The Bears Pit: Off Topic Discussions » Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)

Messages:145
Registered:February 2014

Been having this weird problem, and I would love to hear if any of you guys have any ideas what is causing it.

I used IE for years, but recently switched to Firefox. I had been seeing more and more performance issues with IE and it finally just got too annoying.

I'm using an old worn out MSI laptop, Win 7 OS. Can post more specs if that is salient.

In the past 100 or so hours online I've seen a rather annoying error that is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It doesn't occur 'often', and actually seems to only occur with specific web-based video streaming.

Netflix seems fine. The only portal that I can say sure it happens with is Youtube. Moreover, it seems that some video's hosted on Youtube are fine; never see any sign of the error, others it seems to occur once part way through playing and then no more problems. Perhaps a rare couple of times it has occured two times in streaming one video.

Basically, part way through playing the video, usually at least one-third to one-half way through: video freezes, a fairly loud buzzing static sound ensue, mouse and keyboard are completely unresponsive. This lasts for up to a couple minutes then it stops and everything goes back to normal. During the period that this error occurs, the machine is completely unresponsive. The video image freezes, mouse and keyboard are unresponsive, and the buzzing noise persists for the duration of the error. No dialogue boxes or error messages appear; the error just eventually ends, and the machine once again becomes responsive. I've never seen a video where this error didn't eventually end. Haven't timed it but I would guess 2 minutes is the longest I've seen it occur and 45 seconds is perhaps the minimum.

I am guessing that it is hardware, and something is getting close to dying? My fan does seem to run a lot. I keep the fan side propped up to give it more airflow and work it on a solid lapboard so it is getting maximum ventilation it can get . . . short of buying one of those lapboard fans.

If I didn't know better, I would almost say that, some of these videos had intrusive software in them, and that during these periods when the machine completely locks up, the software was taking over system processes.

Sergeant

Re: Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)[message #330908]

Fri, 28 February 2014 09:28

R@S

Messages:134
Registered:July 2004
Location: Sweden

How much RAM does your laptop have? And is the HD reading and writing during this "hang"?

The reason I ask is I had a friend who had problems with Youtube streaming, not as severe as yours. It turned out the RAM and pagefile handler was borked on his computer(hardware driver issue), and when his browser ran out of memory and started paging it, everything else on his computer stopped working.

Try checking your "Event Viewer", it should have some entries that will lead you in the right direction, either in the System or in Application tab. If you remember when it happened last time, date and time, it is easy to find the right log. If not, try to duplicate the error and then check the event viewer. In caseyou don't know where to find the Event Viewer,it's in the Control Panel under Administrative Tools.

I love firefox and wont use any other, but it uses way too much ram to run, especially the later versions.

Hope this helps

Sergeant

Re: Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)[message #330928]

Fri, 28 February 2014 23:49

Messages:145
Registered:February 2014

Thank you sir! I will check that stuff Smile

Toggle Spoiler

Um . . . well, looks like 4MB of RAM? Not sure why it says "Available OS Memory: 3072MB RAM?"

So far the advice I've received on the half dozen boards where I've asked this question:

1. Reinstall video drivers.

2. I'd agree with the above. If that doesn't help, grab Process Explorer, keep it open while playing a video and see if anything shoots up (CPU/GPU/memory usage etc) when the problem happens.

Another thing I'd try is to install YouTube Center add-on to your firefox and try out different Flash WModes (Gear icon on youtube page -> YouTube Center Settings -> Player) to see if any of 'em stop the problems from appearing.

3. A couple of extensions I like to use:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bluhell-firewall/?src=api
https://adblockplus.org/en/firefox
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rsccmanfasterfox/?src=userprofile
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/flagfox/?src=external-flagfox.net
http://www.greasespot.net/ (Courtesy of J a while back)
http://barisderin.com/?p=1113

4. Right after it happens the next time, I'd go to your Windows 7 Start button, type 'event viewer' and hit enter. On the upper-left side, expand "Windows Logs" and see what it says occurred during that time frame (likely under 'System').

The previous times it happened are probably saved under old error logs now, if you want to browse it now, but it might lead you in the wrong direction unless you know what time it happened and can narrow down the exact error at that time.

5. Easy check ... ctrl - alt - del > start task master > click performance tab. Next time it happens see what your CPU Usage is. If it is locked at 100% you probably have a worm or rootkit hiding somewhere.

aye, that's what it sounds like to me. I had a worm of some kind on my old laptop that was impossible to remove. It only affected IE so I was able to "live with it" but it sure was annoying as hell.

So, I'm getting lots of useful 'tips' for trying to pin down the problem Smile

Sergeant

Re: Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)[message #331206]

Tue, 11 March 2014 21:35

Messages:10
Registered:March 2014
Location: Vermingen, Germland

Anthropoid

Um . . . well, looks like 4MB of RAM? Not sure why it says "Available OS Memory: 3072MB RAM?"

Maybe 4 MB is too little ... bwah-hah, clever-dick me.
Seeing that it's 3072 sharp rather than a random fraction of 4GB, it's either dedicated/shared graphics memory (doesn't look like it, though, in your system parameters), or you didn't set your msconfig to 0 [zero] - Windows 7 is flimsy like that ...

Enable memory remapping in the BIOS, and uncheck the MAXMEM in msconfig > boot.ini > Advanced.
Actually, that might be the problem, since IO addresses and upper level RAM overlap without memory remapping. I've never seen it happening, but maybe there is some way that your RAM is overriding your IO settings. Or maybe I'm just hallucinating ... if you already did that, and I just didn't notice, please forgive me my trigger-happiness.
If it doesn't solve your YouTube problem, at least it gives you 25% extra memory.

Private

Re: Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)[message #331207]

Tue, 11 March 2014 21:38

Messages:145
Registered:February 2014

Ah thanks bro. I'll try that next time I power it off Wink

I'm kinda skeptical that it is a worm or rootkit, but maybe that is just wishful thinking.

Sergeant

Re: Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)[message #331211]

Tue, 11 March 2014 22:24

Messages:10
Registered:March 2014
Location: Vermingen, Germland

Anthropoid

I'm kinda skeptical that it is a worm or rootkit, but maybe that is just wishful thinking.

Nothing to not be skeptical about. If you hear hooves trampling (or rather, FLVs white-noising), why think zebras? Wink

Oh, and I'm almost afraid to ask, but you're not trying to stream VP6F or FLV4 with FlashPlayer 7, right (haven't used YouTube frequently in a long time, really, and I dunno whether they even allow for those codices)? V.8 and > can play non-Sorensen/VP6, V.7 and < can't, I hear ... but I'd think they'd simply not stream rather than giving the feedback you described.
You might want to link one or more or all of the "broken" videos here, as well as post your in-browser-player details (I assume you are using Adobe?), so that people can analyse the codec problem further. If you download the problematic videos, and play them in your off-browser player, do they still buckle? It is feasible that your system is simply too "weak" to play non-MP3 audio containers online. Maybe the broken videos are all in non-MP3 audio containers like .mov or .mp4, for example?
Sorry for being verbose about it ... actually, I dunno exactly about YouTube, but maybe somebody else does.

Private

Re: Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)[message #331220]

Wed, 12 March 2014 03:23

Messages:145
Registered:February 2014

Derh . . .

http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html

Says, I have flash 12.0.0.70, but latest is 12.0.0.77.

Guess I'll update that real quick.

Quote:

If you download the problematic videos, and play them in your off-browser player, do they still buckle?

Now that sounds like an excellent trouble shooting option!

[Updated on: Wed, 12 March 2014 03:24] by Moderator

Sergeant

Re: Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)[message #331221]

Wed, 12 March 2014 03:51

Messages:145
Registered:February 2014

Okay, so, these run fine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09q04Dlh7r8&list=PLrEnWoR732-BHrPp_Pm8_VleD68f9s14-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeydzMjP4Oo&list=PLrEnWoR732-BHrPp_Pm8_VleD68f9s14-
(ah damn, sad to hear he got killed. Not a surprise given his line of work I guess)

Now this is weird. I'm going back and watching stuff I've watched recently that locked up on me. I am sure that his next video locked up on me today at about 75% done with the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zCjfqE8XME

Just now watched it and no problemo.

Does that mean anything?

Sergeant

Re: Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)[message #331268]

Fri, 14 March 2014 14:28

Messages:10
Registered:March 2014
Location: Vermingen, Germland

Thanks for the links. Smile

[font:Arial Black]I am totally assuming that you are using Windows 7, 64BIT[/font], yes? Everything I am referring to here is 64BIT Windows; if you have 32BIT, you have to install 32BIT drivers, of course; the ones I am linking to are 64BIT. Smile

Furthermore, I am assuming that you are using onboard sound only, and the Mobility Radeon is the only graphics adapter in your Laptop (it came with GPU inside, you didn't solder on a new GPU afterwards, right?)
____________________________________

I only checked video 2 & 3, not the first one. For me they run fine (at least once).
Fact is, they are using the same codec @software rendering, and use up approx. the same resources (3rd one streams at 519714 kbps avg., that's about 0.006% if you use 1 GByte LAN, and a staggering 0.048% if GBit. So, it's not a performance issue, really.
Since you were already using Flash 12, that's not an issue, either, and most probably not a codec issue by the same token (unless you replaced the codices afterwards with older ones, but why would you?).
____________________________________

I've gone over your system configuration again, and maybe you want to install the latest Catalyst Graphics Card Driver (V. 13.9 or 13.12, with 13.9 being more stable) and the latest Realtek Audio Drivers. (The latter link is in German, but simply click "[color:#3333FF]zum Download[/color]" on the topmost right).
____________________________________

The [font:Arial Black]Rtkvhda.sys[/font] component of your audio driver is known to cause troubles like the ones you described, if not existant or damaged. There are registry cleaning solutions aplenty on the net, but I'm kinda wary of those, since most install some bull that'll be running background tasks after install and some such things. I remember having seen one solution on twocows (or whatever the name, tucows or tucos or some such thing, they have a logo with two cow heads there, but I don't think it's free). It's called Rtkvhda.sys cleaner or something, to the best of my recollection. My second best quality is precision ... Sad

Anyway, my suggestion would be to download a Rtkvhda.sys, renaming the existing one, and copying the downloaded one into the original folder where Rtkvhda.sys is located. Do not delete it. Smile

__________________________

Now to your actual question Quote:

does this matter?

Yes, of course it does. If you encounter one problem sometimes, and at other times you don't, there have to be other, hidden reasons for the error to be occuring.
One fast, yet somewhat risky (firewall) approach to analysing the issue is to check the Tag Stream Player streaming speed by right-clicking on the video, then choosing the statistics of the stream (6th item from the top). Then if that appears to be low (around 7000 - 8000 for videos 2 & 3 should be fine), you can try to bypass the CDN servers used by the ISPs to throttle down your YouTube speed. In order to do that:

Run cmd.exe with admin rights on
copy and paste this: [font:Fixedsys]netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="YOUTUBESPEED" dir=in action=block remoteip=173.194.55.0/24,206.111.0.0/16 enable=yes[/font]
Hit
Should then show your c:/windows dir
This is for my XP 32BIT system, so I dunno whether you have the same system dir name, but I assume you should - else replace
Check your TagStream speed again, like above

If you encounter problems, reset the branch by cmd'ing, as above: [font:Fixedsys]netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name="YOUTUBESPEED"[/font]
_______________________________

One more thing: Make sure you do not exceed your max. bandwidth. Don't download and stream at the same time; close unused tabs; close memory-heavy background tasks. Well, at least that's what I do, but then again, my PC is really not very fast, so there.

Very subjective addendum: You may also want to try LAN rather than WLAN; people keep telling me their WLAN and LAN speeds are identical, but I am pretty damn superstitious about wireless stuff. Seriously. With a LAN connection, you know you get stable streaming speed. I had no cabled option in Vietnam, and I tells ya it was quite fickle, the WLAN thing. But that's just me ... Wink

Private

Re: Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)[message #331270]

Fri, 14 March 2014 18:30

Messages:145
Registered:February 2014

Ah thanks wolfman! I will work my way through all your suggested issues.

The funny thing is this (naturally) I'm experiencing a lot less of these errors. Happened maybe three times yesterday. Twice it was somewhat pronounced (45 seconds or so), third time it was just like a second and then done.

Your comments about the audio driver are very intriguing so I will definitely focus on that. Reason I say is, one or two times that it has occurred recently, instead of a complete lockup with a kind of buzzing noise in the background, instead the video continued to stream and the sound continued too (more or less in synch with the video) But it was like the voices were being spoken through a fan! Wink

You know how if you turn on a fan really fast and then put your mouth near the housing and speak it makes your voice sound all weird and wavery and kinda robot like? Well imagine that, except slowed way down.

Sergeant

Re: Video Streaming Problem (non-gaming general tech question)[message #331561]

Sun, 30 March 2014 11:05

Messages:10
Registered:March 2014
Location: Vermingen, Germland

You sure have too much time on your hands ... or mouths, or whatever. Very Happy

But I ain't one to talk.
Haven't been here for some time, so sorry for the late reply.
Happy to hear that it's better now. Smile

Anyways, yes, I think I know what you mean, had it myself a coupla times, and I'm pretty sure it's an I/O-issue related to legacy-ISA conversion on a 32/64 BIT bus system (the reason for that assumption is, the same thing happened when you set your Soundblaster on the wrong DMA-Port back then), but even on my board, with onboard sound disabled and an antediluvian legacy-ISA card (yeah, it was expensive back then, and I'm too lazy to unscrew the breakout box; besides, it gives my PC the look of being owned by a person who knows what they're doing), I wasn't able to fix it, and now the problem is gone, and I dunno how. Very Happy

Be that as it may, in intrapersonal conflicts, problems have a tendency to solve themselves once you have spoken them out loud. Also, once you go see a doctor, the symptoms miraculously vanish, right? Is it, then, not feasible that computers, being an extension of your online persona the way organs and limbs are extensions of your holistic bio-persona, behave in a similar way? You ask for a solution of a certain problem, and just by having spoken about it, it dis-solves.
Congrats, therapy successful.