Hi everyone. For the last couple of years now, I've used EAC to rip my CDs to MP3 using LAME VBR. However, I recently purchased a new PC running Windows Vista and installed EAC (v0.95 beta 4), but I just can't seem to make it work. EAC freezes up every time I try to use it, usually after getting through only one or two audio tracks. And sometimes it freezes up the whole PC, and I have to manually reboot.

I've tried everything I can think of to troubleshoot this (downloading a new ASPI layer, installing a more recent LAME encoder, using a different CD-R drive, reducing the number of simultaneous compressions), but nothing is helping. The only thing I can think of is that it's related to running EAC in Windows Vista, but maybe (or hopefully) I'm wrong about that.

Can anyone help me? I love EAC, and it will be terrible if I can't use it on my new PC.

Thanks in advance.

I am running Vista now and I haven't had any issues running EAC. Try running EAC in compatibility mode for say XP and see if that helps your problem.

have you put wnaspi.dll in the EAC directory?

Thanks for the suggestion -- I hadn't thought of this. Unfortunately, I just tried it, but EAC still froze up twice.





I have wnaspi32.dll in the directory. Initially, I was using the one I've used for the last couple of years, but then today I tried downloading a new one at ftp://ftp6.nero.com/wnaspi32.dll just to see if it would help. Unfortunately, both give me the same result. Freeze City. Is there a different file I should try?

Wow, this is so frustrating. I do appreciate the suggestions so far though. Any other ideas will be completely welcome...

I assume you have the latest version of EAC...

Does it also happen when you rip to wav (uncompressed)?

At what point it seems to freeze (beginning of 1st track, in the middle of a rip, at arbitrary points, at the end of a rip and start of encoding, etc.)?

Play with the first 4 options in the Extraction Tab in EAC Options (key F9) and see if one of them is the cause.

Nothing EAC does should be able to freeze vista, look at instable hardware or drivers.

Can I assume that you got a new CD drive with your new computer?
Maybe there is a new firmware from the CD manufacturer that will fix the issue.

I am also running Vista, and I haven't had any problems yet. Ok, well none with EAC, REACT, LAME, Wavpack, etc.

1. Have you tried switching from ASPI to SPTI or vice versa?

Note: not sure if either option is more or less stable in vista, nor do I know if the security/driver access changes in Vista come into play here.

2. Did the problems show up on your very first CD, or only after a few CDs? If the latter, can you verify that the IDE/SATA controller is showing the drive's channel as DMA and not PIO? Again, not sure if how this works has changed in Vista.

-brendan

Wow -- thanks for all the replies. Lots of things to respond to...


Yes. Version 0.95 beta 4.


I haven't tried ripping to WAV yet, but that's a good idea. I'll try it this evening when I get back home and see what happens.

As for when it freezes, it appears to be completely random. It usually happens on the first or second track, and sometimes it makes it to the third track. One time, though, it got to the sixth track before it froze up.


Yes, it's a new CD drive, but I also tried another external drive (the one I'd been using with the old PC), and the same thing happened.


1) I haven't tried switching from ASPI to SPTI, but I'll give it a shot.

2) It happened with the first CD and with every subsequent CD. I'll check into the IDE/SATA controller issue when I get home tonight...


Thanks again, everybody, for all your help. When get home this evening, I'll try out all of your ideas and let you know what happens. In the meantime, please feel free to throw out any further suggestions.

Is EAC the only program causing you these sort of problems? I wonder if your OS install is buggy, or if your PC itself is broken.

What version of Vista are you running, 64bit or 32bit.
(I have noticed certain incompatibilities with the 64bit that work fine on the 32bit.)

Also check the event log and check the times with the crashes to see if Vista is complaining about something. Event logging in Vista is much better than XP. It logs absolutely everything...

Well, I may have figured out the problem last night (at least partly). I disabled my anti-virus protection (BitDefender) and was able to rip a full CD. I then re-enabled anti-virus protection but went into the BitDefender settings and forced it not to scan the EAC folder or my music folder, and that now seems to have resolved it. However, this was never a problem with my old PC (protected by Norton), so this makes me wonder if BitDefender is going to keep giving me other problems in the future.

Another thing that's now puzzling me is how slow EAC is ripping. It only ever gets up to just over 4x, which seems really slow to me, based on past experience. Granted, I'm running it in secure mode with the C2 error box unchecked, but that's how I've always done it, and this is way slower than I'm used to. This makes me wonder if my problems aren't really solved...

Works great here in 64-bit

I would recommend disabling Bit Defender completely then trying to rip again and see if your speeds increase. Bit Defender's real-time scanning might be slowing down the ripping process. Also, as a recommendation, you may want to check out a free antivirus program called Avast. I have been running it on Vista with no problems and no issues with EAC.

+1 for Avast, works great and the home version is free.

As far as vista, I'd recommend re-installing XP or win2k.

No way I would let that thing (vista) infect my computers.

Sorry for getting a little off topic, but you may want to research Avast or any other AV before making any changes. There are several free and $ AV's out there that have better overall ratings for user friendlyness and overall protection.
JXL

I do agree about dumping Vista for a different O/S though.

Well, crap.

I guess you can disregard my message about BitDefender being the culprit. I really thought I had this all figured out, but then tonight, the PC froze up about six times in a row, and I had BitDefender completely disabled the whole time.

So then I went back and started following some of your suggestions again. And finally, I followed the advice of the helpful person who suggested that I switch from ASPI to SPTI. (After painstakingly going over every last detail in the EAC settings, I just cannot believe I never tried this making this simple change! Ugh.) Anyway, this now seems to have done the trick. I just tested it out by ripping four CDs, and they all ripped with no problems (and about twice as fast, I might add). I guess I had just assumed since my other PC used the ASPI layer, this one needed it too. I think I also had the impression from somewhere that ASPI was somehow "better."

So thanks again, everybody, for all your help. Assuming everything continues working like it should, here are the lessons to take away from this...

1) I am an idiot.
2) If SPTI works better than ASPI, use it.
3) If you enjoy seeing your PC freeze up, try switching back to the other interface.
4) BitDefender might not be so bad after all.

Glad to hear it worked.

-brendan