Strange hangs while running WinUAE

Recently I've been getting some strange hangs while in WinUAE. I thought it might have been something in my setup, but can't find anything there. I then switched to a 1.5.0 beta (this was before 1.5.1 came out), but that didn't change things. I now have 1.5.1 installed, and it's doing the same thing.

Basically, here's what happens: At random, but not very often, the entire emulation just "stops" (mouse pointer hangs, and anything running in the emulation is also stopped). However, it's not a complete lockup, as all I have to do to "unlock" it is to hit F12 to open the WinUAE config window and then cancel it. Once the config window is gone, the emulation is back to normal, everything running like nothing was wrong.

Has anyone else had this happen? I tried searching the forums for this but couldn't find anything like this.

[Toni Wilen]

Not much information..

PC specs?
Same with or without sound? In windowed and fullscreen?
AMD dualcore? (=some older bioses have common bug in timer routines)
Attach winuaebootlog.txt.

[Leffmann]

Have had this happen to me as well at some point though I couldn't "unlock" it, I had to shut it down through the task manager. Was running 1.5.0 in windowed mode on Windows XP SP2 on a C2D.

I've also had the emulator break down after loading a save state from an older version of WinUAE. Running the save state worked perfectly and since it didn't complain I thought there was backwards compatibility, but afterwards it would just reboot repeatedly whatever machine configuration I chose. I couldn't even get rid of it by restarting the emulation, and the only way of fixing it was to shut it down and start a new instance.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Leffmann

Have had this happen to me as well at some point though I couldn't "unlock" it, I had to shut it down through the task manager. Was running 1.5.0 in windowed mode on Windows XP SP2 on a C2D.

I've also had the emulator break down after loading a save state from an older version of WinUAE. Running the save state worked perfectly and since it didn't complain I thought there was backwards compatibility, but afterwards it would just reboot repeatedly whatever machine configuration I chose. I couldn't even get rid of it by restarting the emulation, and the only way of fixing it was to shut it down and start a new instance.

I am quite sure this is different problem.

About statefiles:

Old state files usually work (if they aren't ancient) but some require correct configuration loaded before state file works.

Also currently state files that include 32-bit RAM (Z3/RTG) require memory configuration set to same or higher amount.

[Leffmann]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

I am quite sure this is different problem.

Yeah you're right, it has probably more to do with Window's excellent task scheduler.

If you're interested, the state file I used was the one attached here, from April 2007, which I loaded directly from the WinUAE default configuration:
http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=314437&postcount=13

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Leffmann

Yeah you're right, it has probably more to do with Window's excellent task scheduler.

If you're interested, the state file I used was the one attached here, from April 2007, which I loaded directly from the WinUAE default configuration:
http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=314437&postcount=13

Works fine here, as long as "A500 speed" set (fast CPU = game runs really fast). CPU speed was not stored in statefiles until 1.4.2 (statefile was created with 1.4.1)

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Not much information..

PC specs?

AMD Mobile AthlonXP 2500 overclocked to 2300 MHz with 400 MHz FSB (rock stable in everything I've got, including games like Quake 4)
Motherboard: DFI Infinity NF2 Ultra
Video: ATI Radeon x700 256 MB
RAM: 1 GB PC3200

Same with or without sound? In windowed and fullscreen?

I did try different screen settings (windowed/fullscreen/etc) and that didn't seem to make a difference. Have not tried it without sound. However, this is VERY intermittent and doesn't happen very often.

For example, I went in this morning to check my email in Thor and didn't have one problem with it. Nothing was changed in the config as compared to yesterday when it happened once, just before I started this thread.

AMD dualcore? (=some older bioses have common bug in timer routines)

Heh, mine's a bit older than that. ;-)

Could there still be a timer issue with my older setup, even though I'm not running a multi-core system?

Attach winuaebootlog.txt.

Done!

The attached file is from this morning's run mentioned above. Since I didn't have any troubles with it this time around, not sure if it will help any.

The next time it happens, I'll save off this file so I can post it here if you need it.

[andreas]

Greetings, I do not have this problem, but quite a similar setup:

MSI K7N2 Delta ILSR [nForce2 too]
Athlon XP 2200+ (Thoroughbred), [currently clocked down a bit because I'm too lazy to dismantle everything for a new layer of heatsink compound ]
ASUS V9520/TD (GeForce FX5200-compatible)

Nice to see there are still people around with less than quad-core CPUs :P
(what would I need them for anyway? )
Thanks to you I'm not feeling so old anymore now

BTW, beware I'm a profound ATI hater! This means I would be both happy and full of schadenfreude if your ATI card is the culprit
Seriously even, try with a gfx card from another vendor.

[Leffmann]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Works fine here, as long as "A500 speed" set (fast CPU = game runs really fast). CPU speed was not stored in statefiles until 1.4.2 (statefile was created with 1.4.1)

You might have misunderstood me so I just want to clarify to make sure - the emulated Amiga and the game stored within that state file both work perfectly, but WinUAE itself starts to malfunction after using this state file.

If you understood this from the beginning then just ignore this post

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Leffmann

You might have misunderstood me so I just want to clarify to make sure - the emulated Amiga and the game stored within that state file both work perfectly, but WinUAE itself starts to malfunction after using this state file.

If you understood this from the beginning then just ignore this post

I didn't. "malfunction" isn't acceptable
Step-by-step instructions, always or I prefer just guessing my own that are 99.9% surely something that does not cause the problem

[Leffmann]

1. I started up WinUAE 1.5.0 windowed mode on Windows XP SP2 on a C2D.
2. I loaded the state file without changing any settings and started playing the game.
3. The game played perfectly, I brought up the GUI and reloaded the state file several times, again without changing any settings. At some point I brought up the built in debugger to check some register values and closed it without editing any memory or register contents.
4. I brought up the GUI and pressed restart, loaded one of my other configurations which are in perfect working condition, but when I pressed start again I got an empty screen alternating between black and gray every second, much like repeatedly rebooting the machine during its boot procedure. I tried all my other configurations but they all did the same thing. I shut WinUAE down and started it up again, loaded my configurations and everything worked like it should.

Originally Posted by andreas

Thanks to you I'm not feeling so old anymore now

Cool!

BTW, beware I'm a profound ATI hater! This means I would be both happy and full of schadenfreude if your ATI card is the culprit
Seriously even, try with a gfx card from another vendor.

Well, I don't have anything else good enough to plug in this PC to even try, and since money is a bit short I won't be buying any new cards anytime in the next year.

Toni, if you think I need to try a different video card, I do have an old nVidia Vanta card I could plug in. It's about the only spare card I have right now.

Oh, and no hangs so far. The only thing that has changed in the config is the logging setting. Everything else is the same.

Well, it finally did it again. Only this time it doesn't seem to be recovering. WinUAE is still running, as I can hit F12 and the config UI comes up. Mouse pointer in emulation is stuck and nothing responds to any key presses. Also, WinUAE is hogging the CPU, even though it's not doing anything.

I told it through the UI to reset, and it came backup just like normal. Got back to the same place in Thor when the hang occurred, and it worked fine.

I looked at the log files below. I see some errors about mouse out of range and some other items, but it looks like that is after the hang happened (that happened right around the first "Entering GUI idle loop" entry).

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by DWolfman

Well, it finally did it again. Only this time it doesn't seem to be recovering. WinUAE is still running, as I can hit F12 and the config UI comes up. Mouse pointer in emulation is stuck and nothing responds to any key presses. Also, WinUAE is hogging the CPU, even though it's not doing anything.

If GUI still works normally but CPU usage is at 100%, some thread is stuck looping, perhaps bsdsocket or filesystem or similar worker threads..

Try to do this when it freezes next time: http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=290513&postcount=27

[dlfrsilver]

@andreas : w00t about quadricores ? mine works like a charm with winuae And no blue screen with my ATI card (the latest ones are just excellent, better than the latest NVIDIA you fanboi !

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

If GUI still works normally but CPU usage is at 100%, some thread is stuck looping, perhaps bsdsocket or filesystem or similar worker threads..

Try to do this when it freezes next time: http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=290513&postcount=27

Will do.

One question, though. You mention in that other thread to "freeze" Winuae before running userdump.exe. There's nothing about that in the linked Microsoft pages. How would I go about doing that, as I've never done that in Windows before?

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by DWolfman

Will do.

One question, though. You mention in that other thread to "freeze" Winuae before running userdump.exe. There's nothing about that in the linked Microsoft pages. How would I go about doing that, as I've never done that in Windows before?

No need to care about that, it works automatically.

(Windows process = one or more threads)

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

No need to care about that, it works automatically.

(Windows process = one or more threads)

Got it. I'll run it the next time it happens.

OK, it finally did it again.

However, it didn't lock completely like the last time (where opening and closing the GUI would not unlock it). I had it happen three times while checking email in Thor. At the time there was no network activity within WinUAE that I'm aware of (emails go out after I leave the system, but it was still in the "email" system in Thor).

Anyway, I grabbed the dump file the first time while the GUI was opened. When it did it again, I didn't bring up the GUI but just hit Alt-Tab to go back to Windows and run the dump again.

In all three cases, I was looking at an email in Thor and opening and closing the GUI cleared the hang.

I haven't attached the dump file, because it's 388 MB in size. I compressed it into a RAR archive, but that is still about 24 MB. How do you want me to get the dump file to you, Toni?