KaraFUn locks up after a while

andrew · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 4

After I use Karafun for a while, maybe 20 mins of more, it can happen that the display locks up for a few seconds (text update stops) then my monitor goes blank.
the song continues to play till the end though, but I can't do anything with the comp, because I can't see anything!
So I generally have to power off the comp without being able to shut it down properly, something I hate doing (of course).

This is on an extremely stable machine that I've had running for 3 months or more at a time without restarting it... so it's not overheating or anything..

OK while writing this message I tried it out again and within 1 minute had the problem... but this time the display came back with a windows error saying ati2drv (from memory) was not responding correctly... it could be my graphics card driver causing the problem then, but as I said, I haven't had any problems with any other program, ever.
I'll try updating the driver (not that it's old or crappy) and see if that helps.

jaile · Site Admin Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 942

Updating the drivers is a very good idea.
What is your OS (XP SP2?) ?
Do you use your PC to play with recent games (such as Sims2, World of Warcraft, Far cry or other Direct3D 9 games) without any problem ?
Note that this problem isn't affecting our test computers.
...We hope that you'll find something!

rovingcowboy · Joined: 18 Jan 2005 Posts: 202

the trouble is caused by over heating.
and by bad drivers for the video card.

this can be a hard thing to find, as the overheating can happen on the video card processor and that will lock up the video.

make sure you have more then enough air hitting the video card.

check the fan's they can and do wearout

if you have a new case with a class door and a fan on the side. is the fan blowing air in or out from the door. it might be best to put the fan blowing air in towards the video card.

open the case use the stainless steel home heater duct tape. and tape off all holes in the case that are on the bottom sides and top and back.

you only want holes in the case where the fans are at and where you can't tape like around the drive bays.

so you have fans on the bottom in front pulling cool air in. and a fan on the side door of the case blowing cool air in at the video card and the cpu.

then the only fans you have left are the power supply exhaust fan / fans some power supplys have two.

so all the cool air comes in the bottom from the fans and out the top by the exhaust fans.

that is the best way to keep cool systems when using air cooling.

if you have an old case you can cut a hole for the fan in the bottom of the case and put the extra intake fan there where it would blow cool air in from the bottom and across the all the cards in the slots and the cpu.

but this is the same trouble you get when the cpu gets hot it locks the monitor up. so check that fan and make sure it is not cutting out on you.
_________________
roving cowboy / keith hall.
not always right but i try not a programmer just had lots of problems on my computers like everyone else. my karafun congo skin http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/rovingcowboy/mediadownloads.html

andrew · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 4

OK, well as I mentioned it's definitely not overheating... but anyway, I get the problem almost instantly now for some reason... this is on winxp sp2 on with a radeon 9600 gfx card, latest drivers.
It's only for mp3+cdg file pairs that this happens... my display driver stops responding. sometimes this is recoverable but sometimes I have to reboot the machine.
This machine plays WoW 8+ hrs at a stretch, so I'm guessing there's some problem with the cdg decoding routines that only shows up on some systems?
Anyway, big karaoke night tomorrow night, hopefully this wont be a problem on the host's computer.

By the way: I found out the .kfp file format is just a zip file, so that's sweet... and I made up a quick tool to make lots of kfps with different random background images from a directory of choice. Saves doing it manually.... I would like to see a "random image" option in the .kfp editor though.
Wrong place for a request I guess but I don't have time to write 2 separate messages right now. Thanks!

rovingcowboy · Joined: 18 Jan 2005 Posts: 202

okay so it is not due to overheating then you have enough air over the video card so that is good.

but one of the other major things to cause lock ups is memory leaks.

do another check go to analogx.com and download his maxmem program

set it up and start it while your doing karafun the way you get the lock ups.

watch that icon in the tray it is a black square and will show a line going down the icon when it is trying to keep the ram cleared.

if you see that keep going down and down all the time then there is a memory leak filling up your ram.

that will help in pinpointing the troublesome program.
but i don't think it is karafun. unless it is only using those files because i get no trouble when using karafun, but i have none of those song files either.
_________________
roving cowboy / keith hall.
not always right but i try not a programmer just had lots of problems on my computers like everyone else. my karafun congo skin http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/rovingcowboy/mediadownloads.html

andrew · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 4

It is only for cdg files that I get this problem... just tried it on another computer here, no problem. so who knows what the issue is... but the cdg files play fine on winamp with 2 different cdg plugins.

rovingcowboy · Joined: 18 Jan 2005 Posts: 202

so you tried it in another computer with karafun and it worked?

that sounds like something else running at the same time on the computer that is locking up and that might be another program trying to control your cdg files and fighting with karafun?

so if you tired it in the other computer with another program like winamp and it worked in that computer, try it in that other computer with karafun.

if it locks up then it is karafun software code messing up. if it does not lock up then it is an hardware issue or the other program issue?

since i seen nobody else post this trouble you are the lucky gunine pig to test it and find the cause, sorry but all troubles have a unlucky first time user to get it.

and i am not any way connected with karafun i am just trying to help you find the trouble.
_________________
roving cowboy / keith hall.
not always right but i try not a programmer just had lots of problems on my computers like everyone else. my karafun congo skin http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/rovingcowboy/mediadownloads.html

jaile · Site Admin Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 942

The CDG playback will be improved in the next release, maybe your problem will be fixed (hope so).

andrew · Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 4

OK, had a party on Saturday night and the karaoke was a big success... but I had to use winamp + a cdg plugin. Trying Karafun on the computer there, it worked for 10 mins or so but then locked up on that one too. Still used karafun for midi files though, where it worked really well.
Looking forward to the next version!