Driver crush

  • Thread starter Thread starter George Valkov
  • Start date Start date
G

George Valkov

I have a problematic driver. No updates are available.
If the driver crushes, the application that uses it will crush too.

NET STOP driver
and
SC STOP driver
say that the driver cannot be controlled at it's current state.
End Process and End Process Tree from task manager cannot kill the process,
no error is reported.

#taskkill -f -im process.exe
SUCCESS: The process "process.exe" with PID 3216 has been terminated.

But the process is still running - it is locked, waiting for the crushed
driver to return some information, but the driver is halted.

If I restart (disable and re-enable) the driver from the Device Manager, the
application will close and everything works again. But the Device Manager
won't let me disable the driver, without restart.

1. Can I kill the driver (force it to close)? I'll take responsibility for
the results.
2. I don't think that this is a normal behavior. Any code that stops
responding should be killed and memory freed. May be a fix is required for
Windows?
3. The driver is from Microsoft.
4. The driver only crushes when I use a specific program (it's from
Microsoft too).
5. All this applies to both Windows 2003 Server and Windows XP with all
updates installed.

Thank You for any support!

George Valkov
 
It sounds like the driver may be pending an IRP without making it
cancellable. This will keep a number of kernel objects referenced (the
thread, the process, the driver itself, etc) and prevent graceful
process shutdown.

Which driver is it?
Which process?


KM
 
OS: Windows XP / Windows Server 2003
I prefer using the Server.
Video Card: ATI All in Wonder Pro, AGP 2X, 8 MB
Windows will detect it as

ATI Technologies, Inc. 3D RAGE PRO AGP 2X
Driver Signer: Microsoft Windows Publisher
ATI Audio Video Crossbar (ATIXBar)
WDM TVAudio (ATITVSnd)
ATI TV Tuner (ATITumep)
WDM Video Capture For AIW (AtiBt829)
(This was the default configuration after installing Windows)

I am unable to fully revert to it, so All described below
is for my current configuration.
I have some doubte in the Video Capture driver and the
Closed Capture driver.

My current configuration is based on Video Driver from ATI
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/wxp-j5-30-1-b02.exe
After installation it will ask You to install the components
listed above. Install the same Signed drives from Microsoft.
Then I installed a driver pachage:
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/tv-capture-wdm-6-14-10-6238.exe
Reboot.
Open Device Manager and update the Video Capture driver to
ATI WDM Bt829 Video Version 6.14.10.6238 (18.3.2004)
Yes, I know that this driver is not for my hardware, but it
is the only one that allows me to capture video in resolution
higher that 352x288 (it supports 720x576 - real size).
Also this driver will work with Windows Media Encoder 9, after
a registry key for a Microsoft driver is deleted
(Closed Caption Driver - described below).




Crush description for my current configuration:
Please note that the driver crush may also appear with
the Default configuration after Windows was installed
and with The configuration after installing the ATI display
driver. I made too much configuration changes and tests today...



Start Windows Media Encoder 9.
Broadcast a live event.
New Session Wizard
Device Options
[Video] ATI Bt829 Capture
Click configure. Click OK. Click next.
(o) Pull from encoder...
Next Next Next Finish
Start Encoding

Error: The device is not connected.
Exit from Windows Media Encoder.

* Nothing happend.
~ Are You sure? Check the Task Manager.
* wmenc.exe is runing.
~ Can You close it?
* Nope!
~ Why???



Device Manager
Sound, vIdeo and game controllers
ATI * (all devices that are part from the Video Card)
~ Can You disable any of them?
* No. It asks me to restart.
~ Of cource not, they are not responding.



Regedit
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CCDECODE]
Detete this key and reboot.

If You Start Windows Media Encoder 9.
Broadcast a live event now, it may crush crush emediately.
I used End Task. It didn't close, but it closed one or two minutes.
If it crushes, reboot and from Device Manager
Disable:
Closed Caption Driver
ATI WDM Audio Video Crossbar



Start Windows Media Encoder 9.
Broadcast a live event.
New Session Wizard
Device Options
[Video] ATI Bt829 Capture
Click configure. Click OK. Click next.
(o) Pull from encoder...
Next Next Next Finish
Start Encoding

* It's working!
~ Yes it is! Stop it and exit.
~ It exited successfully. See Task Manager.
* Indeed!

You can now reenable
ATI WDM Audio Video Crossbar
It Should work with them.





Now Graph edit:
Open GraphEdit
Insert:
Video Capture Sources\ATI Bt829 Capture
Direct Show Filters\Video Render
Connect them and click the play button.





Driver file details:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CCDECODE]
DisplayName = Closed Caption Decoder
ImagePath = System32\DRIVERS\CCDECODE.sys
ccdecode.sys
© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
File version 5.3.0000000.900 built by: DIRECTX

As You see, if I disable the Closed Caption Decoder
I can use Windows Media Encoder 9 to broadcast live video.
In My case I prevent the driver from running by deleting the
registry configuration.


[09:09 22.6.2004 ?.]
I just reinstalled the Video Driver again and updated the WDM drivers to
ATI WDM Bt829 Video Version 6.14.10.6240 (14.4.2004) (newest)
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/tv-capture-wdm-6-14-10-6240.exe
They seem to be better than 6-14-10-6238.
Now I can run Virtual Dub and open 720x576 without crushing
Windows. :-)
GraphEdit still crushes the capture driver, when I connect
ATI Bt829 Capture to Video Render and click the Play button.
I can also start Windows Media Encoder 9, capturing video,
with no need to disable the Audio Video Crossbar.
I'll keep useing these until there is some hot-fix for my
hardware and / or Windows from Microsoft and / or ATI.



[9:37 PM 22.6.2004 ?.]
I just updated my Windows XP installation's video capture
drivers to the latest drivers for RADEON. They seem to work
mush better than the original. Requirements:
ATI display driver
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/wxp-j5-30-1-b02.exe
ATI WDM Bt829 Video Version 6.14.10.6240 (14.4.2004) (newest)
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/tv-capture-wdm-6-14-10-6240.exe
Update the ATI WDM Bt829 Video to the new version from RADEON.
Disable the Closed Caption driver.
I suggest that microsoft create a driver update for
ATI All in Wonder Pro AGP 2X video cards. Based on this
configuration (Windows XP and 2003 Server.

Cheers!


George Valkov
 
In general any application that uses the video capture may crush due to the
driver.
I have also experienced other applications like notepad.exe to crush and I
can't close them.


George Valkov
 
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