Calibre locks entire machine for 1-2 mins on first startup - Page 2

HarryT · 06-06-2015, 05:03 AM

Some experiments this morning: adding the full Calibre folder to the SME exclusions, rather than just the "calibre.exe" file, does appear to significantly shorten the lock-up. It still happened this morning, but only for perhaps 20s, which is much better than it was before.

I'll try various things over the next few days and see what works best.

Yes, you're right, Kovid - the lock-up is occurring before the Calibre splashscreen appears, which makes me suspect that it's caused by the framework initialising. I don't think it's related to my library.

Thanks for your help, everyone - it's much appreciated.

cybmole · 06-07-2015, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, you're right, Kovid - the lock-up is occurring before the Calibre splashscreen appears, which makes me suspect that it's caused by the framework initialising. I don't think it's related to my library.

a quick test would be to create a new empty library and make that the default. or hide your existing one via a temp rename so that calibre opens with no books, and time those start up scenarios

if you find the culprit, and want to delay it at reboot, gooole has links to various delayed startup programs. I forget which one(s) I played with in the past, or exactly why I abandoned them- I think it was because some things seems to be starting twice.. probably it was the 3rd one on this link that I tried -startup delayer.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/set-de...ograms-windows

HarryT · 06-07-2015, 03:58 AM

Back to a long lock-up this morning, even with the full Calibre and configuration folders in the exclusion list. Next I'll try temporarily disabling MSE's "real-time monitoring" and see if that helps.

BetterRed · 06-07-2015, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Back to a long lock-up this morning, even with the full Calibre and configuration folders in the exclusion list. Next I'll try temporarily disabling MSE's "real-time monitoring" and see if that helps.

@HarryT - temporarily disabling MSE's "real-time monitoring" may not survive a reboot.

Why not put the AV/Firewall issue to bed:

download MSE from MS
take screen shots of current MSE settings
if you're uncomfortable with not having AV and F/W protection isolate the PC from the network
uninstall MSE
turn off the firewall
reboot
do a test
if the problem persists reboot into Safe Mode and do a test.

Reinstall & reconfigure MSE, turn firewall back on, reconnect PC to network

BR

cybmole · 06-07-2015, 04:59 PM

MSE real time on/off is a sticky setting. It does not change at reboot. And surely many many people have all of calibre, mse, win 7 all playing nice at reboot.

BetterRed · 06-07-2015, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybmole

MSE real time on/off is a sticky setting. It does not change at reboot.

I've had instances where it didn't, admittedly a while ago and on systems that were misbehaving anyway - as have other support techs. My use of 'may not' was intended to be read in the sense of 'being possible', not as an 'emphatic statement'

But as I said, better to put the MSE issue to bed by uninstalling it. The thread has been pointing the finger at MSE for more than 2 days without reaching a resolution. The process I've outlined shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to execute and should deliver a conclusive answer. Unlike many of its competitors MSE is easy to uninstall/reinstall.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybmole

And surely many many people have all of calibre, mse, win 7 all playing nice at reboot.

I can attest to that, as can more than a dozen other people I 'support' - none of us has any exclusions in MSE, of calibre or anything else.

But read post #8 - after reinstalling windows chaley (of all people) had to exclude the entire calibre installation folder - go figure.

BR

DrChiper · 06-08-2015, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybmole

a quick test would be to create a new empty library and make that the default. or hide your existing one via a temp rename so that calibre opens with no books, and time those start up scenarios

Ever since I encountered the freeze problem years ago, I always do start calibre using an almost empty "staging" library. However, this does not help.

First, I also did suspect the power-down settings of HD's, but that is not active when you start the PC for the first time (it kicks-in after some preset time), so that cannot be the culprit.

HarryT · 06-08-2015, 04:12 AM

OK. Disconnected from the Internet, uninstalled MSE, and rebooted. Started Calibre. Still a complete lock-up of the PC for around 30s. So I guess it must be interaction of the framework with something else on my PC (a driver, perhaps?).

Not to worry. I can live with it

.

BetterRed · 06-08-2015, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

OK. Disconnected from the Internet, uninstalled MSE, and rebooted. Started Calibre. Still a complete lock-up of the PC for around 30s. So I guess it must be interaction of the framework with something else on my PC (a driver, perhaps?).

Not to worry. I can live with it

.

@HarryT - 30s a day is 3 hours per annum :lol:

But, now that we're pretty certain what it's not, should we not at least try to find out what it actually is?

Did you install last weeks MS updates? I think they were related to Win 10 readiness. If you did, then might be worth uninstalling them.

Or it could be another 'application' - did you update anything?

Try exiting (killing if necessary) all other programs that are running, including those in the tray. And maybe use Autoruns to disable all start up programs and restart in Safe Mode - then you'll have something close to a 'bare bones' system.

BR

BetterRed · 06-08-2015, 06:30 AM

another thought - try installing the 64bit version and/or the portable version - has been known to work before with recalcitrant problems, although not necessarily understood why that worked.

BR

Katsunami · 06-08-2015, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I guess this is due to the startup of the Qt framework that Calibre uses. I've added "calibre.exe" to the list of exclusions in my virus scanner, but that's made no difference whatsoever.

Try excluding your entire library folder and subfolders as well. Many AV-programs scan each and every file that is opened, even if the program opening the file is excluded from being checked.

In the past (a long time ago, when I still ran Norton 2001 and before) starting a large game without excluding the entire game's folder was almost impossible.

PS: I'm also running MSE, and neither Calibre nor the library are excluded, and everything works as it should. One thing I can think of is a generic/wrong/old/buggy driver for your SATA ports, making disk transfer very slow. Do you have problems with any other program that loads a large amount of data, such as games?

HarryT · 06-08-2015, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Try excluding your entire library folder and subfolders as well. Many AV-programs scan each and every file that is opened, even if the program opening the file is excluded from being checked.

Please read the rest of the thread for more up-to-date information

. I've already tried what you suggest (but thanks for the suggestion!).

theducks · 06-08-2015, 12:09 PM

Check the Windows event viewer (logs).
You may have hardware issuses starting to appear.

Disk DMA transfer got lost (lost bytes)
Spurrious interupts from dying hardware
Corrupted PATH info (contains path to non-existant drive) or it loops on itself (I once found it had 3 copies of itself)

Does someone have a outline of the basic chain of steps that Calibre does BEFORE the splash appears.
Harry, do you auto-start the content server? Where does this happen in the startup chain

HarryT · 06-08-2015, 12:26 PM

I don't use the content server, ducks. I manually run Calibre when I want to use it, which is generally no more than once or twice a week (which is why I say that this isn't a significant issue). The same delay happens if I start Calibre 5 minutes after booting my PC or 5 hours after boot, but it ONLY happens the first time I start Calibre. I can subsequently exit it and it'll re-launch in a couple of seconds.

I don't think it's a hardware issue. No problems with any other program, and nothing suspicious in the Windows event log.

theducks · 06-08-2015, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't use the content server, ducks. I manually run Calibre when I want to use it, which is generally no more than once or twice a week (which is why I say that this isn't a significant issue). The same delay happens if I start Calibre 5 minutes after booting my PC or 5 hours after boot, but it ONLY happens the first time I start Calibre. I can subsequently exit it and it'll re-launch in a couple of seconds.

I don't think it's a hardware issue. No problems with any other program, and nothing suspicious in the Windows event log.

Really strange is the Inital launch aspect. Something has to wake up, then persists wethere C is running or not.
Cloud?

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06-06-2015, 05:03 AM	#16
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Some experiments this morning: adding the full Calibre folder to the SME exclusions, rather than just the "calibre.exe" file, does appear to significantly shorten the lock-up. It still happened this morning, but only for perhaps 20s, which is much better than it was before. I'll try various things over the next few days and see what works best. Yes, you're right, Kovid - the lock-up is occurring before the Calibre splashscreen appears, which makes me suspect that it's caused by the framework initialising. I don't think it's related to my library. Thanks for your help, everyone - it's much appreciated.

06-07-2015, 03:58 AM	#18
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Back to a long lock-up this morning, even with the full Calibre and configuration folders in the exclusion list. Next I'll try temporarily disabling MSE's "real-time monitoring" and see if that helps.

06-07-2015, 04:59 PM	#20
cybmole Wizard Posts: 3,720 Karma: 1759970 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	MSE real time on/off is a sticky setting. It does not change at reboot. And surely many many people have all of calibre, mse, win 7 all playing nice at reboot.

06-08-2015, 04:12 AM	#23
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	OK. Disconnected from the Internet, uninstalled MSE, and rebooted. Started Calibre. Still a complete lock-up of the PC for around 30s. So I guess it must be interaction of the framework with something else on my PC (a driver, perhaps?). Not to worry. I can live with it .

06-08-2015, 06:30 AM	#25
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,640 Karma: 29710510 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	another thought - try installing the 64bit version and/or the portable version - has been known to work before with recalcitrant problems, although not necessarily understood why that worked. BR

06-08-2015, 12:09 PM	#28
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,914 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Check the Windows event viewer (logs). You may have hardware issuses starting to appear. Disk DMA transfer got lost (lost bytes) Spurrious interupts from dying hardware Corrupted PATH info (contains path to non-existant drive) or it loops on itself (I once found it had 3 copies of itself) Does someone have a outline of the basic chain of steps that Calibre does BEFORE the splash appears. Harry, do you auto-start the content server? Where does this happen in the startup chain

06-08-2015, 12:26 PM	#29
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I don't use the content server, ducks. I manually run Calibre when I want to use it, which is generally no more than once or twice a week (which is why I say that this isn't a significant issue). The same delay happens if I start Calibre 5 minutes after booting my PC or 5 hours after boot, but it ONLY happens the first time I start Calibre. I can subsequently exit it and it'll re-launch in a couple of seconds. I don't think it's a hardware issue. No problems with any other program, and nothing suspicious in the Windows event log.