doesn't. Most of the machines are loaded with similar software, obviously the drivers are different...
One more test I've done: I tried FileMon (from Sysinternals) to see what files VirtualDJ tries to access before crashing but it doesn't seem to get as far as looking at the file system. i.e. the pop-up displaying the directories scanned never appears before a crash.
What dependencies are specific to VirtualDJ? I've seen mentions of .NET framework but I always have that up-to-date. If one of the programmers were here I'd ask: what does the "Add to search DB" do after you press it but before the file system is accessed :) Or maybe: what drivers are vital to Virtual DJ before performing a search of the database?
I'm gonna fire it up now and "End Task" everything in sight, see if that helps :)
One more thing, has anyone tried to run VirtualDJ from a VMware machine? I'd much rather run it like that than format my laptop!
Once again, thanks for taking the time to reply.
Regards,
Andy
One more test I've done: I tried FileMon (from Sysinternals) to see what files VirtualDJ tries to access before crashing but it doesn't seem to get as far as looking at the file system. i.e. the pop-up displaying the directories scanned never appears before a crash.
What dependencies are specific to VirtualDJ? I've seen mentions of .NET framework but I always have that up-to-date. If one of the programmers were here I'd ask: what does the "Add to search DB" do after you press it but before the file system is accessed :) Or maybe: what drivers are vital to Virtual DJ before performing a search of the database?
I'm gonna fire it up now and "End Task" everything in sight, see if that helps :)
One more thing, has anyone tried to run VirtualDJ from a VMware machine? I'd much rather run it like that than format my laptop!
Once again, thanks for taking the time to reply.
Regards,
Andy
发表时间 Sat 25 Aug 07 @ 12:54 am
ajb666
No luck with the "End Task" plan but, joy of joys, my old Fujitsu laptop is in the boot of the car :) I'm playing to fairly varied crowd tomorrow and losing the search would have been a royal pain...
Anyways, enjoy the weekend, I certainly will now :D
Anyways, enjoy the weekend, I certainly will now :D
发表时间 Sat 25 Aug 07 @ 1:32 am
djcel
ajb666 wrote :
There is some cryptic information in the crashguard logs which I could post if anyone's interested
Yes we are interested. Open the file with Wordpad and copy-paste the data here. Then delete this file
Do not use Visual Studio 2005 to edit the xml file because it modifies the xml structure used by VirtualDJ
发表时间 Sun 26 Aug 07 @ 1:48 pm
djrak
cstoll and djcell,
We have seen this problem also with a few machines with both upgrades and new installs.
Search doesn't always work in V5.
We have checked the XML files and the files that cannot be found are in the database
We are not sure if the problem is that the databases are corrupted internally causing the search to stiop without results or if the search algorithm is faulty and just stops for another reason. This user is suggesting that the problem is neither but may be the size of the database in that search stops short of searching the whole database. It may be this simple. If so it is a new problem as V4 worked on our systems with huge databases but V5 doesn't.
Ignoring these problems, we would have liked to see this new feature implemented with a field variable to have one central database as before or a database on every drive for those users that need it. We build rackmount systems with up to four terrabytes of media and we are certain that V5 will not work but that V4.3 still will. A single database on the boot and program drive would keep the read heads on the media drives where I want them instead of accessing the database. Distributed databases may make sense for laptop users or clubs where each DJ brings only their hard drive. The former makes sense but we would guess the later needs more thought.
Todd at DJRAK
We have seen this problem also with a few machines with both upgrades and new installs.
Search doesn't always work in V5.
We have checked the XML files and the files that cannot be found are in the database
We are not sure if the problem is that the databases are corrupted internally causing the search to stiop without results or if the search algorithm is faulty and just stops for another reason. This user is suggesting that the problem is neither but may be the size of the database in that search stops short of searching the whole database. It may be this simple. If so it is a new problem as V4 worked on our systems with huge databases but V5 doesn't.
Ignoring these problems, we would have liked to see this new feature implemented with a field variable to have one central database as before or a database on every drive for those users that need it. We build rackmount systems with up to four terrabytes of media and we are certain that V5 will not work but that V4.3 still will. A single database on the boot and program drive would keep the read heads on the media drives where I want them instead of accessing the database. Distributed databases may make sense for laptop users or clubs where each DJ brings only their hard drive. The former makes sense but we would guess the later needs more thought.
Todd at DJRAK
发表时间 Sun 26 Aug 07 @ 10:14 pm
cstoll
Todd,
I have a system that I built, in our club with NO Searching issues. Now it's not 4 TeraBytes of storage, but it is 1.4 TeraBytes spread across 4 drives (3 - 300GB and 1 - 500GB) with 5 partitions C: and 4 actual storage partitions. I do have a dedicated Video Drive and audio drive - but the other drive and partition is mixed bag of audio, video, and karaoke. The 3 - 300GB drives are SATA and the 500GB is EIDE. All are 7200RPM drives.
I have no problems with search and have collectively over 85000+ tracks stored on that machine between audio, video and karaoke.
Does the new database have issues for some users - Yes.
Can the databases be refined and improved on - Yes, being done as we all speak.
Are there work-a-rounds to make performance better - Yes, several posts.
Suggestion - please provide a same of the XML code for a track that can't be found or a couple of them. The entire DB might be good.
And these problems are not being ignored. All suggestions and recommendations are towards trying to better understand where things are going wrong on some machines. And as DJ Cel has asked - if you have Crash Logs to supply that would be helpful as well.
Oh are you using a RAID setup in these systems?
Thanks,
cstoll
I have a system that I built, in our club with NO Searching issues. Now it's not 4 TeraBytes of storage, but it is 1.4 TeraBytes spread across 4 drives (3 - 300GB and 1 - 500GB) with 5 partitions C: and 4 actual storage partitions. I do have a dedicated Video Drive and audio drive - but the other drive and partition is mixed bag of audio, video, and karaoke. The 3 - 300GB drives are SATA and the 500GB is EIDE. All are 7200RPM drives.
I have no problems with search and have collectively over 85000+ tracks stored on that machine between audio, video and karaoke.
Does the new database have issues for some users - Yes.
Can the databases be refined and improved on - Yes, being done as we all speak.
Are there work-a-rounds to make performance better - Yes, several posts.
Suggestion - please provide a same of the XML code for a track that can't be found or a couple of them. The entire DB might be good.
And these problems are not being ignored. All suggestions and recommendations are towards trying to better understand where things are going wrong on some machines. And as DJ Cel has asked - if you have Crash Logs to supply that would be helpful as well.
Oh are you using a RAID setup in these systems?
Thanks,
cstoll
发表时间 Sun 26 Aug 07 @ 10:30 pm
djrak
Cstoll,
Thanks for responding.
I will try to get something to you.
Meanwhile, here is an example from my own system.
If I search in VDJ for Beatles it finds 93 songs. I had to hand count.
If I search in Windows it finds 142.
I checked the database settings against Windows and although they don't agree, they are close. VDJ says 71,403 music files and Windows says 69,310 MP3s.
This problem is not all or nothing, it is some songs are missing that you kbnow you have or should have becuase you have a zillion years worth of Promo Onlys or whatever.
I wasn't trying to suggest that nothing is being done or any of that.
I do not have any crash logs as I have had no crashed just incomplete searches.
None of these system have RAID arrays.
Todd
Thanks for responding.
I will try to get something to you.
Meanwhile, here is an example from my own system.
If I search in VDJ for Beatles it finds 93 songs. I had to hand count.
If I search in Windows it finds 142.
I checked the database settings against Windows and although they don't agree, they are close. VDJ says 71,403 music files and Windows says 69,310 MP3s.
This problem is not all or nothing, it is some songs are missing that you kbnow you have or should have becuase you have a zillion years worth of Promo Onlys or whatever.
I wasn't trying to suggest that nothing is being done or any of that.
I do not have any crash logs as I have had no crashed just incomplete searches.
None of these system have RAID arrays.
Todd
发表时间 Sun 26 Aug 07 @ 11:57 pm
cstoll
Try this for your Beatles search -- it's a mistake I made during Beta Testing.
Just to the right of the Search Box is a small bull's eye - click on it and make sure there is a check next to FileName and FilePath.
Do your search do you get 142?
Also, slide close the playlist panel so you can see the track count that is between the 2 bull's eye circles at the right of the search box.
By default install, the only search fields are Title and Artist which are populated by ID3Tags and look as if not being parsed from the FileName. Which means, unfortunately it looks like the Title/Artist setting in the Config -> Browser tab only parses for display purposes and not updating the DB's Title/Artist fields.
Did that work?
And the over all count - VDJ is seeing all the support file types if all you did was RECURSE the whole hard drive(s). So .wav,.zip, and other supported file types may make up that ~2100 file difference
Just to the right of the Search Box is a small bull's eye - click on it and make sure there is a check next to FileName and FilePath.
Do your search do you get 142?
Also, slide close the playlist panel so you can see the track count that is between the 2 bull's eye circles at the right of the search box.
By default install, the only search fields are Title and Artist which are populated by ID3Tags and look as if not being parsed from the FileName. Which means, unfortunately it looks like the Title/Artist setting in the Config -> Browser tab only parses for display purposes and not updating the DB's Title/Artist fields.
Did that work?
And the over all count - VDJ is seeing all the support file types if all you did was RECURSE the whole hard drive(s). So .wav,.zip, and other supported file types may make up that ~2100 file difference
发表时间 Mon 27 Aug 07 @ 12:06 am
djrak
Ok, I did it.
I turned on those fields and the track count goes to 119.
Please don't think I am being a pain in the butt.
I got looking at this because I recieved two phone calls from DJRAK clients this weekend.
The first had a gig go south because they upgraded to V5 and found out during the gig they couldn't search and find songs they could find just before with V4.3. They also had two other new problems but I won't digress. I got the call from their gig while the problems were occurring. I want to add that this system is about a year old and has worked flawlessly until this weekend.
The other had a brand new system and asked if I would come look at it because they had three serious problems. Again I won't digress. I personally saw that search would not find files that I could locate through Windows and see in the XML file. I tried FIX, CHECK, removing the drive and re-adding it and still couldn't find some of the music. We tried it with the default settings and otehr combinations including all settings on. I fixed this system by removing V5 and installing V4.3.
Maybe there is some combination of settings that would produce the same search result as in 4.3. If so, please tell me what they are and if it wasn't then I think that should have been the default settings.
I do apologize for the length of this if it seems like a rant. I am just trying to help! 8^)
I turned on those fields and the track count goes to 119.
Please don't think I am being a pain in the butt.
I got looking at this because I recieved two phone calls from DJRAK clients this weekend.
The first had a gig go south because they upgraded to V5 and found out during the gig they couldn't search and find songs they could find just before with V4.3. They also had two other new problems but I won't digress. I got the call from their gig while the problems were occurring. I want to add that this system is about a year old and has worked flawlessly until this weekend.
The other had a brand new system and asked if I would come look at it because they had three serious problems. Again I won't digress. I personally saw that search would not find files that I could locate through Windows and see in the XML file. I tried FIX, CHECK, removing the drive and re-adding it and still couldn't find some of the music. We tried it with the default settings and otehr combinations including all settings on. I fixed this system by removing V5 and installing V4.3.
Maybe there is some combination of settings that would produce the same search result as in 4.3. If so, please tell me what they are and if it wasn't then I think that should have been the default settings.
I do apologize for the length of this if it seems like a rant. I am just trying to help! 8^)
发表时间 Mon 27 Aug 07 @ 12:40 am
cstoll
Todd, you are not ranting. You are trying to provide a service to customers.
I will digress for a moment -
1. It's not your fault that the users themselves tried doing event with their systems before thoroughly checking them out.
2. It has been posted in the General forum several times that v4 and v5 can co-exist on a machine since the v4 DB is not converted. It is used to build the V5 DB and unharmed. So they should have had v4 loaded and ready.
3. And, if they are having as serious issues as you describe then they need to come to the forums and do some research as well.
Please create a new thread if necessary for the other problems they experienced. And if they are having crashes we would like to know what the crashguard report.txt file contains. [Found in the MyDocuments\VirtualDJ folder]
Back on Topic:
In the Browser tab what is the Search DB option set to? Also, even with this option set to Automatic, VirtualDJ does not actively go find new files at launch. So maybe there are files that never made it to the old DB or still need to be added. I don't know what your folder structure is like, but in decent chunks go through your collection and do a 'Recurse' and 'Add to Search DB' on all the folders say 1 structure level deep so VirtualDJ will find them and flag them for use in the Search.
Now are you able to get 142 ?
I will digress for a moment -
1. It's not your fault that the users themselves tried doing event with their systems before thoroughly checking them out.
2. It has been posted in the General forum several times that v4 and v5 can co-exist on a machine since the v4 DB is not converted. It is used to build the V5 DB and unharmed. So they should have had v4 loaded and ready.
3. And, if they are having as serious issues as you describe then they need to come to the forums and do some research as well.
Please create a new thread if necessary for the other problems they experienced. And if they are having crashes we would like to know what the crashguard report.txt file contains. [Found in the MyDocuments\VirtualDJ folder]
Back on Topic:
In the Browser tab what is the Search DB option set to? Also, even with this option set to Automatic, VirtualDJ does not actively go find new files at launch. So maybe there are files that never made it to the old DB or still need to be added. I don't know what your folder structure is like, but in decent chunks go through your collection and do a 'Recurse' and 'Add to Search DB' on all the folders say 1 structure level deep so VirtualDJ will find them and flag them for use in the Search.
Now are you able to get 142 ?
发表时间 Mon 27 Aug 07 @ 1:00 am
ajb666
Getting back to my originally point: my Samsung Q35 crashing but no other machine available to me doing it...
Here is the crashguard entry when I either try to build a new database or search an existing one:
CRASHGUARD
date=708250024
version=5.0
build=500
thread=Main
address=0010d3d4
ins=8f05ead3
excode=c0000005 (8,10d3d4)
There have been a very, very small number of people on these forums with similar issues since v4 upwards. It's just so annoying considering what a lovely machine the Q35 is!
The laptop I eventually used was a Fujitsu-Siemens with a 1.2GHz Centrino (Pentium M?) processor. The search was a little slow with around 10000 tracks but at least it worked.
Saturday night was very quiet so I gave the "Automix" a good go and found it a delight! I can see that version 5 really is something special I just don't think everyone's caught onto all the options available. Most "moans" are about the default settings and really just need a little fine tuning.
For example: the Automix "out-of-the-box" is useless! The so-called "smart" option is no good with a trashy chart tracks but "Fade In/Out, Keep Intro" and no one noticed I'd b*ggered off for 30 mins :)
Back to the Q35; I have a horrible suspicion the drive is not a 2.5" SATA and more likely a 1.8" with some weird connector :( Hopefully I can test a minimal install of XP with nothing but standard Microsoft drivers sometime this week - obviously easier if I can swap the drive out.
Here is the crashguard entry when I either try to build a new database or search an existing one:
CRASHGUARD
date=708250024
version=5.0
build=500
thread=Main
address=0010d3d4
ins=8f05ead3
excode=c0000005 (8,10d3d4)
There have been a very, very small number of people on these forums with similar issues since v4 upwards. It's just so annoying considering what a lovely machine the Q35 is!
The laptop I eventually used was a Fujitsu-Siemens with a 1.2GHz Centrino (Pentium M?) processor. The search was a little slow with around 10000 tracks but at least it worked.
Saturday night was very quiet so I gave the "Automix" a good go and found it a delight! I can see that version 5 really is something special I just don't think everyone's caught onto all the options available. Most "moans" are about the default settings and really just need a little fine tuning.
For example: the Automix "out-of-the-box" is useless! The so-called "smart" option is no good with a trashy chart tracks but "Fade In/Out, Keep Intro" and no one noticed I'd b*ggered off for 30 mins :)
Back to the Q35; I have a horrible suspicion the drive is not a 2.5" SATA and more likely a 1.8" with some weird connector :( Hopefully I can test a minimal install of XP with nothing but standard Microsoft drivers sometime this week - obviously easier if I can swap the drive out.
发表时间 Tue 28 Aug 07 @ 2:06 pm
ajb666
Update: I found a directory that also crashed Virtual DJ:
1300 entries... divided into 2 folders fixed the crash... still none the wiser :(
1300 entries... divided into 2 folders fixed the crash... still none the wiser :(
发表时间 Fri 31 Aug 07 @ 10:24 pm
freppa
I Updated the same Laptop with 5.0 an dstill got 4.3 and the database is corruped ,but when I deleted 5.0 all seems to work alright again..probably the database in 5.0 does something in 4.3 ??
Any suggestions..i dont wanna delete my 4.3...
Any suggestions..i dont wanna delete my 4.3...
发表时间 Sat 01 Sep 07 @ 5:41 pm
cstoll
V5 does not modify the v4 database - it only reads it. Where did you get the 'corrupt' message? V5? or V4?
Also, since you removed V5, would recommend using the V5 Rev 2 when you go back to install V5.
cstoll
Also, since you removed V5, would recommend using the V5 Rev 2 when you go back to install V5.
cstoll
发表时间 Sat 01 Sep 07 @ 5:49 pm
freppa
I did get the corruped message at version 4.3..thanx i will use that version then,but whats with V5 Rev 2 something special ??
I dont wanna delete my version 4.3 so i´ll keeping that one for now :-)
I dont wanna delete my version 4.3 so i´ll keeping that one for now :-)
发表时间 Sun 02 Sep 07 @ 2:40 pm
cstoll
That is very odd that you got a corrupt database for v4 just by installing v5, then removing v5 cleared it.
But, just for you a special deal today --- Yes, try the Rev2. The majority of fixes had to deal with the migration of v4 database to the v5 database.
Just as you did last time you can install it over the to of your V4 install. But give it a whirl, just make a backup of your v4 database to have that confidence level that you have a clean version if things don't go well.
cstoll
But, just for you a special deal today --- Yes, try the Rev2. The majority of fixes had to deal with the migration of v4 database to the v5 database.
Just as you did last time you can install it over the to of your V4 install. But give it a whirl, just make a backup of your v4 database to have that confidence level that you have a clean version if things don't go well.
cstoll
发表时间 Sun 02 Sep 07 @ 3:50 pm
smittydc
Just installed 5 ver2 and if I try to scan for tags or add to search db VDJ just stops (no error message, window goes away).
Nice bug on a new version guys.
Any suggestions? How do I clear or delete the database?
Nice bug on a new version guys.
Any suggestions? How do I clear or delete the database?
发表时间 Tue 04 Sep 07 @ 12:32 am