Constant Crashes... solved?

TrueBlue1981

Newbie Joined: Jul 09, 2013 07:00 Messages: 17 Offline

Solved by

Jul 19, 2013 12:50

Hello once again.

I recently posted to this forums about the consistent crashes I was having with PowerDirector 11 (and PD10), but it was removed due to my less than courteous use of words. The problems I was having was the software would close on it's own, before throwing up the Crash Reporter, while doing either one of these things:

- Opening the program
- Opening a project
- Importing media
- Watching a video
- Editing/Trimming a video
- Finished editing/trimming a video
- During processing

Some people made a few suggestions (I can't remember them, and I can't check because the original topic was removed), unfortunately none of them worked, and PD10 and PD11 continue to crash in any one of the above situations.

However.. I THINK I may have figured out a possible reason behind my constant crashing (but I can't be 100% sure yet). After I made my first post, I actually went ahead and reinstalled Windows 7 x64 for the 3rd time in 3 days, whether this fixed it or not, I'm not sure.

The solution, I believe it to be, was one of a recently installed font.. in this case, I installed a Duck Tales type font for some thumbnails on my YouTube videos. After the Windows install, I installed all my fonts as usual, but never got around to using PD10 or PD11 yet, so I can't be 100% sure it WAS the font.

The only reason why I believe this could be a factor was because i was also having issues with my Elgato Game Capture HD software, and the Support Team, after checking over my Elgato Systems Report for the software (like DxDiag for PD), said I had issues with fonts installed. I knew I had installed a new font around that time, so I removed the Duck tales font and the Elgato software now loads without the error I kept getting.

Knowing that PD10 and PD11 also use fonts, obviously, I figured this could also be causing BOTH PowerDirectors to have the same problem. Why it would cause PD to crash during things while watching a videos bizarre, but this is Windows, right?

Anyway... I just wanted to let the people who read and replied to my last post that I MAY have fixed it, and thanks for the suggestions you made, along with my apologies for being such a douche about the situation. So if anyone else is having weird crashing with PowerDirector 10 or 11.. remove one or more of your recently installed fonts.. that may help

Peace.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 19. 2013 12:51

Dell XPS M1730
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Core2Duo (T9500) @ 2.60GHz
nVidia 9800m GTX SLi x2, 1GbMb per core, 2Gb SLi
4Gb DDR2 (PC6400) RAM
750Gb Western Digital HDD
PD12 12.0.3403.0

Cap'n Kevin

Senior Contributor Location: Chebeague Island, Maine Joined: Dec 26, 2008 20:22 Messages: 2011 Offline

Jul 19, 2013 13:07

That sure is a strange cause, but I am glad you got it resolved. But there are many strange things that have cause Power Director to crash, and this is a new one on the list.

I suppose you could install that Duck Tales Type font to see what happens, but I wouldn't blame you a bit if you just wanted to leave it all alone.

Could you send me a PM about where you got the Duck Tales font? I might try it to see what happens.

Kevin

Check out PDtoots. PowerDirector Tutorials and more! Over 5,000 Subscribers.

TrueBlue1981

Newbie Joined: Jul 09, 2013 07:00 Messages: 17 Offline

Jul 19, 2013 15:54

Well, HOPEFULLY it's resolved, anyway. I did manage to edit a video this morning without any errors or crashes, so it's looking good. I did manage to edit and process a video WITH the font installed, but that only happened ONCE out of about 10 attempts.

Yeah, I'll probably leave that alone.. I don't want to push it, lol. As long as it's working now, I'll leave it be.

Anyway, I'll send you that PM with a link to the site I got the Fuck Tales font from. I'm interested to know if happens to others as well. Dell XPS M1730
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Core2Duo (T9500) @ 2.60GHz
nVidia 9800m GTX SLi x2, 1GbMb per core, 2Gb SLi
4Gb DDR2 (PC6400) RAM
750Gb Western Digital HDD
PD12 12.0.3403.0

BrianLeTech

Newbie Location: Brisbane Joined: Sep 08, 2012 00:06 Messages: 7 Offline

Jul 21, 2013 06:24

I doubt you have seen the last of 'crashing'..
PowerDirector is famous for 'crashing'.. If you google ["Power Director" crashes], you get 60,000 hits!
Mine crashes several times a day. I suspected my old PC so I bought a new more powerful PC.. No difference! Still crashes with same frequency. I have to save my work every few minutes in rotating project names. I suspect 1000s of PD users just put up with it because there are not many other options.

BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Jul 21, 2013 08:07

I Googled "Video Studio" keeps crashing, 159,000 hits.
Sony Vegas keeps crashing, 55,600 hits.
Pinnacle keeps crashing, 108,000 hits.
It seems PowerDirector is in good company...
If you would like to reduce crashes, you might try starting a new thread and submit your dxdiag as part of that thread.
HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

TrueBlue1981

Newbie Joined: Jul 09, 2013 07:00 Messages: 17 Offline

Jul 21, 2013 11:15

Turns it hasn't been solved at all

I was just trying to create a video in PD11, and it crashed in the same place 3 times in a row.

As BrianLeTech said.. I have to save my work every few minutes, and set PD11 to AutoSave every 2 minutes, to make sure I didn't lose too much work.

I've added an updated DxDiag file, as I did include one on my first thread (the one that got removed), but if I need to add it to a new thread, then I shall do.

Shame we'll never see the end of the PD crashing. Before, I was using for years, not a single problem, not a single crash... now, out of the blue, it can't STOP crashing. I used to use Corel VideoStudio.. that NEVER crashed on me, for some reason.

Filename	DxDiag.rar	Download
Description	DxDiag File
Filesize	6 Kbytes
Downloaded:	296 time(s)

Dell XPS M1730
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Core2Duo (T9500) @ 2.60GHz
nVidia 9800m GTX SLi x2, 1GbMb per core, 2Gb SLi
4Gb DDR2 (PC6400) RAM
750Gb Western Digital HDD
PD12 12.0.3403.0

Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Jul 21, 2013 14:02

Quote: Turns it hasn't been solved at all

I was just trying to create a video in PD11, and it crashed in the same place 3 times in a row.

As BrianLeTech said.. I have to save my work every few minutes, and set PD11 to AutoSave every 2 minutes, to make sure I didn't lose too much work.

I've added an updated DxDiag file, as I did include one on my first thread (the one that got removed), but if I need to add it to a new thread, then I shall do.

Shame we'll never see the end of the PD crashing. Before, I was using for years, not a single problem, not a single crash... now, out of the blue, it can't STOP crashing. I used to use Corel VideoStudio.. that NEVER crashed on me, for some reason.

Hi TrueBlue1981,
HD editing is a resource hungry action and will find the weaker points of a computer's system and where a PC lacks the power or has a hardware issue then a Video Editing program will cause a crash and stall/hang.

Having looked at your diagnostic file I am not surprised you have had problems.
CPU - suitable only for SD editing. Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T8300 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Ram - insufficient for HD and fails to meed the minimum requirement for PDR11 to run. Memory: 4096MB RAM
GPU - you don't have any spare RAM for it to call on! Underpowered for HD editing.
Display Memory: 2030 MB
Dedicated Memory: 239 MB
Shared Memory: 1791 MB
W7 - A resource hungry OS and your set up lacks resources. Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Your computer does not meet the minimum requirements for video editing with PDR11. To have a better editing experience you need to have a more powerful computer.
http://www.cyberlink.com/support/product-faq-content.do?id=14950&prodId=4

Dafydd

TrueBlue1981

Newbie Joined: Jul 09, 2013 07:00 Messages: 17 Offline

Jul 21, 2013 16:16

So my laptop is underpowered? The thing is, up until a few weeks ago, my laptop has never struggled to produce HD videos, and has never crashed before. It's only recently started occurring. The prior few years of use it's been perfectly flawless.

I exceed the requirements for a 32-bit Windows, but not a 64-bit? I never knew PowerDirector needed more RAM on the 64-bit Windows. I do plan to upgrade to 8Gb soon. The CPU will be upgraded to, but only to a Core2Duo 2.80GHz.

As for my GPU, not sure where 2Gb of memory came from. It's a dedicated graphics card, with it's own RAM. It's 512Mb of RAM when running in SLi, which I've got it set to (256Mb per-core, not great, but works). I'm sure it doesn't have any shared memory with the on-board 4Gb RAM. Likewise with the RAM, I'm going to upgrade the graphics card to a dual-core 512Mb card, running at 1Gb in SLi.

I'm guessing my laptop is not quite built for PD10/11 to function as best as it can?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 21. 2013 16:18

Dell XPS M1730
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Core2Duo (T9500) @ 2.60GHz
nVidia 9800m GTX SLi x2, 1GbMb per core, 2Gb SLi
4Gb DDR2 (PC6400) RAM
750Gb Western Digital HDD
PD12 12.0.3403.0

RobAC

Contributor Joined: Mar 09, 2013 18:20 Messages: 406 Offline

Jul 21, 2013 16:32

It could also be that file you are working on since it hangs at the exact same spot.

What format is it? .avi / .mov ?

Have you tried closing your old project, starting a brand new project and using that same clip?

Does that clip play okay using VLC or your chosen video player?

I think the last time I suggested you disable your SLI and try that for a bit- haven't looked at your Dxdiag- on the way out the door right now.
R

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Jul 21. 2013 16:33

PD 14 Ultimate Suite / Win10 Pro x64
1. Gigabyte Brix PRO / i7-4770R Intel Iris Pro 5200 / 16 GB / 1 TB SSD
2. Lenovo X230T / 8GB / Intel HD4000 + ViDock 4 Plus & ASUS Nvidia 660 Ti / Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZw3GPwKMo&feature=youtu.be

TrueBlue1981

Newbie Joined: Jul 09, 2013 07:00 Messages: 17 Offline

Jul 29, 2013 09:21

The file type I work with is M2TS, and the crashing usually occurs after I edit a video... after I've trimmed it, I'll click OK, THEN it will crash and close.

It hasn't crashed during processing again, though, so that's one positive. But the constant crashing doesn't seem to have been solved yet.

I have tried a new project, yes, But the results are always the same. And the videos all play perfectly fine in my media player (WMP12). And unfortunately disabling SLi made no difference.

Thanks

UPDATE:
Forget what I said... it's just this minute crashed and closed as soon as I hit the Produce START button... so it's still messed up for some reason. On top of that, it seems PD10 doesn't just have the crashing issue.. it's developed another problem where by it completely de-syncs the audio from the video after rendering. A second attempt at rendering usually ends up OK, but I have no idea why it de-syncs a rendered video.

UPDATE 2:
Been using PD11 at the moment, as it seems to crash less. Does anyone know why PD11 renders a video a Hell of a lot slower than PD10? When rendering a 15 minutes video in PD10, it takes about 15-20 minutes. Rendering the same video in PD11 takes twice that... any ideas as to why that is?

This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at Jul 31. 2013 18:54

Dell XPS M1730
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Core2Duo (T9500) @ 2.60GHz
nVidia 9800m GTX SLi x2, 1GbMb per core, 2Gb SLi
4Gb DDR2 (PC6400) RAM
750Gb Western Digital HDD
PD12 12.0.3403.0

medlgl

Newbie Joined: Jul 07, 2013 14:40 Messages: 23 Offline

Aug 02, 2013 19:35

It's interesting that you described some of the same issues I am having: frequent crashes and hang-ups.
ISSUE: PowerDirector frequently crashes and hangs up. I have included an attachment showing my PD11 Error File (crashes) by date, time and error type.

When editing, I cannot use the full HD preview mode due to the preview becoming extremely jerky and hanging up on transitions and special effects.

As can see from my dxdiag files attached, my computer was recently purchased and contains plenty of “muscle” to handle the editing/producing modes in PowerDirector 11Ultimate Suite. This is why I suspect a software conflict of some kind (but not font-related).

I put together a 58-minute movie using still images and video clips and tried producing (rendering) it three different times, and each time, it stopped producing (but didn't crash according to the Task Manager) at around 43% of completion each time.

I have tried to work with CyberLink Support on this problem and they keep asking for documentation that I have already provided them. At this point, I am really frustrated and hope that someone on the forum can help me. Thanks!!

Filename	PD 11 Event Viewer Results.pdf	Download
Description
Filesize	190 Kbytes
Downloaded:	383 time(s)

Filename	Required Data for Forum.xps	Download
Description
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Filename	SR Number.jpg	Download
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medlgl

Newbie Joined: Jul 07, 2013 14:40 Messages: 23 Offline

Aug 02, 2013 19:38

Additional attachments are included. (These attachments are sent as per the moderator's instructions.) I hope they help.'

Sincerely,

medlgl


Filename	Full Screenshot Editing Workspace.png	Download
Description
Filesize	875 Kbytes
Downloaded:	46 time(s)

Filename	LonMalcolm dxdiag.64dxdiag.7z	Download
Description
Filesize	6 Kbytes
Downloaded:	361 time(s)

RobAC

Contributor Joined: Mar 09, 2013 18:20 Messages: 406 Offline

Aug 04, 2013 06:53

Lon,

It's always better to post a new thread with your issue in order not to get multiple posts confusing issues in a single thread. So go ahead post a new thread with the info you have here so others can see it.

Rob
PD 14 Ultimate Suite / Win10 Pro x64
1. Gigabyte Brix PRO / i7-4770R Intel Iris Pro 5200 / 16 GB / 1 TB SSD
2. Lenovo X230T / 8GB / Intel HD4000 + ViDock 4 Plus & ASUS Nvidia 660 Ti / Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZw3GPwKMo&feature=youtu.be

medlgl

Newbie Joined: Jul 07, 2013 14:40 Messages: 23 Offline

Aug 04, 2013 12:21

Thanks, Rob. Being new to the forum, I wasn't sure if I should post a new thread or use the instant thread since the subject matter was similar. But, what you said makes total sense. I will go ahead and do that. QUESTION: Will I need to upload all of my attachments again? (I'm pretty sure the answer will be yes, but if not, that would sure save me a lot of time.) Thanks again!! :

TrueBlue1981

Newbie Joined: Jul 09, 2013 07:00 Messages: 17 Offline

Aug 08, 2013 10:33

It is quite the frustration that PowerDirector is giving me, as well quite a few others. Both 10 and 11 still constantly crash, at random points in the editing process.

PD10 tends to crash during or after trimming a video and PD11 tends to crash during the rendering. And when I say crash, I mean it will just close itself down then bring up the Crash Report window.

Ever since my first Windows reinstall after many years, PowerDirector has been really buggy. It was never like this before, so I can't explain what happened. It's better than Corel VideoStudio X6.. which just doesn't work at all... but having to re-open PD0/11 every time it crashes is a pain. And having to restart the rendering in PD11 after about an hour into the rendering process is an even bigger headache.

And medlgl, hope you get it sorted soon. Dell XPS M1730
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Core2Duo (T9500) @ 2.60GHz
nVidia 9800m GTX SLi x2, 1GbMb per core, 2Gb SLi
4Gb DDR2 (PC6400) RAM
750Gb Western Digital HDD
PD12 12.0.3403.0

medlgl

Newbie Joined: Jul 07, 2013 14:40 Messages: 23 Offline

Aug 08, 2013 13:31

TruBlu, I guess misery loves company, as they say! Thanks for sharing your frustrations with me; it helps me to know that I'm not being singled out by the PD 11 troll. I have been working with CyberLink Support and the guy that's assisting me now seems to be committed... much more committed than the guy before him! At least, the present tech is examining my attachments and coming back with reasonable instructions for me to try. It's definitely not an exact science and I realize that new releases (i.e. PD 11) will have bugs that will need to be exterminated, right? So, on with the fight! Let me know if you ever reach a satisfactory level of stabilization with your version of PD.

Sincerely,

Medlgl

TrueBlue1981

Newbie Joined: Jul 09, 2013 07:00 Messages: 17 Offline

Aug 26, 2013 16:39

Lol, I guess it does. I haven't quite got the crashing problem sorted, as it still does it from time to time, but so far they have been less frequent. Not sure why, though.. I'm not doing anything different.

I do have a new problem though, which I've never had before. Upon upgrading my graphics card from an nVidia 8700m GT to an nVidia 8800m GTX, I've noticed that I cannot enable the Video Hardware Encoder. This has resulted in my rendering times from around the length of the video, to about 3-4 times LONGER than the video. For instance, I'm currently rendering an 18 minute video. With Video Hardware Encoder enabled, it would take around 18-20 minutes to complete. Without it, it's apparently going to take about 1hr 5m... that is a HELL of a huge increase, just for lack of a video encoder.

I did a clean install of Windows 7 hoping this would fix it (it did with the 8700m) but unfortunately, it did not. Now, I know these cards can use the Video Hardware Encoder, because the older 8700m that I had could use it. But for some reason, the newer and more powerful 8800m can not.

I am using nVidia Beta drivers at the moment, so I'm just curious if the Hardware Encoder only works with the WHQL (release) drivers?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at Aug 26. 2013 16:42

Dell XPS M1730
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Core2Duo (T9500) @ 2.60GHz
nVidia 9800m GTX SLi x2, 1GbMb per core, 2Gb SLi
4Gb DDR2 (PC6400) RAM
750Gb Western Digital HDD
PD12 12.0.3403.0

BarryTheCrab

Senior Contributor Location: USA Joined: Nov 06, 2008 22:18 Messages: 6240 Offline

Aug 26, 2013 17:30

Beta is NEVER recommended here, ever. HP Envy Phoenix/4thGen i7-4770(4@3.4GHz~turbo>3.9)
Nvidia GTX 960(4GB)/16GB DDR3/
Canon Vixia HV30/HF-M40/HF-M41/HF-G20/Olympus E-PL5.
Tape capture using 6 VCR, TBC-1000, Elite BVP4+, Sony D8 camcorder with TBC.
https://www.facebook.com/BarryAFTT

Dafydd B

Senior Contributor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 08:20 Messages: 11973 Offline

Aug 27, 2013 03:40

Quote:

Quote: Turns it hasn't been solved at all

I was just trying to create a video in PD11, and it crashed in the same place 3 times in a row.

As BrianLeTech said.. I have to save my work every few minutes, and set PD11 to AutoSave every 2 minutes, to make sure I didn't lose too much work.

I've added an updated DxDiag file, as I did include one on my first thread (the one that got removed), but if I need to add it to a new thread, then I shall do.

Shame we'll never see the end of the PD crashing. Before, I was using for years, not a single problem, not a single crash... now, out of the blue, it can't STOP crashing. I used to use Corel VideoStudio.. that NEVER crashed on me, for some reason.

Hi TrueBlue1981,
HD editing is a resource hungry action and will find the weaker points of a computer's system and where a PC lacks the power or has a hardware issue then a Video Editing program will cause a crash and stall/hang.

Having looked at your diagnostic file I am not surprised you have had problems.
CPU - suitable only for SD editing. Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T8300 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Ram - insufficient for HD and fails to meed the minimum requirement for PDR11 to run. Memory: 4096MB RAM
GPU - you don't have any spare RAM for it to call on! Underpowered for HD editing.
Display Memory: 2030 MB
Dedicated Memory: 239 MB
Shared Memory: 1791 MB
W7 - A resource hungry OS and your set up lacks resources. Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Your computer does not meet the minimum requirements for video editing with PDR11. To have a better editing experience you need to have a more powerful computer.
http://www.cyberlink.com/support/product-faq-content.do?id=14950&prodId=4

Dafydd

Have you increased your RAM to meet the minimum requirements for PDR11 on a 64bit set up let alone all the others?
Dafydd

TrueBlue1981

Newbie Joined: Jul 09, 2013 07:00 Messages: 17 Offline

Aug 27, 2013 07:23

BarryTheCrab: Thanks for the tip. I removed the Beta drivers and installed the latest WHQL drivers, and now I can use the Hardware Encoder. So thanks for that

Dafydd: Not yet, but it is on my list of laptop upgrades to do. But like I said before (I think) I've been using PD10/11 on 4Gb of RAM for a very long while without any issues, it's only recently it's started happening. And the RAM is working fine, as I recently performed a test on it. I still don't know where the 2Gb of video RAM came from. When I posted those specs, I was using an older video card with 512Mb of RAM (in SLi). I've since upgraded to a video card with 1Gb RAM (in SLi).. so where 2Gb of video memory came from I have no idea. Dell XPS M1730
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Intel Core2Duo (T9500) @ 2.60GHz
nVidia 9800m GTX SLi x2, 1GbMb per core, 2Gb SLi
4Gb DDR2 (PC6400) RAM
750Gb Western Digital HDD
PD12 12.0.3403.0