problem with CD Player

S

sailor

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 1, 2002
Messages
158
I am having problems with CD Player Version 2.4 which I have been using for years and I like it. It has worked without problem in every computer where I have installed it, until now.

I have installed it in a new computer and When I start the program it crashes directly without even really starting. I get the windows message "Player.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close" and close it does.

I have done some tinkering, testing and investigating and I have found out that if I disable the audio first then Player.exe will start normally and then I can enable the audio and the Player works (mostly). I can disable the audio device in the Device Manager or I can disable the Windows Audio Service AudioSrv and in both cases it will allow the CD Player to start up normally. After it starts up it will work normally except that the volume control slider does not work. It is stuck in place and does not control the volume. I can control the volume externally but not within the Player window. In other computers where the Player works correctly I notice the Player volume control slider also controls the general computer audio volume.

In the Player Options Menu there is a checkbox titled "Enable Volume Control" and underneath it are two dropboxes titled "Mixer" and "Source" and although I can check and select these do not take and have no effect. When I open the window again the box is unchecked.

So that is the point where I am right now and I am stumped. I cannot think of what to do next. It seems there is some kind of conflict or incompatibility between the part of the Player which controls the volume and yields the signal stream to the Windows driver or service and this driver or service. It seems there is some incompatibility between the Player and my audio device.

Another thing is that the Player starts up maximized, taking up the whole screen, and I need to make it a normal window manually. This may or may not be related but is a minor annoyance compared to the main problem.

The motherboard is ASUSTeK P5Q SE2 with integrated VIA High Definition Audio HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_1106&DEV_0397&SUBSYS_1043837A. I have the latest driver V 6.0.1.8200 and I am running Win XP Pro SP3.

Any ideas? I suppose I could always install another audio card but I'd like to get this one working if I can.
 
1. Try reinstalling audio drivers
2. Try installing different audio drivers if possible
3. Have you tried uninstalling and then reinstalling?

I use that software myself and I like it as well. I've never come across the problems you are having.
 
450 said:
1. Try reinstalling audio drivers
2. Try installing different audio drivers if possible
3. Have you tried uninstalling and then reinstalling?

I use that software myself and I like it as well. I've never come across the problems you are having.
Click to expand...
Yup, done all that several times. Same results with older and latest audio drivers. Have also reinstalled the software several times. tried all different possibilities I could think of but results are always the same.

It seems there is some glitch that causes an incompatibility between the output stage of the player (which controls the volume) and the input of the next audio driver component which receives the signal.

While the Player site is still up and the program can be downloaded I am afraid it might be pretty much abandoned because I see no recent activity in the forum and the owner is not answering my email.

I was hoping this bug could be corrected in a new version.

The program itself is only 179 KB and I was wondering if it might be possible to look into the code and see where the problem might be.


As a work-around I was trying a .BAT file which would first disable the audio service, then start the player, and then restart the audio service:
Code: 
sc stop AudioSrv
"C:\Program Files\CDPlayer\Player.exe"
sc start AudioSrv
The two first lines work OK but the third line will not execute until the Player program is ended. I do not know if it is possible to have it execute the third line without waiting for the second command to complete.
 
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I have managed to write a .BAT file which disables the audio service, starts the Player program, waits 3 seconds for it to be up and running and then restarts the audio service.
Code: 
sc stop AudioSrv
call "cmd /c start C:\Progra~1\CDPlayer\Player.exe"
ping -n 3 127.0.0.1 > nul
sc start AudioSrv
The delay is necessary because otherwise the audio service is re-enabled before Player is running and it will crash. This seems to be the best work-around I can come up with for now. The Player volume control still doesn't work but I can use the program with the external Windows volume control.

I have also installed this program in many computers and have never had a problem with it. Only with this particular audio device.

Still, I would like to find a straight solution to this bug rather than using this clumsy work-around.
 
Do you have a different soundcard you can test with?
 
I understand what you are suggesting. Trying another audio device would confirm whether the Player program has a compatibility problem only with the VIA on-board device or with all audio devices in which case it would be a general problem with this installation of Windows XP.

My guess right now is that another audio device would not have this problem but there is no way of knowing without trying but trying another internal audio card (PCI) would be a major hassle and I do not have a USB audio device at hand. For now I think I will wait for a better opportunity and continue to look in other ways.

Although I think the chance of it is small it is possible that something else has caused the problem with the Windows XP OS. For instance, I have a TV card in the computer and it works fine but I suppose it is possible that the TV card made some change which now conflicts with the Player.

It seems the problem is the software "connection" between the Player output and the OS audio input. Somehow the Player passes the audio stream to the OS and also the volume control info. This is where the problem is, in this interface. Maybe there is a way of observing and monitoring what is going on at this interface.
 
When Player crashes trying to start up the event viewer records the following event:
Code: 
Event Type:	Error
Event Source:	Application Error
Event Category:	None
Event ID:	1000
Description:
Faulting application player.exe, version 2.4.0.0, 
faulting module unknown, version 0.0.0.0, 
fault address 0x0000ffff.
This error message is so generic that I cannot find it useful but maybe someone can help. Is there some way to gain more information about what is happening? Maybe a debug process?

ETA:

I have also found the following error in the event viewer. It appears infrequently, not every time I try to start the Player program but it seems related:
Code: 
Event Type:	Error
Event Source:	redbook
Event Category:	None
Event ID:	5
Description:
Redbook could not determine the number of pins (interfaces) for the default 
playback device.  This is most likely an issue with the audio drivers.  
Redbook requires both a WDM audio driver and kernel streaming to be enabled.
What is "redbook" in this context?

This last error appears only once so it may not be related after all and might just be a glitch.
 
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[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Book_%28CD_standard%29"]Red Book (CD standard) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:CDDAlogo.svg" class="image"><img alt="CDDAlogo.svg" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/14/CDDAlogo.svg/150px-CDDAlogo.svg.png"@@AMEPARAM@@en/thumb/1/14/CDDAlogo.svg/150px-CDDAlogo.svg.png[/ame]
I'm not saying you should abandon your quest to get it working, but at some point you may consider options other than trying new hardware to stick with the software. Personally, I'd dump the player, and use a different one. There are many to choose from that are functional without aggravation. Just my two cents.
 
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Monkey34, thanks for your response.

I am well aware of the red book audio CD standard but in this context that is not what it refers to. Rather, it seems to me it refers to the Windows file/service/program redbook.sys.

At this point this is more of a learning and academic exercise than anything else. I have found a work-around which allows me to use the software and it is not something I use that often anyway.

I maintain several computers of my own and another few belonging to family and friends and I try to keep them pretty much all with the same configuration because that simplifies maintenance enormously. When someone calls me on the phone with a problem I can know what programs are installed, how the start menu is configured, etc. which makes it much easier. Troubleshooting software that I am not familiar with by phone is a nightmare so my rule is to try to keep all computers as similar as possible. I even bought two identical laptops, one for me and one for my girlfriend. As my luck would have it mine failed after a few months while hers is still going.
 
Well, afaik, windows sends the CD through the redbook driver, then to the sysaudio driver, then the hardware sound device that's set in the "sounds and audio devices" in control panel.

So you have one or more of those screwed. Check the integrity of the redbook.sys.......run sfc /scannow from a cmd prompt. You might need your XP disk.
You said you already tried the audio hardware driver, and dont have another audio device to try.

Do you have a digital audio option in the device manager for the cd drive thats not checked? Its just audio throught the drive to the player? Does audio from the drive to another player work? Could the drive be screwing up - not reading the audio well?
 
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Good thinking. I have three optical drives on this system and it does not matter which one I select the result is the same. Also it makes no difference whether the digital audio option is checked or not. So it seems the drive itself is OK and the interface with the Player program is also OK. This reinforces my impression that the problem is in the output stage of the program and the interface with the next stage, whatever that is.

One good thing about having several computers configured alike is that when something does not work I can check and compare to find out any differences. I have been doing that in this case but can find no significant differences. I have compared configurations, registry entries, etc, but cannot find anything which might explain why CD Player does not work right in this machine.

The only clear difference is in the sound device used. When I get a chance I might try another sound device and see what happens. If and when I can get a USB audio device I will test it or whenever I have to open up the computer case I can try a PCI audio card but that is a PITA so I think I'll wait for now.
 
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