MediaMonkey forum

Ok, I know this topic has been brought up time and time again and I have spent days reading them all and trying to fix my issue but my issues still seems to be different than the rest?

I've been running Mediamonkey for a few years now and I have NEVER had any issues before. My system is older being an XP Pentium 4 with HT, 3Gb Ram etc. etc... I recently took some Microsoft updates such as a MySQL and .NET framework update along with a new Power Toys pack with an fancier indexing/search feature and Task Switch. After I took these updates I did my typical system clean out, nothing aside from normal and then I started to notice after I restarted that MediaMonkey would no longer even recognize my Zen 8Gb mp3 player. I fiddled with that and nothing seemed to work so then I closed MediaMonkey down for the night, but it wouldn't close... the service continued to run and had to be killed each time I tried to close it??? Because of this problem it obviously wouldn't save any changes I had made within my session and til this day it is stuck on the last album I listened to 3 weeks ago each time I open the program! I started by uninstalling every Microsoft update I accepted before this issue happened but still, it kept happening. I scoured through the forums and tried every thing I saw listed as a potential issue and still nothing. Basically at this point I am down to a raw installation of MM with no bells and whistles, no i_phone.dll, and even tried to close it before I had assigned a library location to it, still nothing... It hangs as a process running in the back ground and never closes itself. I have closed other processes to see if it might be affecting MM. Now that it is clean install, everytime I start MediaMonkey I have to set EVERYTHING up from the start as if it had never been opened before and then everything reverts back to nothing once I kill it... I love this program and it has been incredibly good to me for many years but now it is driving me nuts, I have never had to dig so deep to find a resolution for any program I've ever used. Please don't make it so I have to go back to some other piece of crap like iTunes or Songbird and I really don't want the headaches of Winamp or Foobar. PLEASE HELP!?

Recently we have reports that installing debug version of MM 3.2 and replacing existing hpCDBurn.dll with http://www.happymonkeying.com/beta/hpCDBurn.dll fixes close down issues.

Thank you for the quick response however forgive me for my ignorance but what and where is the "debug" version of MM? **** UPDATE: Nevermind, I found the debug version, now my question is, do I just use this as my main version of MM? I installed the debug version and switched out the file you recommended and it is still up to the same antics? I even did a double check for corrupt files that might be hanging it up but the drive is as clean as a whistle...? I also noticed that I am able to open two instances of MM even though the program preferences are selected otherwise? Hopefully these details don't seem to jumbled for you, I'm just giving you every observation just in case something clicks...

Issue has been solved! As it turns out, with the help of a mighty observant brain who I call Stephen it turned out to be the d_WMDM.dll file which accesses most mp3 players within MediaMonkey. I removed the file as suggested by Stephen and viola! The issue has been resolved. Now I need to figure out how to connect my Creative Zen Player again to load music to it through the conveniences of MM...?

THANK YOU!

Glad to hear that you have found the problematic file.

I wonder do you use any external HDDs as I have noticed that WD My Book I have MM detects like WMDM device?

Yes I do use an external drive for my main library, however it has never caused an issue before?

There is slight chance that some windows updates interfere with MM.

Do you have by chance multiple devices of same type connected simultaneously?

Can you do small test without HDD connected:
Test1
-------
1. put back d_wmdm in MM plugins folder
2. Start MM
3. check if it is working OK

Test2
-------
1. put back d_wmdm in MM plugins folder
2. Start MM
3. Connect HDD and it should show itself in MM devices (tools -> options -> portable/audio devices) and optionally it should be shown in MM tree on the left
4. Disconnect device from PC and Un-tick/disable HDD in listing so that MM do not watch for device anymore
5. Test MM

Test3
-------
1. put back d_wmdm in MM plugins folder
2. Start MM
3. Connect HDD and it should show itself in MM devices (tools -> options -> portable/audio devices) and optionally it should be shown in MM tree on the left
4. Disconnect device from PC and Un-tick/disable HDD in listing so that MM do not watch for device anymore
5. Connect HDD
6. Test MM

I have a good feeling that it was a MS update! Either way... No, the only items I have connected on a consistent basis via USB are my monitor, mouse and external Hardrive. So here are the findings based on your suggested tests.

Test 1
--------
-> I put d_WMDM.dll back in the plug-ins file.
-> I opened Mediamonkey and all the music from my running external hard drive loaded and played just fine.
-> I closed Mediamonkey as I would any other time and although it seemed to close but it continued to run as a process in the background with a memory usage load of about 64,000k and 00 for memory.
-> I ended process via Task Manager

Test 2
--------
-> I put d_WMDM.dll back in the plug-ins file.
-> I opened Mediamonkey without the hard drive turned on and all library tracks were gray font as expected
-> I turned on my external hard drive and within seconds my "G:" drive appeared in the tree menu although in a lower order than normal. All the music from my running external hard drive loaded and played just fine and the main library fonts all went black again allowing me to listen as well.
-> I shut down the external hard drive and so the "G:" drive disappeared as expected.
-> I un-checked the d_USBMass1.dll from being shown and closed MediaMonkey as per usual.
-> Once again it seemed to close but it continued to run as a process in the background with a memory usage load of about 64,000k and 00 for memory.
-> I ended process via Task Manager

(Going into Test 3 is where I noticed only a smidgen of a difference)

Test 3
--------
-> I put d_WMDM.dll back in the plug-ins file.
-> I opened MediaMonkey without the hard drive turned on and all library tracks were gray font as expected
-> I turned on my external hard drive and within seconds my "G:" drive appeared in the tree menu although in a lower order than normal. All the music from my running external hard drive loaded and played just fine and the main library fonts all went black again allowing me to listen as well.
-> This is where I noticed something different... usually when I have to kill the MM process it does not save any changes I had made in the program but this time when I went into the media device area it still showed that d_USBMass1.dll was unchecked from being viewed and yet the drive loaded just the same as in Test #2?
-> So now I unchecked d_WMDM.dll from being seen and I shut the external hard drive down.
-> I waited a few seconds and then started the external drive back up and again within seconds my "G:" drive appeared in the tree menu although in a lower order than normal. All the music from my running external hard drive loaded and played just fine and the main library fonts all went black again allowing me to listen as well. so now what was loading it at this point??????
-> I shut down the external hard drive and I closed MediaMonkey as per usual.
-> And... Once again it seemed to close but it continued to run as a process in the background with a memory usage load of about 64,000k and 00 for memory.
-> I ended process via Task Manager

Seems a bit odd that although I unselected the two primary plugins that would possibly run the main library that it still kept going?

***UPDATE*** June 7 2010 ***UPDATE***
------------------------------------------------

So here's the deal... After many suggested tests and pulling my hair and nearly crying because I was one more curse word away from having to discard my use of both MediaMonkey and my Awesome Creative Zen player, I found the catalyst and solution to my issue! It made me slap my forehead..duhhhh....

So it all started when I took a Microsoft update and after it was finished all of a sudden MediaMonkey would no longer close normally and the process would keep running, as if it was trying to connect to something. I cleared all plug-ins and add-ons from MM and still nothing, I even re-installed it clean and still it wouldn't close. Then I unistalled EVERY MS update I took that day and still nothing. I was then assisted by a kind fellow here on the forum and we ran the debug mode and found that it was the d_WMDM.dll plug-in that was buggering everything up and so we removed that file and now MediaMonkey was able to close down without hanging as a process. YAY! I was excited... but no, because now i was not able to load my Creative ZEN and sych to it?

So now the issue went deeper than MediaMonkey and I scoured the net for 2 weeks to find something or someone with a similar issue, no luck. The issue first was that my Zen was no longer seen by my computer? The device manager was showing it but with the "Yellow" exclamation mark. I was not able to update the driver at all and so I looked for that solution first. I found a site where the notes had suggested resetting all the permissions in XP and so I did that which you can find at the link below...

http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/reset ... indows-xp/

I went back into the Device Manager after running the suggested reset program and viola, the drivers updated perfectly!!! I downloaded and updated my ZEN firmware and all seemed good. YAY! I was excited.... but no, because now even though the driver and firmware were updated it still could not be accessed through the "My Computer" location, actually it didn't even show up there. The Zen Media Explorer program wouldn't pick it up, the media device folder in my Control Panel didn't even see it and again, none of the media programs including MediaMonkey would load it???

So I researched some more... I found that people were having issues between using the UMS drivers and the MTP drivers, many of which were resolved to using only the UMS which does nobody who owns a ZEN any good because it only allows the media to be loaded to the SD card which cannot transfer the files into the main library. By the way, the UMS driver was working for me the whole time when I plugged my ZEN in using the SDcard but I would not settle for this. I found a link to download an updated MTP driver file to my computer which you will find the link for below...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

I downloaded and installed the MTP porting Kit and restarted my computer and when I plugged my ZEN in it now displayed that it was "Docked" on my player and my Auto Run features popped up! YAY! I was excited AGAIN... but no... I put the d_WMDM.dll file back into the plug-ins file in the MediaMonkey system folder and selected MM from the auto run display and still nothing loaded. This is where patches of hair were removed from my head whilst tearing up and cursing! I even reinstalled iTunes in the hopes that they had some kind of proprietary driver that might spring things to life, but no, thank god because I despise iTunes and its uselessness.

Again, with the help of peke on the MM forum I ran some test, as you will see explained in the above posts. but nothing seemed to kick it into gear.

So with much disappointment today, I GAVE UP. I was going to live with the fact that I would not be able to synch to my ZEN or buy a new ZEN until I was either ready to completely reformat my computer or buy a new one altogether, neither of which I could afford (time or money) at the very moment. So I resumed life with typical process and I turned Microsoft Updates back on and as expected it was suggesting that i download and install everything I had uninstalled and more, including WMP 11. So what the hell, I went for it. My ZEN was still plugged in charging while the update was going on and all of a sudden the "new device detected" command popped up and told me it was installed and ready to use and then the Auto Run prompt appeared again. I selected MediaMonkey, after putting d_WMDM.dll back into it's appropriate folder, and it immediatly loaded, asked me to configure the device and there it was listed in the left lane process tree in MediaMonkey, ready for files to be loaded. I checked all other places as well like "My Computer" and the control panel "Media Devices" folder and also in the Device Manager, everything looked great! The final test was to see if MediaMonkey would close properly and so i clicked the big red "X" and it closed perfectly. YAY! I was excited and without any disappointment! It was fixed! (This is where I slapped my forehead and started glue the hair back on my head)

So at the end of the day, somehow the WMP 11 I had loaded to my PC originally had become corrupt by an update I had taken. The MTP driver, which for a Windows PC comes as part of WMP, was all buggered up and so when I was trying to close MediaMonkey, the d_WMDM.dll was continuing to run as a process because it could not connect to the MTP drivers and because it could not connect to the MTP driver I wasn't able to load my ZEN either nor would my computer even recognize it. So the slap on the forehead was for the fact that i very well may have solved this just by re-installing WMP 11??? The only thing that makes me think otherwise is that there are many forums out there talking about MTP issues with WMP 11. Either way I was successful, i beat the monster and now I can relax, synch and listen to some tunes by the pool, it's a beautiful day here. Although the wife would like to figure out how to fix the lawnmower now and cut the freakin lawn! Maybe tear the engine apart and re-insatll it?

Thanks to everyone for the help and I hope that maybe one day if this issue arises for anyone else that this resolution will be helpful! CHEERS!

Finally, in most cases the stupidest thing you can think of is the solution. Sorry for putting you thru all the tests but even they didn't solved the issue they made you think and find solution.

For the end word can you post three of your pictures:
1. with original hair on
2. without hair (after pulling it out of your head)
3. with hair glued back

Certainly I'm kidding about sending pics, I'm really happy to see this sorted out.

Happy Monkeying!

i find a banana peal works to cover that bald spot.

Thanks again Peke... yes, you're tests certainly did give me reason to think and thus resulting in a resolution and I am grateful that you were here to assist me, the success of a business truly is within it's community which you have proven! As for the pictures... yeah, maybe I should post them but they'll be nothing compared to the pictures of my failed attempt to fix the lawn mower!

Oh, and to rovingcowboy... I like the peel idea, I could market it for the new MM fashion show... speaking of which, why aren't there any awesome T's or Hoodies for MediaMonkey, I'd be all over that!

the developers have not got time to design clothing for mediamonkey and or to keep an site working that sales that clothing.

you can go to craft stores and find kits to put images on a coffee mug, which would be faster i think then getting things made for monkey and then sent out to customers.
it would only take you the time for going and getting it plus the amount of time it takes to put the image on the mug.
no shipping and handling either.

as for the lawnmower just changing the engine oil could help if its been in there for a few years. or the sparkplug.,

unless you hit a rock and broke off the shaft's key pin. or you already did that and welded the shaft back in. then you hit the rock again. well its time for a new mower then.

Re fixing the lawn mower: Have you tried to fix it while it is powered ON or OFF?

Re RC: Some people should also check oil in their cars. I know few cases they did not check.

we to check the cars too? wow, i just keep adding in to mine cause it leaks all over the place.

my truck don't leak so i don't add any maybe i should check it too? the lawn mower i just let it go have not changed it in 3 years. its thick and black and still runs. eats more gas though then it did when i first got it? must be the plug is worn down again?