Strange problem with .wav files

[mara-]

Hi,

I 'm using Vista Ultimate x64 SP2 and I have a very strange problem. When ever I open folder where .wav files are present, Vista became totally unresponsive. Hard Disk starts working like crazy, I can see that from indicator on my PC case. It seem that this problem only appears on bigger wave files. I have only one file in this folder, which is around 30MB. When I open folder with smaller files, under 1MB everything is fine. In Safe Mode I can open folders with big files without any problem. So, something installed is causing this problem. Is there any way I can discover what is causing this issue? Any help is appreciated.

Cheers

[Kotuku]

I would have said you don't have enpugh RAM, but you have 3 Gb. Have you run a Ram tester to make sure it is all OK, especially the 2 Gb stick.

What Anti Virus are you using? In Safe Mode the AV is not running. Can you stop your AV running in Normal mode and see if that improves it.

Have you got the latest Audio driver?

[mara-]

I did not tested RAM, but I can do it. I tried with disabling protections in normal mode, but its still the same. I use Eset Smart Security, and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. I have the latest Audio driver. I said it became total unresponsive, but not really total. I can still move mouse, and I say clock for example working. I can close folder where .wav file is, but after 5-10 minutes, and then after another 5-10 minutes Vista came back to normal. I think something is accessing this file, and creates some high activity on hard disk. Is there a some tool, or something so I can see what is accessing to file?

Cheers

EDIT: I did more investigation. I was wrong, this also happens in Safe Mode. I sow in task manager, that when I open folder with .wav file explorer.exe becomes "crazy". It starts using half of CPU and all of my RAM, and that's why Vista becomes unresponsive. Anyone have any idea what might be the problem?

Edited July 10, 2009 by mara-

[Guest]

I'm not at all familiar with Vista but I'm gonna throw out some ideas...

Maybe there is something about that file that's preventing explorer from extracting it's information. Remove that file from the folder and then create another wav file of similar size and place it in that folder. Does problem go away?

Try unregistering shmedia.dll (the file that extracts the information in XP) or it's equivalent for Vista and see if that makes it go away.

[Kotuku]

OK, well if the problem is there in safe mode, then it isn't ESET. Are you playing the wav file with Windows Media Player? That (unless you turn the features off in set-up) accesses the web to find information. Disable that or better still grab VLC Media Player (www.videolan.org) and associate wav files with it. It is free and does a superb job and makes a point of not phoning home.

WHat happens if you dosconnect from the web and then try and play the file?

Assuming you have some other big wav files (from a different source) do they exhibit the same problem.

Have you run CHKDSK /R/F from an elevated command prompt, just in case the file is damaged

Edited July 10, 2009 by Kotuku

[mara-]

I'm converting mp3 to wav for some other use, and it seems that converter caused this problem. I was using FreeRIP, and now I tried converting same file with other converter and problem is gone. Thanks for everybody's input.

Cheers

Edited July 11, 2009 by mara-

[mara-]

New info: I solved problem using FreeRip with help of author of this great tool. It seems that Vista has some problem with reading info tags from .wav files which this program writes when converting to .wav. Problem can be solved if option "Write tags" is disabled. File->Settings->Options menu->Encoding page.

This is little late reply, since I solved problem in time I posted here, but info may be helpful to someone else.

Cheers

[Guest]

That's what I suspected. Glad it's solved.