BI crashes!

[Cam_curious]

I write software for many systems, using the registry is just Windows way of doing things.
My main point is that when you uninstall some software it should do a full cleanup.
Only the software knows where everything is stored. Even better, it should ask if
you want all data to be removed or to keep the user data during the uninstall process.

The cams and config is held in the registry, no idea why as a software developer you thought it would be held as files within the install folder?

Look for Perspective Software or similar, not near my machine at the mo so can’t check but I normally simply rename the top level branch if I need to test something.

 

[looney2ns]

I write software for many systems, using the registry is just Windows way of doing things.
My main point is that when you uninstall some software it should do a full cleanup.
Only the software knows where everything is stored. Even better, it should ask if
you want all data to be removed or to keep the user data during the uninstall process.

Well, BI doesn't, so it takes 2 minutes to delete the Perspective Software Keys from the registry.
Open regedit, search for Perspective Software, and bingo!
Most software I've ever uninstalled, did NOT do a complete cleanup after its self.

 

[IAmATeaf]

I write software for many systems, using the registry is just Windows way of doing things.
My main point is that when you uninstall some software it should do a full cleanup.
Only the software knows where everything is stored. Even better, it should ask if
you want all data to be removed or to keep the user data during the uninstall process.

I think the issue is and if you think about it it sort of makes sense, most of BI is essentially consists of user based settings which most installers/uninstallers wouldn’t logically remove.

On a fresh install of BI there’s not that much in the registry and straight after an install you configure it to add your license, clip paths, cams, motion detection …. so user specific settings.

I also, unfortunately work in IT

 

[Cam_curious]

How would I know to search for "Perspective Software"? I would have searched for BlueIris.

Well, BI doesn't, so it takes 2 minutes to delete the Perspective Software Keys from the registry.
Open regedit, search for Perspective Software, and bingo!
Most software I've ever uninstalled, did NOT do a complete cleanup after its self.

 

[wittaj]

It says Perspective Software on the Main BI settings page where it shows your registration key and the version you are on.

 

[Cam_curious]

OK, I as an outsider I am supposed to know what the ramifications of deleting registry keys for Perspective Software?
Is Perspective Software used in any other application that might be installed on my system? I was writing software
for Windows when the registry was first introduced. I know the rabbit hole that you can get into when editing the
registry without knowing exactly what you are effecting.

My situation was: BI was crashing. Perhaps my configuration was the problem. I uninstalled BI and removed all
BI directories. Reinstalled. Should be a clean install but my (possibly bad) configuration was still there. So now
I am supposed to edit the black box system state?

There should be a better way!

 

[wittaj]

It is amazing what one can find in the help file:

All settings for Blue Iris are stored in a registry key. Enter REGEDIT into the Windows
search box to open the registry editor. Search for:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Perspective Software\Blue Iris

Deleting or renaming this key will allow you to test a startup without any cameras and with
other default settings. It’s also possible to rename particular sub-keys, for example
changing Cameras to CamerasX. To disable individual cameras, open the camera’s key and
change the enabled value to 0.
If the service is crashing, it may be necessary to startup without the service in order to find
the issue. Do this by first setting the service to a “manual” startup state in the Windows
Service Manager (search for services). Then in the Options sub-key in REGEDIT, set the
service value to 0.

in addition, that's what this forum is for! To help us out.

CCLEANER should blow out the registry after the program is uninstalled as well if you run that. As @looney2ns says, a lot of crap stays in the registry even after uninstalling.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Well, if you write software, write a better way.

 

[fenderman]

OK, I as an outsider I am supposed to know what the ramifications of deleting registry keys for Perspective Software?
Is Perspective Software used in any other application that might be installed on my system? I was writing software
for Windows when the registry was first introduced. I know the rabbit hole that you can get into when editing the
registry without knowing exactly what you are effecting.

My situation was: BI was crashing. Perhaps my configuration was the problem. I uninstalled BI and removed all
BI directories. Reinstalled. Should be a clean install but my (possibly bad) configuration was still there. So now
I am supposed to edit the black box system state?

There should be a better way!

Oh God stop with the bitching already. There are a bunch of threads that discuss the proper areas in the registry... Just return everything and buy a ring camera and be done with it.

 

[IAmATeaf]

If as a software developer you don’t understand the ramifications then don’t delete, rename as I suggested?

You are essentially complaining about the internal workings of the app, BI is no different, it doesn’t remove user settings when uninstalling.

 

[IAmATeaf]

Also, as I said I also work in boring IT, it would have taken me 5 mins to download Procmon, load it up, set up a filter for Blueiris.exe and then check the captured events to see what/where BI is reading/writing.

 

[Cam_curious]

OK guys! I proposed the way that I thought it should work and the reasons why. Others disagreed.
No problem, I got voted down. It happens all the time in engineering.

 

[Kaiyne]

OK, I as an outsider I am supposed to know what the ramifications of deleting registry keys for Perspective Software?
Is Perspective Software used in any other application that might be installed on my system? I was writing software
for Windows when the registry was first introduced. I know the rabbit hole that you can get into when editing the
registry without knowing exactly what you are effecting.

My situation was: BI was crashing. Perhaps my configuration was the problem. I uninstalled BI and removed all
BI directories. Reinstalled. Should be a clean install but my (possibly bad) configuration was still there. So now
I am supposed to edit the black box system state?

There should be a better way!

Can't help but throw a callout in here...

Registry was introduced with windows 3.1 in 1992. According to your words, at the age of 12, you were writing software for Windows 3.0? I'm really curious to know what software you wrote at such a young age. You must have been a kid genius!

And because you've been writing software for the past 30ish years, you really should know that config settings for almost all software will stay in the registry, and this is by design. For years. Developers are assuming that you may want to reinstall their software with all of your custom settings intact. Thus the invention of registry cleaners.

 

[Cam_curious]

I hate such silly arguments, BUT where do you get "age 12"? To answer, I am not whatever age you assume I am.
Hint: I never answer web sites requests for personal info correctly!

I have written 8080 assembly when that was your only choice. Remember the Intel blue box? I wrote device drivers
for CP/M (remember that?). I wrote machine code for a system designed in 1965 (not a PDP8). Do you know what
core memory was? I repaired core memory computers as a job not a hobby. I did it in many countries around the world.

Do you remember the two versions of regedit; 16 bit and 32 bit? You needed to use the correct one depending
if you were running 16 bit or 32 bit Windows. If you used the wrong one you trashed your system, and without warning.

Who has the biggest one now! Enough of this puffery, I hate it!

---------------------------------------------------------------

I asked a technical question and I had some suggestions on how to improve BI.
Others disagreed and explained their reasons: fair enough. Some answered with technical answers,
which is great, engineering is not always black and white.
Others seemed to make their answers more personal. Not helpful, but It's OK I can take it.

Clearly something that I have said upset you, I don't know what that might be. I am sorry!

And no, I am not going to get all upset and stomp out of this group like some sensitive souls might!

Can't help but throw a callout in here...

Registry was introduced with windows 3.1 in 1992. According to your words, at the age of 12, you were writing software for Windows 3.0? I'm really curious to know what software you wrote at such a young age. You must have been a kid genius!

And because you've been writing software for the past 30ish years, you really should know that config settings for almost all software will stay in the registry, and this is by design. For years. Developers are assuming that you may want to reinstall their software with all of your custom settings intact. Thus the invention of registry cleaners.

View attachment 94472

 

[Kaiyne]

Hahaha, couldn't help it, sorry to offend! Okay, so you're not 41, it's just your comments seemed inexperienced and unwise to the workings of modern software, and lack of rtfm. I had actually forgotten about the registry keys in the manual, which would've helped my own troubleshooting yesterday. And yes, even this mere mortal remembers regedit32 lol.

So with that much experience, I'm surprised you didn't make your system a dedicated server, or at least start by eliminating conflicts with other software and install in a clean system, or at least throw it in a vm to baseline first. Did you do that yet? Once you have your clean windows with BI installed and working, do a system image. Then add your other software and compare to the baseline as you go. If a program fudges your system, you'll have a snapshot to restore.

This confused me though:

The direct-to-disk is not an option in the demo version.

I had used the demo version with direct-to-disk enabled just last week. So I'm sure that's not a demo restriction.

I'm sure everything will work once you methodically install Windows -> BI -> individual cameras. Then your other software.

 

[looney2ns]

Hahaha, couldn't help it, sorry to offend! Okay, so you're not 41, it's just your comments seemed inexperienced and unwise to the workings of modern software, and lack of rtfm. I had actually forgotten about the registry keys in the manual, which would've helped my own troubleshooting yesterday. And yes, even this mere mortal remembers regedit32 lol.

So with that much experience, I'm surprised you didn't make your system a dedicated server, or at least start by eliminating conflicts with other software and install in a clean system, or at least throw it in a vm to baseline first. Did you do that yet? Once you have your clean windows with BI installed and working, do a system image. Then add your other software and compare to the baseline as you go. If a program fudges your system, you'll have a snapshot to restore.

This confused me though:

I had used the demo version with direct-to-disk enabled just last week. So I'm sure that's not a demo restriction.

I'm sure everything will work once you methodically install Windows -> BI -> individual cameras. Then your other software.

It's an option, but doesn't work in the demo.

 

[Kaiyne]

It's an option, but doesn't work in the demo.

Ohhh now I'm more confused! If I have my file format set to BVR, and video compression set to direct-to-disc, how is it encoding it?

 

[IAmATeaf]

Nothing personal from my side and apologies if it came across like that, we like a good debate and more importantly like to help

 

[Cam_curious]

I had been using BI on my regular and only Windows system for a few years with no problems. It is an i7-6770 with
64Gb of ram and a old high end Nvidia video card. I ran 5 cameras and never bothered to notice the BI CPU usage
number. BI was no problem performance wise. I did none of the BI tuning, no substreams, ran all 5 cameras at
max resolution and 30 FPS with motion sensing triggers.

Then a few months ago I noticed that my mouse would occasionally not click on something. Over time it got worse.
Then I noticed BI running at 90% CPU utilization. I thought OK, BI is getting more resource heavy. Fair enough,
time marches on and software becomes more capable and more resource demanding. I looked for a dedicated
system to move BI to. I got my i5 system and installed BI demo version. I exported my settings and imported
them to my i5 system. BI ran "OK" with the CPU pegged at 100%. But it did run! Then after about a week it started
crashing on occasion. Then it started crashing immediately. The demo period had not yet expired.

When the demo period expired, BI no longer crashed but poped up the license screen. I bought a second license
because BI is a great product even though I do not need two licenses. With the new license installed BI started
crashing again. This on my i5 system.

I was not working on this continuously, days would go by while I was doing other things.
That is the back story and is what prompted me to start this thread.

So with that much experience, I'm surprised you didn't make your system a dedicated server, or at least start by eliminating conflicts with other software and install in a clean system, or at least throw it in a vm to baseline first. Did you do that yet? Once you have your clean windows with BI installed and working, do a system image. Then add your other software and compare to the baseline as you go. If a program fudges your system, you'll have a snapshot to restore.

 

[Kaiyne]

That's really weird.... There must be some kind of conflict somewhere with something. What does the log say? I had to turn on the box to save it to a file. Have you checked your event viewer?

I'm running an i3-8100, 8GB ram with intel graphics (VPP compatible) with only 2 cameras and the cpu hovers around 12% and spikes up to 90% once in a while for a quick second. It's only been going for a little under a month. I ran the demo once, then wanted a fresh start to clean the muck I had made (gotta learn somehow lol), did a clean windows install, then ran the demo again, and has been pretty smooth since, and I just bought the license Sunday. With small fine tunes, it just keeps getting better since.

There could be one of a ton of things going on in your system... Video driver conflict? Maybe a windows update? Again, I'd go through as many logs as you can to find clues on where to begin.

On your i7, with that much ram, run a few different vm's with different configurations and see what happens... you definitely have the resources to handle it!