Share via

My PC sometimes crashes while playing music

Anonymous
2009-12-29T13:28:41+00:00

Hello all,

I have a problem that I need help figuring out.  Sometimes, while listening to music, my PC will lock up to the point where I have to hard reboot my PC.  I'm fairly certain that this is a Windows 7 issue, but I can't say that with 100% certainty.  I have never had this kind of problem with Windows XP.  The only thing that's changed when I upgraded to Windows 7 is the OS...I have not changed my hardware.  This is what I've done so far to try to fix my problem:

  • Updated my sound drivers to Windows 7-compatible versions.  I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers
  • Tried a different media player.  Before, I used Winamp 5.57, and after that, I used AIMP2.  I have not tried WMP for an extended period of time.  AIMP2 seems to crash more often than Winamp, but that might be because there hasn't been an update for it in a long time.  I just use it because it's similar to Winamp, and it has some features that I like more.

And that's it so far.  I do like to surf with Firefox while listening to music...just throwing that out there in case there's a conflict between Firefox and a media player.  I don't think there's a memory problem.  Here are my hardware specs:

OS Name    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Version    6.1.7600 Build 7600

Other OS Description     Not Available

OS Manufacturer    Microsoft Corporation

System Manufacturer    Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

System Model    G31M-S2L

System Type    x64-based PC

Processor    Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU          6600  @ 2.40GHz, 2400 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS Version/Date    Award Software International, Inc. F5, 05/13/2008

SMBIOS Version    2.4

Windows Directory    C:\Windows

System Directory    C:\Windows\system32

Boot Device    \Device\HarddiskVolume1

Hardware Abstraction Layer    Version = "6.1.7600.16385"

Installed Physical Memory (RAM)    4.00 GB

Total Physical Memory    4.00 GB

Available Physical Memory    2.93 GB

Total Virtual Memory    8.00 GB

Available Virtual Memory    6.82 GB

Page File Space    4.00 GB

Page File    C:\pagefile.sys

And my sound info:

Name    Realtek High Definition Audio

Manufacturer    Realtek

Status    OK

PNP Device ID    HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0662&SUBSYS_1458A002&REV_1001\4&2F790C35&0&0201

Driver    c:\windows\system32\drivers\rtkvhd64.sys (6.0.1.5973, 1.93 MB (2,023,840 bytes), 12/28/2009 6:23 PM)

Any help is appreciated!

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

14 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2010-01-10T12:50:52+00:00

    Alright mate this problem was driving me literally mad - to a point i kept hittng the keyboard hard

    well, after 48 hours of Furious Hirritation... i fixed this problem.

    Heres the thing, u play music.... plays for 10-20 seconds, somtimes upto 40 seconds... then wat do u know? Crash, not just any crash, it freezes... Alt Ctrl Del doesnt work either, so u turn it off the hard way, u hold the power button untill ur system turns off

    yea, ive been there, done that

    ok now, i formatted my system, recovered, reinstalled the windows.... etc...

    none worked....

    the problem is... THE ACTUAL MUSIC or VIDEO

    how i know this?

    ok, you try this... copy ALL of ur music and Videos into a hard drive, or another local disc... say Local Disc D?

    at that point, keep watching cuz theres 1 certain music file or more that WILL NOT BE COPIED, oh and heres the awesome part

    the option is either skip or retry... press retry... if it goes well... well ok well done, but if it doesnt, and hangs just like wat ur expiriencing... then welcome to my world

    then next time, press skip, to see if there are any more of it

    then, obviously wen ur done, dont delete them... why? well go ahead try... see if it wont hang again... if it doesnt... well thats great, but if it does, then there is no other way but to format it

    for example

    for me it was in Local drive D cuz i have alot of music i place them there, so i had to Format my Local Drive D by right clicking pressing Format - Quick Format... etc...

    then i put all my music back and played it, VOILA problem fixed

    the thing is, because ur Windows media player or Winamp media library goes through every music file it has recorded in its library... wen it gets to that specific song or video, then it hangs cuz its a corrupted file - not necessarily a virus - now i tried this, to prove my theory, i opened the media player, without any music in the currently playing menu - stilll hangs, cuz its trying to update ur library everytime u open it and it goes trough that specific file... and crash

    wen i fixed this problem, i thought to my self... why not try and help others fix this... so it doesnt drive them mad for too long

    So here i am, created an account for ONLY this issue

    I REALLY HOPE THIS HELPS :)

    Sincerely - Ace

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2010-01-11T13:30:29+00:00

    OK, it seems weird to me, but it looks like the problem was the AVG Free Email scanner service.  It's been 6 days now and I haven't had my PC lock up.  It doesn't make sense to me, but I'm keeping the service off since I don't use any email clients anyway.  It looks like the clean boot helped me identify the problem.  Thanks Mary!

    EDIT: Argh, it looks like the issue occurred again, but this time I was running a non-media player application.  The PC locked up the same way...I had to to a hard reboot. The only thing I'm certain of is that it's a sound issue. Is there some sort of Windows application that can tell me what my PC is doing in the background and log it whenever I run software? I'd like to know the last thing that occurs with my PC before it crashes.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2010-01-04T17:10:45+00:00

    I tried using WMP and I get the same problem.  I just rebooted my PC, so now I'm going to try the clean boot.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2010-01-04T11:59:22+00:00

    Hi Mary,

    I don't get an error message at all when my PC crashes.  I simply get no response from my PC whenever I try to click something or if I try to open Task Manager using the keyboard.  The files that I use are MP3 files.

    I will try using WMP for now to see if I have the same problem, but I'd rather not be stuck using it.  Also, I'll try that clean boot solution to see if that will help.  Thanks for the suggestions!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2009-12-30T23:39:46+00:00

    Hello King9999,

    Thank you for visiting the Microsoft Answers Site.

    To better assist, please see the questions below:

    •  Is there an error message when the issue occurs? If so, please relay the error message.

    •  What are the file formats of the files you are trying to play when the issue occurs?

    Also, to verify does the issue occur with Windows Media Player while trying to play all music and video files?

    To help review the issue, please see the steps below:

    You may try a clean boot to check whether a background program may be interfering.  To do this, please see the link below:

    How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

    Next, you may try updating the Display Adapter in Device Manager. If the driver is up to date, you may also check with the video card manufacturer for the latest available drivers that are Windows 7 compatible.  For more information on updating a driver in Device Manager, please see the link below:

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Update-a-driver-for-hardware-that-isnt-working-properly

    You may also verify that the necessary codecs to play the files are installed on the PC.

    For more information installing Codecs, please see the link below.

    Codecs: frequently asked questions

    Please relay the status and also the answers to the questions above so that we may provide further assistance.

    Thank you,

    Mary

    Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

    Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments