GameEx crashing! Desktop not returning to normal...

[Mreitz775]

Hello again.

I paid for the registered version of gameEx and now when I start it up it crashes after a minute or two of just browsing through menus. I am uploading my log, ini, and a photo I snapped with my phone of the crash.

Also, after the first crash, my desktop background image disappeared and my background is now just black. It is behaving as though a program is still running but nothing shows in taskbar or active applications. My entire desktop is behaving oddly now.

Please help.

GameEx.ini

log.txt

[Draco1962]

Open Task Manager and under Processes, End Task for GameEx and HideOS. This should restore your desktop to normal. You may also want to reboot and see if the behavior continues.

[Mreitz775]

I restarted the pc and it returned the desktop to its normal behavior. Launched gameex and it crashed again. I had to go to work ao I could do no further troubleshooting. In an hour ill be back home and can dive back into the fray.

Gameex worked fine until I applied the registry key after paying for it. Might just be a coincidence? Or maybe one of the unlocked features is the source of the problem? I'll try a fresh install when I get home and let you know how that goes.

[Mreitz775]

This has resolved itself upon a fresh install. Thank you for your time.

[Draco1962]

Anytime! Glad you were able to get this fixed!

[Mreitz775]

Well, unfortunately I spoke too soon. The problem has not gone away. This time it just took longer to randomly crash on me. It has crashed 3 times in a row, all while doing different things, all just saying "GameEx has stopped working" and giving me the window I posted above. The GameEx log gives no errors nor does it indicate any similarities in the different crashes. One while just browsing menus, one while returning to gameex after exiting an emulator, one while browsing video menu, etc...

After each crash my desktop is gone and behaves oddly like theres an invisible program open. I searched my task manager (both applications and processes and there is nothing open, no hideOS or gameex) which is so strange since clearly there's something still running. Once I reboot the PC it's fine until I run GameEx again and get another random crash.

I am becoming discouraged because of this happening right after I pay for the program. I am determined to figure this out as I love what this program can potentially be if I can get it to work reliably.

I am out of ideas, here's some random facts about my PC and environment just in case one of these things helps:

I have a really nice computer, just built it myself, running two nvidia 680 overclocked editions, 4 gigs ram, 3.2GHz processor.

I have triple monitors but have my primary monitor running off one of the vid cards and use that for almost everything.

I have gameex installed on a solid state drive, and have roms and assets installed on a secondary HDD.

I have windows 7 64 bit.

All in all my system is pretty clean and un-customized, in other words a standard windows installation.

Main background programs are Microsoft security essentials, AI Suite II, RainMeter, and a control center application for my router.

I can't think of anymore useless info for you so please let me know if there's anything I can do to troubleshoot this problem.

[Draco1962]

Please provide us with updated copies of your gameex.ini and log.txt file (immediately after a crash). It has to be something in your setup as you are running the same OS and version that many others are with no problems. You may want to take a look at your event viewer (Under Administrative Tools or right-click Computer and left click Manage) to see if there is anything else that might be useful to us in diagnosing the problem.

[Mreitz775]

Sure thing.

My event viewer in windows has the following error information:

Faulting application name: GameEx.exe, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x50ea841a
Faulting module name: cdgvid.ax, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x4194dd28
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000250b
Faulting process id: 0x%9
Faulting application start time: 0x%10
Faulting application path: %11
Faulting module path: %12
Report Id: %13

It has this same info for all of the crashes. Citing the same module name and exception code.

My latest gameex log file is here:

log.txt

You'll note that this particular crash happened upon returning from an emulator, however earlier it happened while just browsing menus.

My current config is here:

GameEx.ini

[Mreitz775]

A little research tells me that "0xC0000005 = STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION. Essentially: Memory corruption has caused the application to crash. This doesn't help pinpoint the problem exactly as it could be anything from faulty ram to software related issues. I also tried figuring out what exactly cdgvid.ax is and I think that maybe it has something to do with karaoke? Lol i'm trying.....

[nullPointer]

A little research tells me that "0xC0000005 = STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION. Essentially: Memory corruption has caused the application to crash. This doesn't help pinpoint the problem exactly as it could be anything from faulty ram to software related issues. I also tried figuring out what exactly cdgvid.ax is and I think that maybe it has something to do with karaoke? Lol i'm trying.....

You're doing a bangup job tracking down the issue! I was just getting ready to post something similar: Bug Check 0x5: INVALID_PROCESS_ATTACH_ATTEMPT, which seems to confirm your findings as well. Likely culprits include (as you point out) driver issues, and/or faulty memory. For a memory test you can give MemTest86+ a shot. As for driver issues, it might be worthwhile reporting to the product page of your motherboard (as well as video card(s) and sound card (if applicable)) to determine if your drivers are up to date. Just out of curiosity, are you running that SSD with AHCI enabled?

[Mreitz775]

To be completely honest I don't know. I remember something regarding AHCI during my build, and I want to say that I didn't enable it but it's all kind of a blur. It was my first build and there were a couple things that I just kinda crossed my finger and hoped I made the right decision on.

One of the windows error reports cites the following:

Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\KaraokeDX\cdgvid.ax

I don't know if that's worth anything.

I'll double check my drivers and run memtest overnight tonight although windows memory checker passed just fine.

[Tom Speirs]

Just wanted to chip in and say hard crashes like this in GameEx are normally always video codec related. Also, cdgvid.ax is a codec. By default GameEx is set to hide the operating system on startup and if it does not exit cleanly will not restore the desktop.

[Draco1962]

You may want to visit the Shark007 codec site and download/install the Vista Codecs packs for both 32-bit and 64-bit (installing them in that order).

[Mreitz775]

I ran memtest all night and had no errors. I also updated my video drivers and I am about to flash my bios to an updated version. Following that I will download those video codecs although I have codecs that have worked flawlessly all this time (I use VLC to play all sorts of media).

When i'm through with that I will try to reproduce the crash and give an update.

[Tom Speirs]

Following that I will download those video codecs although I have codecs that have worked flawlessly all this time (I use VLC to play all sorts of media).

When i'm through with that I will try to reproduce the crash and give an update.

AFAIK VLC does not use directshow codecs. They are built into the player.

[Tom Speirs]

PS: Pretty sweet processor you got there

[Mreitz775]

You may want to visit the Shark007 codec site and download/install the Vista Codecs packs for both 32-bit and 64-bit (installing them in that order).

Is there a reason why you specify Vista codec packs and not windows 7?

[Mreitz775]

PS: Pretty sweet processor you got there

Haha Thanks Tom.

[Tom Speirs]

I think that was just a lapse it should be windows 7 if using that OS.

[Draco1962]

It was formerly known as the Vista codec pack (pre-7) hence the reference.

[Mreitz775]

It was formerly known as the Vista codec pack (pre-7) hence the reference.

Ok Thanks. I was thinking maybe there was an issue with the win7 pack or something. I went ahead and installed the codecs. I also updated video drivers. Flashed my bios. Installed a missing Marvell sata controller driver.

I will now load up gameex and see what happens.

[Tom Speirs]

Please let me know how it went and if we can't get it resolved please contact me directly.

[Mreitz775]

Hi Tom.

So far so good. I spent a couple hours installing and testing emulators and didnt have any crashes. I wont be entirely confident until i get a chance to really stress test it. This will happen on saturday as I have some buddies coming over for vintage game night.

In the meantime I will be setting things up and customizing things a bit so I will probably have other issues to figure out.

Aside from the small hurdles I am in love with this software.