Program Crashing when clicking Source

[cdezego]

This has been an ongoing issue for me and I keep having to uninstall Handbrake and re-install to get it to start working again. However, my recent attempts to do so are no longer working. I have uninstalled and re-installed several times (including trying the latest nightly build as of today), but the problem remains. When I click the Source button it freezes and I have to End Task on the process in Windows. I have let it sit there for over an hour, and it never responds.

Please help, I am really close to going with a different program as just about every time I use this program I have this issue (and this time I can't fix it.)

[mduell]

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[cdezego]

Sorry, I forgot to include what version of Windows I am using - Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I am not using any other applications at the time, yes it is reproducible every time, and since the program is freezing I don't have a log or crash report.

[Woodstock]

When was the last time you reset the computer? Not just reboot Windows, but reset the hardware by either powering it off or using the reset button.

[cdezego]

I think I finally got it by doing the following:

1. Uninstalled
2. Deleted all folders named "Handbrake" on my c:\ drive
3. Turned off computer
4. Powered back on
5. Re-installed Handbrake

It is working for now, but I doubt I will get more than a week before it starts happening again. What the heck is wrong with it?

[Woodstock]

The Handbrake graphic interface is dependent upon a number of Windows modules that can get screwed up in memory.

If Handbrake asks Windows about installed optical drives, it is dependent upon both Windows and your hardware responding in an expected manner. Hardware can "get lost" as far as Windows is concerned; I was ripping a disk tonight, and the drive stopped responding to MakeMKV, until I stopped the drive, removed its contents, and restarted the system, then it was back and worked fine for me to finish the rest of the ripping. No errors, nothing... Just stopped "being there".

Having dealt with Windows for far too long, I tend to look at Windows as the source of the problem more than most users.

[cdezego]

If it were Windows, then why do I have to uninstall & re-install Handbrake to get it to work again? A simple computer restart does not fix the problem. I have been a software developer (of Windows applications) for over 10 years and I do very much understand how OS issues can greatly impact software, but this seems like something much different. If I had to guess, Handbrake is storing something about my computer in a config file, and for whatever reason that information is getting corrupted or just saved incorrectly. Then, every time the source button is clicked it is trying to use corrupted (or just incorrect) information and it is hanging. If not that, it must be something very similar...

[s55]

Nope. No config for that and comfig survives a reinstall anyway. It's not removed.

The code in question is only a call to the OS so it's not something that HB controls. It's just been a flook a reinstall fixed it.

[cdezego]

This has happened to me several times now in the couple months I've been using the program. I doubt it is a "fluke". There is something wrong in the calls that are being made to the OS.

[Woodstock]

Or there is something wrong with the system programs in the OS that are being called.

[cdezego]

If that were the case, why would it come back and work properly when the program is re-installed? The OS programs didn't change in that time. Like I stated, I've been doing software development for over 10 years and I know a program bug when I see it.

Whether the Handbrake developers want to look into this or not is up to them, but there is a problem there regardless. It may very well be some combination of things (a service pack that was installed, along with my particular cdrom drivers for example.) Whatever it is, it is a Handbrake issue.

[s55]

HandBrake can work around the issue so the app remains responsive, but the underlying problem isn't a HandBrake one. You can reproduce this problem outside HandBrakes source code. It's one line of code that it blocks on, and because this line happens to be on the UI thread at the moment, it makes the app appear frozen.

The few other users that have reported this, have all stated it was intermittent. So your probably right it's something system side. I.e a bad driver/firmware interaction. Feel free to grab the source and attach the debugger to it the next time this happens as this doesn't happen on the machine I'm on, so it's hard to trace beyond handbrakes source code.