MBClassic seems to hang on the welcome screen

[vletroye 6]

I have an issue with the version 3.0.5112.40848 on my Windows 8.0 x64. I didn't notice this before but I admit I don't reboot very often so it's possibly there since a long time

 

I run MBServer as a service with an account which is granted access on my NAS, where media are all stored.

 

When I am starting "Media Browser Classic", it seems to hang on the Welcome Screen. There is no animation anymore (no dot moving anymore once 6 arrived).

 

Several time, I did kill MBClassic as I thought it was dead: the service is still running fine as I can access it via the web UI, but I am unable to close MBClassic by clicking on the "close" icon (on the top right corner of MediaCenter).

 

Minimizing and restoring MediaCenter is resulting in an empty screen (MBClassic is not re-displayed... only the MediaCenter container's blue window appears... empty).

 

Actually, it is just taking a loooooooog time to start... (75 seconds). I have no idea why (sounds like a timeout ?), but it is be really "confusing" for end users like me or my kids.

 

1) Ins't it possible to keep the animation going on ?

2) What can be the root cause of this dealy ? Why it this taking so long and how I can improve that ? 

 

My NAS is a Synology. I can watch several HD movies on different devices at the same time, so IO and Network bandwidth is not a bottleneck.

 

When I run MBServer in a interactive mode (not as a service), the 6 dots displayed on the welcome screen of MBClassic disappear after a few seconds, but it also take quite a long time before opening the media library...

 

There is no scheduled task currently running...

 

Please, help ! 75 seconds is too long for my kids (3 and 6 years old) and I am afraid they are really going to kill my HTPC

 

V.

[CBers 7450]

Can you supply the MBC and Server log(s) please.

[vletroye 6]

Sorry, I was in a hurry to prepare the new year party... and I add to investigate a bit further to understand MB (where it is installed, etc...)

Here is a fresh log of this morning, with the issue (and possible some others - but the issue is probably "me" ):

 

FYI:

1) I did start the service which took 15 minutes to scan the library.

I have been waiting until the end to that scan (looking at the progress directly in the log)

2) Then, I did open MBClassic. I was not blocked on the Welcome Screen, but the library appeared to be empty.

I saw that at that time the server was logging a lot of stuff...

3) so after 1 minute, I did close MBClassic.

I was an error in the log at that moment (I notice I have this error each time I close MBClassic):

 

2014-01-01 13:42:53.8746, Error, HttpServer, Error receiving web socket message
An internal WebSocket error occurred. Please see the innerException, if present, for more details. 

4) I did restart MBClassis and has now been blocked for a while on the Welcome Screen.

Again, the server is logging a lot of stuff... No idea yet about what it's doing, but I am sure I could find if I search a bit in this forum

 

 

I presume that with this log, you can figure out what I am experiencing and why...

 

 

 

 

If you don't mind, I would like to share a bit more about the issues I experienced this morning while trying to get logs:

 

A) I wanted to remotely connect on my HTPC with my admin account to get the logs. Once connected I saw the MBServer icon in the systray !!although!! "Run Server at Startup" is not ticked in the dashboard's advanced tab - I have double checked. So, I stopped it and I tried to start manually the MBServer windows service instead. But it failed because another instance was still running ?!?!  And indeed, one was still running within the session of another user XXX ?! So, I logged off that user and was finally able to start the MBServer windows service from within my admin account's session. 

 

>>> Is MBServer foreseen to support multiple concurrent sessions/users, logged on locally or remotely ?

 

 

After restarting the service, I was able to enter quickly the Media Library (no delay anymore), but the library was empty ? 

I noticed in the log that MBServer was busy with 'Finding id for item: ...." on all my libraries, so I guess it's updating the metadata each time it restarts ?!.

Ok, but why dos my library appear empty ? It was still complete when I checked earlier this morning (with the XXX account)

And it took now 20 minutes to complete.. So 20 minutes without cartoons for the kids

(Once the update completed, if I stop and restart MBClassic, it takes again quite a long time to pass the Welcome Screen)

 

I reproduce this each time I restart the service -  including, as mentioned, for the log I have posted here above.

 

C) MBServer is installed on Windows 8.0 with my account "Valéry" (A Microsoft account) => in C:\Users\Valéry\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Server

But MBServer Windows Service is running with another account ZZZ which is granted access on my NAS.

I presume that could be an issue if ZZZ is not granted access on C:\Users\Valéry\AppData\Roaming\MediaBrowser-Server

Fortunately, ZZZ has access to C:\Users\Valéry because I am lazy and both ZZZ and Valéry are admin... But this is not how it should be....

So I wonder if there is a real reason why MB must use my Roaming profile instead of a "shared" folder for all local accounts?

 

And what if my Roaming profile must be synced with other PC's via a VPN ? It could be catastrophic IMO... at least if I compare to my own experience with Visual Studio when not paying attention to the stuff stored in the roaming profile :/

"Valéry" is indeed an account I also use on my laptop.

 

 

V.

[ebr 16169]

The server has to be installed in a place we can guarantee write access to in order for our update system to work.  In Windows, the user's private folder is the only place that fits that bill.

[ebr 16169]

As for your original issue, if the server is logging a lot of activity, then I suspect it is running a task and that is why it is slow responding for MBC.  Look on your scheduled tasks page.  Is something running?