I have read all the other posts regarding the interface getting stuck, and they seem to be down to Divx and / or some other video driver issue while playing media.

Well this one is different, in that, if you just leave the media center in the main menu (It has not been used to display any media yet), then it will lock up.

Killing it via task manager - gives the following in the application event log:

Notes:
1) The screensaver is disabled.
2) The power options are set to sleep in 3 hours,

Level    Date and Time    Source    Event ID    Task Category
Error    08/11/2008 19:11:10    Application Hang    1002    (101)    The program EHShell.exe version 6.0.6000.16386 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Problem Reports and Solutions control panel. Process ID: f44 Start Time: 01c941d4d0eda755 Termination Time: 0

I have a similar problem!  ehshell.exe will be responsive until I click on a recorded tv program and then it crashes.  I can't watch live TV either.

The watching live TV thing sounds a like a codec collision of some sort.. Vista does not like (Unlike XP) more than 1 Mpeg2 compatible Codec..
You have to use the Vista Codec Check tool (Called "VistaMediaCenterDecoderUtility") to check which and what you have installed. Do a search and see if the multitude of answers help.
For me I had to roll back to a release prior to codec installtion (E.g. Nero, K-Lite, VistaCodec pack, etc.)

What Smurf-IV stated is your likely cause.

If you have a minidump file from the crash, I will be happy to run a crash analysis for you and I will post the report.  Send me an email by clicking "Contact" above right.

Unfortunately there is no minidmp [for my situation - there might be for "ryangruhn"].
It has to be killed via TaskManager -  which is impossible via standard MS remote (It really annoys the wife that she has to get up and push the reset button).
So, All I get is the one message in the application event log (Already listed) when I have actually killed the app. MS then does it's sending to MS to find a solution, and then it restarts VMC.. lovely..

If only there was a 3 finger salute style solution on the MS remote..

Is there a way to use a KB (For when it happens and I'm home), to create a "locked minidmp state" file from a command Line ?
I don't really want to install MS debugging tools (They have had little use in the past without the pdb's and a development environment).

Ok.. Looked into creating a minidmp file and found that this can be done from the TaskManager, (D'oh that's what I have been using to kill the app !)
BUT
The user requires to get past UAC in order to do that,
When that happens the VMC bursts back into life. -> Curious

So the next time it happened; I went to TaskManager and asked it to show all processes, up blinks the UAC, Confirm that, VMC springs back to life..

Could this be a clue ?
I have disabled the UAC and I am now waited for the WAF to kick in and state whether it has died / locked again..

Will report back.

The UAC disabling did not stop the locking..
But
Because the UAC was enabled, and then going to task manager did not request a UAC action, then EShell was not released..
Had to force a reboot.

So I feel it's something to do with when the UAC has to do it's Boing to the desktop and perform the fade (You do not need to confirm the UAC action) as you can see the EShell in the background become active again i.e. it's not stuck in black mode from calling task manager)

Does anyone have a clue ?

Cheers

I've been having this problem lately as well.  Once Media Center is in this state for me it no longer records any TV until I reboot.

I think in my case it's related to multiple users using Media Center, either on the local machine or on extenders.

My first suspicion is generally antivirus and security apps.  I'm using nod32 for antivirus - what are you using?

I'm using AVG 8
I've got the patch to allow RDP on Home Premium, But this is used rarely, and it locked before I installed that.
I have a miniDMP file, but it's 192MB when Zip'd (High compression).
Not sure what to do next.. Still thinking on that.

Hi, I have been plauged with the same problem with ehshell not responding when:

1) One or more recordings are in progress and I try to play a recorded TV show

2) If the screen saver kicks in when pausing live/recorded TV

In both cases I find that killing ehshell from the task manager does not help as when you try re-launching it the new instance does not start up at all.  My current quick-fix is to logoff and back on again - this ensures that any TV recordings continue uninterrupted and reliably clears the problem for a while.

I just ran the VMC Decoder utility suggested above and I see several video decoders listed but only one is obviously MPEG-2:

• Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder [DEFAULT]
• PP Video Decoder
• CyberLink Video/SP Decoder
• CyberLink SAC Video Decoder(PDVD7 HomeNetwork)
• CyberLink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD7)
• CyberLink Video/SP BD-HD Decoder (PDVD7.x)

I have Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra 7.3 installed for playing BluRay/HD-DVDs but use VistaMC for TV and DVDs.  Security package is Norton.

ATI Radeon HD 3200 on-board graphics & ATI Catalyst drivers 08.11.  Hauppauge Nova-DT Dual DVB-T tuner card.

Hoping that someone might have an idea how to fix this otherwise my only plan is the dreaded Windows re-install...

Thanks! Damian

An update:
Discalimer: There might be red herrings in these actions , I'm just stating what I have done
- At the beginning of December, I Reinstalled VMC Ultimate, [SP 1 was not in the initial download update list]
All was working Okay,
- Then installed Vista Codecs (It was 5.0 (Might be 3) then)
- Still OK, Installed MyMovies
- Still OK, Then about a week later SP1 appeared in the download list, So I let it install
- All hell broke lose, and had to go back to my initial December 1 install.
- Resinstalled Codecs, and MyMovies
- Appeared to work for a fortnight Yay, Then SP1 Appeared in the list again, So I let it in. Same thing, It went belly up in all sorts of ways, and took ages to start,
- Back to the Dec 1 Image. And have Set the SP1 never to appear again !

It's still working OK.
Now using the latest Codecs (5.05) and the PR1 of the next MyMovies, Still Working (For the last 3 days)
Hope this helps someone :-)

Let me add a "me too".   I'm getting the problem almost every day now on W7.    After the screen saver has been running for a few hours, I turn on my TV to find it frozen on the screen saver.   The remote won't have any affect.   Sometimes if I wait long enough (1-5 minutes), it will eventually catch up with the remote buttons I've pressed, but this isn't always the case.    If I log in via RDP (I have the multi-user hack) and kill Media Center (eshell) via task manager, nothing happens until I also kill the Desktop Window Manager, then Media Center will exit (dwm will autorestart) and I can get back to Media Center via the remote.  If it's not obvious, my wife doesn't like that solution.

My complete configuration history is online here: http://mpsharp.com/blog/windows-7-media-center-configuration/

Note I have installed DVRMSToolbox, but the problem started happening a few weeks after that.

 

I had all kinds of problems similar to what you are all experiencing.  This is what I did to fix it:

Hope this helps.

 After posting, I realized this was a Vista thread.   I'm on W7, and disabling the Desktop Window manager fixed a couple problems for me.   See this thread: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/p/85756/430972.aspx#430972http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/p/85756/430972.aspx#430972