both monitors go black and freeze

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Ralph0
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 06, 2020 7:48 pm

both monitors go black and freeze

Post by Ralph0 »

I have had Gphotoshow pro (paid for) running for 6 months and this just started a week ago. The friend who led me here originally accused me of remote access to her PC causing hers to lock up with black screens requiring a reboot about a month ago. I figured it was an anomaly but now it is happening to me too.

I do not have a video card issue since the old MS phot screensaver works fine but if Gphotoshow runs for too long it blanks BOTH the screens with not even the clock showing anymore.

At that point I can toggle the caps locks keys or if I know what was running I can back out by memory of the key sequences so the PC is running but with no video. I have tried every key combination I can think of but it will not release without a restart.

I have also logged on remotely and although I can make contact with the PC, there is STILL no display. This tells me it is a software problem.

As my friend is having the same issue I hope someone here has found a FIX because I LOVE this program.
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gpb
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Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2011 1:23 am

Re: both monitors go black and freeze

Post by gpb »

Hello,
nobody else reported similar issue, I am running gPhotoShow continuously for weeks without problems so I think it is unlikely the problem is caused by gPhotoShow. If gPhotoShow freezes for any reason you should be able to get back control of the pc with ctrl-alt-del key combination (ctrl-shift-esc shoul works) if the pc doesn't answer to ctrl-alt-del then the issue is probably caused by the display driver or another kernel component. I don't know which kind of computer you haver but keep in mind pan&zoom transition may cause a high gpu/cpu load and on system temperature could raise to the point computer is turned off.
Anyway the things to check to try to understand the cause of the issue are the following:
- disable any video or audio file, confogure gPhotoShow with only DirectX dissolve transition and run in this way
- if you still have the issue disable DirectX transitions and use only Standards 2D transitions
Gianpaolo Bottin
gPhotoShow.com
Ralph0
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 06, 2020 7:48 pm

Re: both monitors go black and freeze

Post by Ralph0 »

Hello Gianpaolo,

I have:
OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Version 10.0.19042 Build 19042
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name FANTOME
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model XPS 8700
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU XPS 8700
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4460 CPU @ 3.20GHz, 3201 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A07, 3/13/2014
SMBIOS Version 2.7
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode UEFI
BaseBoard Manufacturer Dell Inc.
BaseBoard Product 0KWVT8
BaseBoard Version A03
Platform Role Desktop
Secure Boot State Off
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.19041.488"
User Name FANTOME\AB COM
Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 32.0 GB
Available Physical Memory 26.9 GB
Total Virtual Memory 34.0 GB
Available Virtual Memory 29.4 GB
Page File Space 2.00 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Kernel DMA Protection Off
Virtualization-based security Not enabled
Device Encryption Support Reasons for failed automatic device encryption: TPM is not usable, PCR7 binding is not supported, Hardware Security Test Interface failed and device is not Modern Standby, Un-allowed DMA capable bus/device(s) detected, TPM is not usable
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
when it happens, I've tried both CTRL ALT DEL as well as CTRL ESC, along with many other combinations.

I will try dissolve 3D direct transitions only first and if that doesn't work I will use 2d.

Thank you for the clues.

"Film at 11"
Ralph0
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 06, 2020 7:48 pm

Re: both monitors go black and freeze

Post by Ralph0 »

Hi GPB

I tried each suggestion and they all lock me up after time and have left it as suggested on 2d and dissolve only.

I didn't see the video adapter listed above. but I have this video card.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 File Version 6.14.13.8813 Driver Version 23.21.13.8813 and there are no updates.

I can't figure what triggers it though. {CTRL} {ALT} {DEL} might be doing something behind these 2 black curtains but I cant't see anything to be sure.

It does NOT shut down the computer.

When it went blind today, I only had a couple well known windows open. I repeated [ALT} [F4] or [CTRL} {F4} enter several times to step backwards out and the PC rebooted. I DID lose most of my work but it DID respond.

I can't keep working not knowing when I will randomly be blinded adn lose it all.

Can someone PLEASE help with this? I don't want to abandon a program i love that worked fine for a year and is now suddenly working against me.
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gpb
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Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2011 1:23 am

Re: both monitors go black and freeze

Post by gpb »

Hello,
Crtl-Alt-Del is a system wide shortcut, it is handled directly by windows bypassing any running program, even if gPhotoShow was frozen by pressing ctrl-alt-del windows takes control and allows you to kill it.
Because of this and the fact that after pressing alt-f4 and ctrl-f4 few time the pc reboots I think you computer has some kind of problem, maybe it is related to display adapter hardware but it is hard to guess. You could check the windows event viewer to see what happened.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 is rather old, if the computer has the same age it is possible it can not run windows 10 reliably or maybe it simply needs a clean install.

In any case the only other thing you can try is to run gPhotoShow with Standard 2d transitions, with this settings it runs as any other windows program without using DirectX
Gianpaolo Bottin
gPhotoShow.com
Ralph0
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 06, 2020 7:48 pm

Re: both monitors go black and freeze

Post by Ralph0 »

SO.......
You are saying if I do what I already did before in this thread and go to 2d dissolve only is the only thing that I can try .
My video card is now too old when it was working fine in December.
I need to reinstall the operating system
Or buy a new computer.

Hmm
While carefully considering these options, I did a LOT of what If's and experimentation trying to isolate the issue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is what I found:

I started with nothing else running but ARQ5 back ground backup. (I also tried with it shut down for comparison)

I periodically use different browsers as I need to be fluent in all of them for my job. My friend who originally told me of this uses Firefox almost exclusively.

IF I use MOZILLA'S Firefox (fully updated) 84.0.2 (64 bit)
AND
Run videos in it, some (not sure what differences) will blank both monitors within a few minutes

This is a sample video that I found does this
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/chris-99178053752

I tried several others from the same MSNBC site and this happened on most of the others as well, but this one did it every time.

If I ONLY use Chrome (Version 87.0.4280.141 (Official Build) (64-bit) , it has remained stable.

I prefer not to have to limit my use of Firefox altogether.

I hope these clues will help you zero in on a permanent fix as I LOVE this program and do not want to give up on it.

Thank you for your diligence on finding the underlying problem.
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gpb
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Re: both monitors go black and freeze

Post by gpb »

From the symptoms your pc problem seems to be related to the display adapter (or its drivers), in any case it is not something that can be fixed in gPhotoShow.
Since the blank happens after some minutes it could related to temperature, when GPU temperature raises too much it is turned off to prevent damages
Try to run gPhotoShow using standard 2D transitions, in this way GPU usage is much lower and could work better. The same is for Firefox, try to disable hardware acceleration (Options, Performance section)
Gianpaolo Bottin
gPhotoShow.com
Ralph0
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 06, 2020 7:48 pm

Re: both monitors go black and freeze

Post by Ralph0 »

Is there a way to keep GphotoShow to not start when a video is playing in a browser?
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gpb
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Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2011 1:23 am

Re: both monitors go black and freeze

Post by gpb »

The screen saver is started by windows, gPhotoShow has no control on it.
Normally video players disable screen saver when playing something, the same should be done also by browsers.
Gianpaolo Bottin
gPhotoShow.com
Ralph0
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 06, 2020 7:48 pm

Re: both monitors go black and freeze

Post by Ralph0 »

Hmmm....

OK. back to the benchtesting
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