First Notation software run stalls on file load

[NotationUser]

Hi Mark.

It seems that I found the issue today!

For short, the problem is not Vista but Vista OEM installations.

I guess a clean Vista installation may not show up the problem I struggled with.

I use an Acer PC with pre-installed Vista 64 home premium OEM - which adds a lot of useless stuff I try to eliminate since I have that...

Accidentally I stumbled across a process called "pcmmediasharing" which annoyed me for long as it is also knocking on my firewall all the time.

When I terminated that process in task-manager prior to starting Composer the first time opening files worked!

To deactivate this process permanently I did the following:

1. run "msconfig" (simply type this in the Vista search in the start menu)
2. confirm security request
3. a system dialog opens
4. click tab "systemstart"
5. remove check at entry "pcmmediasharing".
6. confirm dialog (click OK button)
7. reboot Vista


I still don't know how this process is related to Notation Software but removing it seems to fix the issue!

Hope this did it and I do not find something else...

[Mark W]

Hello NotationUser,

Wow, your digging into nasty technical problems is quite impressive!

You research into Composer's File / Open problem very strongly suggests that the problem arises only in very unusual circumstances. That is consistent with the fact that, as far as I know, this problem has not been reported by the many of 1000s of users who have purchased Composer in the recent past.

Your research also saved me probably several hours trying to further pin down the problem, because I would not have been able to reduce the problem at all, given the very specific conditions on your Windows setup.

Thanks!!

Cheers
-- Mark

[NotationUser]

Hi Mark.

Well, that's my other dark side... resistance is futile and the force is with me...

Probably you can add a hint in the knowledge base for Acer users... As far as I could retrieve from the web "pcmmediasharing" seems to be contained in most or all current Acer OEM windows installations.

I don't know in which circumstances or why this interferes with Notation Software... but it's as with bitter medicine, what counts is if it helps or not...

To be honest, I was annoyed by this effect. Finanally both my suspicions turned out to be true, it was no Vista issue and no Notation Software issue.

Now I am completely happy with my installation...

[Mark W]

Hello NotationUser,

This is probably greedy of me to ask, but here it is: Would you be willing the write up the Knowledge Base (KB) article about this Acer-specific problem?

It would be difficult for me to write it up well without have the Acer machine here.

Our KB articles are usually very concise. You can look at a few to see the style. The KB article usually starts with the specific computer configuration where there is a problem, if the configuration is relevant. Then it describes the symptom. Then it describes the fix, if the user can do that at his end. Or, if the problem is in Composer and it has been fixed, then we tell the user to upgrade to a current maintenance release of Composer. Or, if there is a work-around, we describe the work-around. And, if it is a bug in Composer and there isn't a work-around, then we apologize and let the user know it's a known bug that we'll fix.

Cheers
-- Mark

[NotationUser]

I'll look into that. Maybe I can do it tomorrow.

[NotationUser]

Hi Mark.

I've sent a ticket containing a raw article text and some hints.

Hope this helps.

[Mark W]

Hello NotationUser,

Yes! Thanks for writing up that KnowledgeBase article!

I must show your article here so that other Notation users can see what a great KB article you wrote:

--------
Notation stalls/freezes when I load a file - Acer OEM Vista64 - other Acer OEM Windows systems


The following problem and fix has beed found by a user running Notation Software on an Acer Vista 64 OEM installation on a Acer X1700 PC, Q8200 cpu, 4GB ram.

Also this problem and fix has been verified on this particular Acer OEM Vista64 system only it might apply to other Acer OEM Windows installations and systems too.


If you encounter the problem that Notation Software stalls/freezes when running for the very first time after system (re-)boot but all works fine after you have canceled and restarted Notation Software in the same session, then this might be related to an interference/incompatibility with Acer OEM Vista software installation and a process named "PCMMediaSharing.exe".



A) Verify the issue
If you run Vista64 Acer OEM, please check first if "PCMMediaSharing.exe" is running on your system.

1) To open the Windows task manager, right click on the taskbar and choose task manager from the context popup menu.
2) Click on the tab "processes" and search for "PCMMediaSharing.exe". To easier find that, sort the process list by name via clicking on the names header column.


B) Check if the fix is working
If you find "PCMMediaSharing.exe" running on your Acer system you can try the following fix:

3) Reboot your machine
4) Do NOT run Notation software before you have eliminated "PCMMediaSharing.exe".
5) Open the task manager again as described in steps 1-2) and locate "PCMMediaSharing.exe".
6) Right click on it and choose "terminate process" or "terminate process structure".
7) Check if "PCMMediaSharing.exe" disappears from the list.
8) Close task manager (optional step).
9) Start Notation Software and check if loading files work proper now.

Before you continue please check this:

10) If this procedure succeded and fixed the problem with Notation Software, make sure you don't use other ACER software that needs "PCMMediaSharing.exe" services.


C) Apply fix permanently
If you have checked 10) you can permanently disable "PCMMediaSharing.exe" from loading at boottime. If this fix causes any problems you can easily reactivate "PCMMediaSharing.exe" again if necessary...

11) Run "msconfig" - simply type this in the Vista search line on the bottom of Vista start menu.
12) Confirm security request.
13) A system configuration dialog opens.
14) Click tab "systemstart".
15) Remove check at entry "PCMMediaSharing.exe".
16) Confirm dialog (click OK button).
17) Reboot Vista.

After reboot loading files in Notation Software should work now even witht the first run.
-----------

Wow, I'm impressed with your work here, NotationUser!

Cheers
-- Mark