At least half the time when a movie or TV show I am watching on Netflix ends now, Windows Media Center completely locks up and won't respond to the remote. I have to bust out the keyboard and hit control alt delete to bring up task manager, and end task Windows Media Center. It only locks up when the movie or show is over. Sometimes it locks on a black screen, other times it gets stuck on an image from the last frame of whatever was playing.

My Media Center computer originally ran Vista and got upgraded to 7, I had a few weird issues like this and decided it was time to start fresh. So I formatted the drive and installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 on the system. But the Netflix problem remains exactly the same as before. I have the latest drivers from AMD/ATI for my video card, which I did not have before I reloaded the system.

Recording and playing back TV using my HD Homerun tuner works just great. The only problem with the system I have is the lockup with Netflix.

I'm at a loss on what could be causing this. Anyone have any ideas? The problem is getting more and more frequent.

Same problem here.  Also found some people with the issue here:  thedigitalmediazone.com/.../netflix-black-screen-fix

Unfortunately, the proposed solution does not work.  I hope that if I try to place a support call for this, Netflix will says "It's Windows Media Center", whereas Microsoft will likely say "It's Netflix", as the lock-ups may not occur separate from each other.

I'm running a Dell Zino HD (ATI Graphics, 64-bit Win7 OS).  I also use Media Center studio for theme customization, always apply recent WMCE updates (I'd be willing to bet an Update has caused this), and have SecondRun.tv app installed, if any of that ends up being a factor.

We've also started using the DVR functionality more recently, which may be a factor, considering Netflix stops playback from the tuner card when launched.

A detailed log file of events would be helpful in this situation.  If someone can provide where to get that information, we can figure the rest out ourselves!

Update:  Placed a support call with Netflix.  They recommend uninstalling and reinstalling Silverlight but would like to hear back as to whether it fixes the issue or not.  I'll post here again with progress.

-Tres

About the only things I have installed on my Media Center system are Microsoft Security Essentials, AnyDVD, and Handbrake. It's pretty much a stock install of Windows 7.

A fresh install too, only a week or so old. Of course the first thing I did after installing Windows though was to install all of the updates. I am also suspicious that it was a recent update that caused this as I have the same problem as I did before a wipe and reload.

And I am 99% sure my hardware is fine. Passes Memtest86+ all night long, passes the full diagnostic test on the hard drives, and will run Intel Burn Test without issues.

I am seeing the same thing, and it is has only been a recent thing (last couple of weeks). I went so far as to format and reinstall to have the same issue. I am also Windows 7 64 bit, allowing all updates. I currently have nothing else installed on the machine except Media Browser, but it happened before I installed that. My hardware also passes any tests I can throw at it up to and including burn in tests.

"At least half the time when a movie or TV show I am watching on Netflix ends now, Windows Media Center completely locks up and won't respond to the remote."

I have the same problem... just started recently.

FatButtLary, I'm having the same issue here.  I did the Silverlight uninstall/reinstall and it did nothing to fix the issue.  I've noticed the problem when it's done playing specific episodes, but NOT when playing from the main TV show synopsis screen.

Specs: Win 7 x86 Compaq tower (orig. Win Vista), WMC 6, Silverlight 4, NVIDIA Ge Force 8400GS (driver v280.26)

I don't care if Netflix says it's WMC and Microsoft says it's Netflix.  If so, then they need to WORK TOGETHER AND FIX IT JOINTLY.  This is pissing me off.  No wonder people go Mac.

I have seen this problem also and it is relatively recent (within a week or so). As a troubleshooting step,  I am trying a system image restore prior to my last set of system updates that included a Security Update for Microsoft Silverlight (KB 2617986; October 11, 2011) from Microsoft Update and updates from Adobe Flash Player v10.x to 11.0.1.152.

Having the same issue here. I think its something Netflix changed on their end and MS needs to update the Netflix app. There was a mention of it on their blog.

I am reporting back that the problem still occurs with the older system image. I think that means that the problem is on the server side, but I am not completely certain.

Kowolski, do you happen to have a link to the Netflix blog entry?

Also, does anyone have MS contact information so that we can post this thread + blog entry and hopefully get the ball rolling on a fix?

This was/is the green button, rolled into other things because Microsoft isn't very concerned about Media Center. There really isn't any where better to put this than here, unless someone works at Microsoft and can look in the GAL and see who the Program Manager is for that group, and even then I would be surprised to get a response.

Thanks for volunteering to do this, jledbetternv. The Microsoft support phone number for Windows 7 Home Premium is 800-936-5800 (also 800-426-9400). Last time I called Microsoft support about the previous "Netflix error on add to instant queue" issue I told them that the problem was a broad-based problem, not an individual problem, and I asked them to take down the relevant information including the URL for this windows experts forum thread and forward it to the networking and Silverlight support team.

Here is a link to the Blog. It was a change to the API for DVD Query. Not sure if this would affect the WMC app though. developer.netflix.com/blog

If I had to guess, this might be related but not the reason. If you read those entries closely, the scheduled change for October 14th would have been too late to be the cause, most of us have been experiencing this longer than that. And the latest post is 7 days ago, and says they changed their mind and didnt make the changes.

Don't get me wrong, I am definitely not saying there wasn't an API change that could cause this, I am just saying reading the blog, I don't think those entries can be sold to Microsoft as the reason.

Sorry for my earlier negative post, I am a Microsoft fan through and through, been developing .net since .net came out, I just get frustrated with their treatment of certain technologies, like WHS and media center ;)

+1 for the same issue. See sig for setup info