Emby server crashes my GPU driver and freezes my PC

[ProudlyTM 0]

The Emby server crashes my GPU driver a couple of seconds after it starts. The crash gets to the point of freezing my mouse and I literally can't do anything unless I physically reboot my PC. I've succeeded disabling the server from auto starting from the startup tab of task manager meanwhile.

I've tried disabling my GPU (RX 480) from device manager, disabling hardware acceleration and then re-enabling the GPU, which again results in the same crash, until I physically reboot my PC. Leaving the GPU disabled with hardware acceleration enabled or disabled doesn't seem to matter. It doesn't crash with either option that way. So with that being said, apparently hardware acceleration is not the culprit of the problem.

I've also tried a fork of Emby - Jellyfin, which doesn't seem to have this problem.

Does anybody know what could be the cause of this and how to fix it? I've attached the embyserver.txt log, where I've only redacted the Windows username.

embyserver.txt

Edited July 28, 2021 by ProudlyTM

[Abobader 2958]

Hello ProudlyTM,

** This is an auto reply **

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

Thank you.

Emby Team

[rbjtech 4333]

The Dev's will probably need the 'hardware_detection_xxxx' log if you have one of those ?

I would also do a re-install from emby.media - over the top of your current install - it's possible something is corrupt in one of the DLL's ?

Edited July 28, 2021 by rbjtech

[Carlo 4331]

You may want to check for updated video drivers as well.

[softworkz 3349]

8 hours ago, cayars said:

You may want to check for updated video drivers as well.

Not through Windows Update. Please install the latest drivers from the Nvidia website. During installation, choose to reset all current configurations.

Do you have onboard graphics as well? If yes, please try to disable this in the bios.

Do you have a monitor connected to the system?

How are you accessing the machine? Locally or via Remote Desktop?

 

[ProudlyTM 0]

13 hours ago, rbjtech said:

The Dev's will probably need the 'hardware_detection_xxxx' log if you have one of those ?

I would also do a re-install from emby.media - over the top of your current install - it's possible something is corrupt in one of the DLL's ?

I only get one log - the log that I already provided. I don't get the hardware_detection one.

I've already tried re-installing multiple times with removing all traces and it doesn't work.

8 hours ago, cayars said:

You may want to check for updated video drivers as well.

Already running the latest drivers even installed with the clean install option.

4 minutes ago, softworkz said:

Not through Windows Update. Please install the latest drivers from the Nvidia website. During installation, choose to reset all current configurations.

Do you have onboard graphics as well? If yes, please try to disable this in the bios.

Do you have a monitor connected to the system?

How are you accessing the machine? Locally or via Remote Desktop?

 

As replied to @cayars, drivers are already up-to-date, installed with the clean install option. Also I have an AMD GPU, RX 480, so not Nvidia.

I don't have onboard graphics, only RX 480 (dedicated). My CPU is a Ryzen 7 2700X.

Yes, two monitors. One of them is 144Hz (main) on DisplayPort and the other one is 75Hz (secondary) on HDMI. Both are 1080p.

Locally.

[softworkz 3349]

OK, thanks
(as Nvidia has started to use those 'RX' letters, I had assumed that RX 480 was just a typo..   )

Next steps:

• Please download DxvaChecker from here: https://bluesky-soft.com/en/DXVAChecker.html
  Run it
  Check whether it crashes or shows some useful information
  .
• Please activate debug logging in Emby server
• Restart
• Re-Activate your GPU and reproduce the error (now with a much bigger log)

 

Thanks,
softworkz

[ProudlyTM 0]

2 hours ago, softworkz said:

OK, thanks
(as Nvidia has started to use those 'RX' letters, I had assumed that RX 480 was just a typo..   )

Next steps:

• Please download DxvaChecker from here: https://bluesky-soft.com/en/DXVAChecker.html
  Run it
  Check whether it crashes or shows some useful information
  .
• Please activate debug logging in Emby server
• Restart
• Re-Activate your GPU and reproduce the error (now with a much bigger log)

 

Thanks,
softworkz

I ran DXVA Checker and it didn't crash. I'm not sure if it will be useful info for you, but I've attached a screenshot of the default tab that the app starts with (Decoder Device).

I've also attached the new log with debug logging enabled from the server settings.

embyserver.txt

[softworkz 3349]

Thanks for your results. 

I had forgotten that the debug information from codec detection doesn't got into the main log, it goes into the hw detection log which never gets written due to the app crash.

Let's try something else.

1. Could you please take a look into the Application and System event logs and see whether there are entries about the app crash?
   Please collect all information you can find and to which the even log entry might link to. You can also send it to me via PM instead of posting publicly. 
    
2. Open the Emby cache folder. You can see the path to it on the server dashboard main page
   In the subfolder 'ffmpeg' and there should be a file named 'hwaccels_4.6.0.4.txt'
   Open the file, remove the line containing 'd3d11va' and save
   Start Emby Server
   This time, it should skip D3D11VA detection

 

[ProudlyTM 0]

2 hours ago, softworkz said:

Open the Emby cache folder. You can see the path to it on the server dashboard main page
In the subfolder 'ffmpeg' and there should be a file named 'hwaccels_4.6.0.4.txt'
Open the file, remove the line containing 'd3d11va' and save
Start Emby Server
This time, it should skip D3D11VA detection

Hmm.. That seems to have fixed it

[softworkz 3349]

On 7/29/2021 at 8:16 PM, ProudlyTM said:

Hmm.. That seems to have fixed it

It's not really a fix. It just confirms that there's a problem with DX11 detection which we have just skipped, and you are getting DXVA2 decoders instead of the D3D11VA variants.

We'll need to find out at which exact point it is crashing. #1 would still help for this. 

I've also made a change for the next beta to get logging of the detection written into the main log, then we can take another look and will hopefully see at which point the AMD driver is crashing.

Edited July 31, 2021 by softworkz

[Luke 37254]

@ProudlyTM are you still running into this?

[ProudlyTM 0]

18 hours ago, Luke said:

@ProudlyTM are you still running into this?

I stopped using Emby some time ago, so I can't answer anymore unfortunately.

[Luke 37254]

@ProudlyTM we're happy to help you resolve this if you'd like to try again. Thanks.