Freeze when playing a newly recorded sound

Hi.

I just experienced that Audacity made the computer to partially freezing. That is Audacity doesn’t respond at all (window is visible, the close button is still clickable but Audacity doesn’t respond to that either) and it was not possible to start other programs. Wasn’t possible to close Audacity program window. No response when trying to start other programs.
And it was not possible to shut down or restart the computer due to no response when tried to.

I had to do a cold restart to force the computer to restart. When that was done, I felt lucky because Audacity was able to restore the project (thanks for that function, it saved me). Nevertheless this appears as a quite serious bug to me.

The computer
OS: Windows XP sp3, Norwegian language
Audacity version: Audacity ® 2.0.1-alpha-Jun 12 2012 (Unicode) (I assume I should have installed a later more stable version)

Steps to reproduce (in this case at least)

1. Insert a DVD in the cd/dvd drive
2. Open VLC player version 2.0.2
3. Start Audacity
4. Switch back to VLC, start to play
5. Switch to Audacity and start a new record.
6. Let it record for almost two minutes and stop the record.
7. Switch to VLC, stop playing, exit VLC and eject dvd.
8. Audacity has now focus. Hit the Play button. Audacity freeze (does not respond).

Log
Copy of the log after restart and project is recovered:

18:59:57: Audacity 2.0.1-alpha-Jun 12 2012
18:59:57: Error: Couldn't find symbol 'MainPanelFunc' in a dynamic library (error 127: den angitte prosedyren ble ikke funnet.)
18:59:59: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries...
18:59:59: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from system paths. File name is 'avformat-52.dll'.
18:59:59: Looking up PATH environment variable...
18:59:59: PATH = 'C:WINDOWSsystem32;C:WINDOWS;C:WINDOWSSystem32Wbem'
18:59:59: Checking that '' is in PATH...
18:59:59: FFmpeg directory is in PATH.
18:59:59: Checking for monolithic avformat from 'avformat-52.dll'.
18:59:59: Error: Failed to load shared library 'avformat-52.dll' (error 126: den angitte modulen ble ikke funnet.)
18:59:59: Loading avutil from 'avutil-50.dll'.
18:59:59: Error: Failed to load shared library 'avutil-50.dll' (error 126: den angitte modulen ble ikke funnet.)
18:59:59: Loading avcodec from 'avcodec-52.dll'.
18:59:59: Error: Failed to load shared library 'avcodec-52.dll' (error 126: den angitte modulen ble ikke funnet.)
18:59:59: Loading avformat from 'avformat-52.dll'.
18:59:59: Error: Failed to load shared library 'avformat-52.dll' (error 126: den angitte modulen ble ikke funnet.)
18:59:59: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
18:59:59: Error: Failed to find compatible FFmpeg libraries.
19:00:05: Warning: Orphan block file: 'G:winTemptempaudacity_tempproject8281e00d00e00000dd.au'
19:00:05: Warning: Orphan block file: 'G:winTemptempaudacity_tempproject8281e00d00e0000398.au'
19:00:05: Warning:    Project check ignored orphan block file(s). They will be deleted when project is saved.
19:00:05: Warning: Project check found file inconsistencies inspecting the loaded project data.

Hardware

• Mainboard: DFI LANParty UT nF3 Ultra-D (ID: 07/11/2005-nForce-6A61CD4BC-00)
• CPU: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Processor 4400+
• Chipset (south side): nVIDIA nForce3 Ultra (CK8S)
• Sound card (integrated): nVIDIA CK8S, Name of codec: Realtek ALC655, S/PDIF out: Supported

I hope that helps.

Thanks.


[edit]
Two more thing I feel to say fyi.

1. The attached picture (screenshot) is AFTER the project is restored.
2. A part of the log is not in english, let me translate: den angitte modulen ble ikke funnet = The specified module was not found.
   

Try closing Audacity before you close VLC. If you close VLC first, that will close Audacity’s recording device and could leave Audacity in an unstable state. You get the same effect if you unplug an USB microphone while Audacity is standing on it.

Koz

Ok, I cannot test this by now.

But what you say is basically this:
If some program runs simoultanesly with Audacity and if that program use any sound device, it could lead the computer to crash?

I can see if I can recreate the crash and if it happens every time I do the same.

Is it possible to improve Audacity so that it can detect if an audio device is suddenly closed? Each time when the user click the play button for example?

No, not exactly. You said you were recording from VLC. That’s very different from just having VLC running. Audacity sees VLC as it’s source of sound, so ungracefully removing that source may cause problems. Koz

Ok thanks. I’ll be aware not to close VLC next time I use it as source for recording.