MM "locks" up

[Melissa in Maine]

Too many hours on this project to mention....program keeps "locking up",
closing and restarting. A hassle, but bearable.

Now, however, it has ceased to "play"....press button and get no movement.
No error message, no annoying restart issues...just nothing. Files remain in
timeline....just can't get the thing to "play" so I can finish this up.

Ideas?

Have been reading the other posts....very helpful stuff. Thanks to you MVPs
who volunteer your talents

 

[Melissa in Maine]

Too many hours on this project to mention....program keeps "locking
up", closing and restarting. A hassle, but bearable.

Now, however, it has ceased to "play"....press button and get no
movement. No error message, no annoying restart issues...just
nothing. Files remain in timeline....just can't get the thing to
"play" so I can finish this up.

Ideas?

Have been reading the other posts....very helpful stuff. Thanks to
you MVPs who volunteer your talents

===============================
I do not have the exact cure but I can offer
some ideas...

Sounds like a system resource issue....

Disconnect from the net and close all programs...
especially virus scanners before opening Movie
Maker.

Uninstall unused programs, delete files that are
no longer important. IOW...free up some space.

Increase the size of your Paging File...the
following article explains how.

(308417) HOW TO: Set Performance Options
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308417

Try doing some maintenance...Disk Cleanup,
Error Checking, Defrag...

Empty your Temporary Internet Files Folder.

(260897) How to Delete the Contents of the
Temporary Internet Files Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=260897

Running Disk Cleanup, Error Checking and
Defrag on a regular schedule is a good idea.

(310312) Description of the Disk Cleanup
Tool in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310312

(315265) How to Perform Disk Error Checking
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315265
(check the two boxes..."Automatically fix file
system errors" and "Scan for and attempt
recovery of bad sectors") the utility will run
the next time you restart your computer.
(run error checking repeatedly until it finds
no errors)

(314848) How to Defragment Your Disk
Drive Volumes in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314848

Try converting your .jpgs to Windows Bitmaps
[.bmp} before importing them into Movie Maker.

File type compatibility with Movie Maker
http://tinyurl.com/v8tee

Some users have reported problems
after installing IE7. If this applies to your
situation ...uninstalling IE7 may be worth
a try.

(927177) How to uninstall Internet Explorer 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927177/en-us

I've also seen a report that disabling the
ffdshow codec could be the fix. To accomplish
this...open Movie Maker and go to...Tools /
Options / Compatibility tab...Uncheck...
ffdshow / OK.

===
(You can disable ffdshow with this command:
regsvr32.exe /u "C:\Program Files\ffdshow\ffdshow.ax"
After running that command, the regular
DivX/XviD codecs will be used instead of ffdshow.
You can enable ffdshow again with this command:
regsvr32.exe "C:\Program Files\ffdshow\ffdshow.ax" )
===

More info:

Movie Maker 2 Crashes and Hangs
http://tinyurl.com/bqgyx

Movie Maker always has to close
http://tinyurl.com/fw76b
or...
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker/msg/ae88267a9e023836

--

John Inzer


John,

Thanks for the detailed info. Before I do these things, I wanted you to
know that just prior to this problem, I was puttering with Vista's tools and
started a "disk cleanup"...then canceled it in process. (Also disabled some
of the start programs, if that could be relevant)

When I look at the location "properties" of the mm file, it indicates it is
located in a windows/temp folder.....I tried to find that file in that temp
folder and it doesn't seem to be there.

Could my previous "mini" disc cleanup have dumped this temp file? Or if
not, and mm saves the project as a temp file, is it possible that doing a
full clean will trash it?

Tried to "restore" to an earlier point before this "tragedy".....didn't
work. Will wait for your reply, if you are kind enough to plow through this
and write again.

Again, thanks.

 

[Melissa in Maine]

Too many hours on this project to mention....program keeps "locking
up", closing and restarting. A hassle, but bearable.

Now, however, it has ceased to "play"....press button and get no
movement. No error message, no annoying restart issues...just
nothing. Files remain in timeline....just can't get the thing to
"play" so I can finish this up.

Ideas?

Have been reading the other posts....very helpful stuff. Thanks to
you MVPs who volunteer your talents

===============================
I do not have the exact cure but I can offer
some ideas...

Sounds like a system resource issue....

Disconnect from the net and close all programs...
especially virus scanners before opening Movie
Maker.

Uninstall unused programs, delete files that are
no longer important. IOW...free up some space.

Increase the size of your Paging File...the
following article explains how.

(308417) HOW TO: Set Performance Options
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308417

Try doing some maintenance...Disk Cleanup,
Error Checking, Defrag...

Empty your Temporary Internet Files Folder.

(260897) How to Delete the Contents of the
Temporary Internet Files Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=260897

Running Disk Cleanup, Error Checking and
Defrag on a regular schedule is a good idea.

(310312) Description of the Disk Cleanup
Tool in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310312

(315265) How to Perform Disk Error Checking
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315265
(check the two boxes..."Automatically fix file
system errors" and "Scan for and attempt
recovery of bad sectors") the utility will run
the next time you restart your computer.
(run error checking repeatedly until it finds
no errors)

(314848) How to Defragment Your Disk
Drive Volumes in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314848

Try converting your .jpgs to Windows Bitmaps
[.bmp} before importing them into Movie Maker.

File type compatibility with Movie Maker
http://tinyurl.com/v8tee

Some users have reported problems
after installing IE7. If this applies to your
situation ...uninstalling IE7 may be worth
a try.

(927177) How to uninstall Internet Explorer 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927177/en-us

I've also seen a report that disabling the
ffdshow codec could be the fix. To accomplish
this...open Movie Maker and go to...Tools /
Options / Compatibility tab...Uncheck...
ffdshow / OK.

===
(You can disable ffdshow with this command:
regsvr32.exe /u "C:\Program Files\ffdshow\ffdshow.ax"
After running that command, the regular
DivX/XviD codecs will be used instead of ffdshow.
You can enable ffdshow again with this command:
regsvr32.exe "C:\Program Files\ffdshow\ffdshow.ax" )
===

More info:

Movie Maker 2 Crashes and Hangs
http://tinyurl.com/bqgyx

Movie Maker always has to close
http://tinyurl.com/fw76b
or...
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker/msg/ae88267a9e023836

--

John Inzer

Me again,

Can't find the ffdshow file in my mm program and wonder if it is because I
failed to specify that this is running on Vista (a program I know even less
about than XP). Lots of filters under the compatability tab....sadly, no
ffdshow.

Thanks again

 

[Melissa in Maine]

============================================
Apparently it has not been installed on your system.
Those are just general suggestions that don't apply to
every system.

--

John Inzer


Hi again John,

Sorry I was not clear in my earlier message(s).

As I've been working on project, the program frequently "locks up"---the
little Vista "wheel" starts to spin, screen goes dim, then I need to
"restart" program. In itself, this has been a nuisance.

Now, however, when I "open" the project (timeline appears and it looks as
if all files/transitions/effects etc. are there)....I am unable to get it to
play in order to review it and continue editing. I click the "play" button
and nothing happens.

I can still open and play other mm projects- even earlier versions of the
particular project that now, no longer plays. It's as if this particular
project is "frozen".

Thanks as always.....

 

[Melissa in Maine]

=====================================
Maybe the file is corrupted. Or...as I told you...it
may be a system resource issue or incompatible
source files.

That's the best I can offer...sorry.

FWIW...creating large complex projects will often
result in problems. Creating several smaller projects
and combining them may be a better approach.

--

John Inzer

Good point. I've been messing with it today and just deleted a pic and "play" button started working. When I "undid" the delete, frozen again. So, deleted another pic....worked until I restored the pic. Finally deleted pic then re-imported it and now the whole thing works. Go figure....I have no idea why.

Again, thank you for all you help and advice....will be cleaning up disc as
well as your other suggestions.

On a totally different subject....can you tell me why, when editing, the
titles placed on the clip seem to NOT adjust to clip properties i.e. make a
clip shorter...title doesn't "move" with it and ends up appearing on the next
clip unless I manually move it.

Do I need to complete ALL video/audio edition/transitions and effects
before adding title and title animation to clips in order to avoid this
problem?

And again.......THANK YOU! I appreciate all your help.

 

[Curt in NZ]

Begin with a new project. Import all your clips afresh. Reboot before
generating your film.

In the future, do NOT change the length of clips (if you must, delete them,
rename them WITH A DIFFERENT NAME, and re-import them.

Basically, editting clips (especially changing their length) caused MM no
end of problems.

Too many hours on this project to mention....program keeps "locking
up", closing and restarting. A hassle, but bearable.

Now, however, it has ceased to "play"....press button and get no
movement. No error message, no annoying restart issues...just
nothing. Files remain in timeline....just can't get the thing to
"play" so I can finish this up.

Ideas?

Have been reading the other posts....very helpful stuff. Thanks to
you MVPs who volunteer your talents

===============================
I do not have the exact cure but I can offer
some ideas...

Sounds like a system resource issue....

Disconnect from the net and close all programs...
especially virus scanners before opening Movie
Maker.

Uninstall unused programs, delete files that are
no longer important. IOW...free up some space.

Increase the size of your Paging File...the
following article explains how.

(308417) HOW TO: Set Performance Options
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308417

Try doing some maintenance...Disk Cleanup,
Error Checking, Defrag...

Empty your Temporary Internet Files Folder.

(260897) How to Delete the Contents of the
Temporary Internet Files Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=260897

Running Disk Cleanup, Error Checking and
Defrag on a regular schedule is a good idea.

(310312) Description of the Disk Cleanup
Tool in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310312

(315265) How to Perform Disk Error Checking
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315265
(check the two boxes..."Automatically fix file
system errors" and "Scan for and attempt
recovery of bad sectors") the utility will run
the next time you restart your computer.
(run error checking repeatedly until it finds
no errors)

(314848) How to Defragment Your Disk
Drive Volumes in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314848

Try converting your .jpgs to Windows Bitmaps
[.bmp} before importing them into Movie Maker.

File type compatibility with Movie Maker
http://tinyurl.com/v8tee

Some users have reported problems
after installing IE7. If this applies to your
situation ...uninstalling IE7 may be worth
a try.

(927177) How to uninstall Internet Explorer 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927177/en-us

I've also seen a report that disabling the
ffdshow codec could be the fix. To accomplish
this...open Movie Maker and go to...Tools /
Options / Compatibility tab...Uncheck...
ffdshow / OK.

===
(You can disable ffdshow with this command:
regsvr32.exe /u "C:\Program Files\ffdshow\ffdshow.ax"
After running that command, the regular
DivX/XviD codecs will be used instead of ffdshow.
You can enable ffdshow again with this command:
regsvr32.exe "C:\Program Files\ffdshow\ffdshow.ax" )
===

More info:

Movie Maker 2 Crashes and Hangs
http://tinyurl.com/bqgyx

Movie Maker always has to close
http://tinyurl.com/fw76b
or...
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker/msg/ae88267a9e023836

--

John Inzer

Me again,

Can't find the ffdshow file in my mm program and wonder if it is because I
failed to specify that this is running on Vista (a program I know even less
about than XP). Lots of filters under the compatability tab....sadly, no
ffdshow.

Thanks again

 

[- Bobb -]

Mine ALWAYS locks up so I save every 5 minutes or so .
One basic "interface question" ....
When I load MM it shows every video or picture on collections ( and I
think is checking to verify if each and every file still exists). How can
I " keep old projects" in case I would like to someday reuse, and NOT have
everything displayed.
Example:
Family wedding folder has 20 videos and 50 pictures
Travel might have 50 videos and 100 pictures.
They ALL display in COLLECTIONS

I moved the MSWMM extension files to a different folder thinking THAT
would do it. It didn't.
It took a LONG time to config some of these movies so I would like to keep
the file so that I wouldn't have to recompile the entire thing. How do YOU
do it ?

Ideally WMM would open and would show NO collections, yet if I want to
File - OPEN Collection, I would Browse to the saved MSWMM file.

( I'm thinking that would get rid of all of the clutter contained in WMM -
and maybe why mine hangs. )

Thanks

Begin with a new project. Import all your clips afresh. Reboot before
generating your film.

In the future, do NOT change the length of clips (if you must, delete
them,
rename them WITH A DIFFERENT NAME, and re-import them.

Basically, editting clips (especially changing their length) caused MM
no
end of problems.

Melissa in Maine wrote:
Too many hours on this project to mention....program keeps "locking
up", closing and restarting. A hassle, but bearable.

Now, however, it has ceased to "play"....press button and get no
movement. No error message, no annoying restart issues...just
nothing. Files remain in timeline....just can't get the thing to
"play" so I can finish this up.

Ideas?

Have been reading the other posts....very helpful stuff. Thanks to
you MVPs who volunteer your talents
===============================
I do not have the exact cure but I can offer
some ideas...

Sounds like a system resource issue....

Disconnect from the net and close all programs...
especially virus scanners before opening Movie
Maker.

Uninstall unused programs, delete files that are
no longer important. IOW...free up some space.

Increase the size of your Paging File...the
following article explains how.

(308417) HOW TO: Set Performance Options
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308417

Try doing some maintenance...Disk Cleanup,
Error Checking, Defrag...

Empty your Temporary Internet Files Folder.

(260897) How to Delete the Contents of the
Temporary Internet Files Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=260897

Running Disk Cleanup, Error Checking and
Defrag on a regular schedule is a good idea.

(310312) Description of the Disk Cleanup
Tool in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310312

(315265) How to Perform Disk Error Checking
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315265
(check the two boxes..."Automatically fix file
system errors" and "Scan for and attempt
recovery of bad sectors") the utility will run
the next time you restart your computer.
(run error checking repeatedly until it finds
no errors)

(314848) How to Defragment Your Disk
Drive Volumes in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314848

Try converting your .jpgs to Windows Bitmaps
[.bmp} before importing them into Movie Maker.

File type compatibility with Movie Maker
http://tinyurl.com/v8tee

Some users have reported problems
after installing IE7. If this applies to your
situation ...uninstalling IE7 may be worth
a try.

(927177) How to uninstall Internet Explorer 7
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927177/en-us

I've also seen a report that disabling the
ffdshow codec could be the fix. To accomplish
this...open Movie Maker and go to...Tools /
Options / Compatibility tab...Uncheck...
ffdshow / OK.

===
(You can disable ffdshow with this command:
regsvr32.exe /u "C:\Program Files\ffdshow\ffdshow.ax"
After running that command, the regular
DivX/XviD codecs will be used instead of ffdshow.
You can enable ffdshow again with this command:
regsvr32.exe "C:\Program Files\ffdshow\ffdshow.ax" )
===

More info:

Movie Maker 2 Crashes and Hangs
http://tinyurl.com/bqgyx

Movie Maker always has to close
http://tinyurl.com/fw76b
or...
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.moviemaker/msg/ae88267a9e023836

--

John Inzer

Me again,

Can't find the ffdshow file in my mm program and wonder if it is
because I
failed to specify that this is running on Vista (a program I know even
less
about than XP). Lots of filters under the compatability tab....sadly,
no
ffdshow.

Thanks again

 

[John Inzer]

snip<
Ideally WMM would open and would show NO collections, yet if I want to
File - OPEN Collection, I would Browse to the saved MSWMM file.

=======================================
The following article may offer some ideas:

Movie Maker 2 -
Managing - Collections
http://tinyurl.com/2kt8l4
or...
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-Managing-Collections.html

My experience has been that as long as you have
your .mswmm project files saved anywhere on your
system and the original source files are still archived
in the original locations (or at least on your system
so you can browse to them and re-establish the path)
....you can delete anything/everything from the
Collections pane.

Double left clicking any .mswmm file should open
that project in Movie Maker and/or you can open
Movie Maker and go to File/Open Project and browse
to the .mswmm file you wish to open.

Re-opening a saved .mswmm project file will not
re-populate your Collections pane so you would
have to import any additional files you wish to
add to the project.

Why not create a test project and try it for yourself.
=======================================

( I'm thinking that would get rid of all of the clutter contained in
WMM - and maybe why mine hangs. )

Thanks

=======================================
It would eliminate the clutter for sure but it may not
prevent other issues with Movie Maker.

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

 

[- Bobb -]

=======================================
The following article may offer some ideas:

Movie Maker 2 -
Managing - Collections
http://tinyurl.com/2kt8l4
or...
http://www.papajohn.org/MM2-Managing-Collections.html

<snipped>
Looks like I'll read
http://www.papajohn.org/Newsletters/124-VacationStuff.html
in detail - that's the type of issue I have
Thanks
=======================================

It would eliminate the clutter for sure but it may not
prevent other issues with Movie Maker.

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

I thought it was frequently 'autosaving' and even though I have 1 gb of
mem the app never uses more than 300k. I figured a lot of the 300k might
be getting used as 'cache' for the collections and why it hangs
occasionally (often).

So HAVING the collections displayed isn't a problem ? That's not a
resource hog ?
THAT's why I wanted to clean it up.
Thanks again,
Bobb

 

[John Inzer]

I thought it was frequently 'autosaving' and even though I have 1 gb
of mem the app never uses more than 300k. I figured a lot of the 300k
might be getting used as 'cache' for the collections and why it hangs
occasionally (often).

=================================
The hanging is probably related to resource
issues. This time delay can usually be improved
by installing more RAM...(1 GB) is minimal for
video editing). Closing unnecessary programs
and doing regular maintenance...like emptying
your TIF folder, and running Error Checking and
Defrag. Having a hard drive that has lots of
free space is beneficial also.
=================================

So HAVING the collections displayed isn't a problem ? That's not a
resource hog ?
THAT's why I wanted to clean it up.
Thanks again,
Bobb

=================================
I guess it's worth a try but I doubt that deleting
your Collections would solve any problems.

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk