Slow startup

[Marhubeng]

When i start Mediamonkey, it takes about 2 minutes before the MM window shows. It takes just as long for MM to show up in the list of running programs in Windows Taks Mananger.
Once the program is up and running, it seems to work pretty fast. I've searched in other threads, and althoug none seem to cover this particular problem, I've tried most suggestions in threads that cover slow operation. So far without result.
MM 4.0.5.1496 is running on Windows 7 64, from an SSD on my I7 quad core laptop with 16Gb ram. The database is on this SSD too. About 2000 tracks are on a secondary HDD in my laptop, and some 75K tracks on a NAS connected via my wireless network.

[Lowlander]

How large is your Now Playing list, a large list slows startup down a lot.

[Marhubeng]

That doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I just shut down and started up MM again with 10 tracks in the now playing list. Start up took 2 mins again.

[jc836]

Do you have this issue with other programs? Could be that your SSD is not functioning properly. Have you tried loading from a HDD and if so did you experience this issue? Keep in mind the number of sources that you are using for your music files (drives). If these are being loaded then the time required will be greater than if you have only 1 drive.
There are instances where defragmenting a standard HDD will improve speed. However, there is some evidence that doing this with an SSD is not good. Thus, may I suggest that you do a truly clean install of MM and see if that helps.

[Marhubeng]

Thanks for your help.
No problem with other programs. From a cold start windows shows the desktop within 25 secs. and for example Photoshop starts up in less then 5 secs. As I understand it, defragmenting an SSD is pointless.
What exactly does MM need to 'load'? I would expect that it only needs to load the library which is on the SSD, and not the individual files that are on the HDD or NAS.
If i do a clean install, do I need to rebuild the library, or can I use the old one?
I installed MM on this (new) laptop only a few weeks ago, but used the old library from my previous laptop.

[Lowlander]

not the individual files that are on the HDD or NAS.

This is almost true. Now Playing does load from files, but any Library views doesn't. Also Folder Monitoring will scan all files in selected folders if startup scan is enabled AND any scanning is slow in MediaMonkey if many files are listed in the Filelisting. Also addons can be a culprit so you can rename the Program Files\MediaMonkey\Scripts folder (to something like scriptsoff) with MediaMonkey closed and then start it. If this is noticeably faster you may have slow speeds due to an addon.

As an SSD is faster in random read it doesn't require defragmentation, whereas a regular drive will work faster in sequential read (as it will have to move the heads around a lot for random read) and thus is faster when files are defragmented (this can be a significant speed increase).

If you reinstall or do a clean install you can use the old DB (although just for testing you can let it create a new), it is best to make a backup of the DB before proceeding just in case. Also note that you often can't downgrade to an older version of MediaMonkey with the same DB. DB location: http://www.mediamonkey.com/support/inde ... ticleid=17

[Marhubeng]

I've emptied Now Playing, and shut off Folder Monitoring. (btw, with startup scan on, the scan only starts after about 2mins when the MM window shows).
I've renamed the Scripts folder. Startup stills takes over 2 mins.
So I guess a reistall is in order.

[Marhubeng]

I've just done a clean install. Without the old library, and without building a new one, the program starts in less then 3 seconds.
After replacing the new library with the old one, startup takes over 2 mins again. So it's obviously something in the library that slows it down. I've replaced the old library with the new one again, and am now scanning all my files.
Is there any way of getting my play statistics back?

[Lowlander]

You should be able to restore from the old DB using: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42085&hilit=playhistory

[Marhubeng]

Thanks, I'll try that. I'd hate to loose my statistics.

[Marhubeng]

At first everything seemed to work ok. MM starts fast (less then 10 secs) and all my statistics were restored. However now I keep getting a failure pop-up.
Partly in Dutch, but this is what it reads:

"There was a problem with searching the database (my translation):
Error executing SQL "SELECT Songs.Id
FROM Songs AND Songs.ID=?
*:near "AND": syntax error (1,1)"

The error pops up with some old files, but also with files that I've added since the clean install.

[Darryl_Gittins]

I've got a similar system and I also am experiencing slow startup. I wonder if there are a few tracks with corrupted meta-data that is causing the trouble?