Media Library just solid grey, can never see files

[tbarabash]

Just randomly one day I opened winamp, and clicked on my media library but the whole area where my media libary usually is is just a solid box of grey. I can still see what I was playing in the top right corner, can play it and go to visualizations, radio stations, etc but cannot get my library back.

I reinstalled a couple times, each time it seems to revert to normal just without my media libary, I re-add my music, but anytime after I close winamp and open it the media library is again just a solid grey block. Also, anytime I try to change the skin, the opacity of the window, it changes but after closing and reopening doesnt work again.

Comp specs:
vista 64
core2duo 2x4.0ghz
4gb ram
dual 8800gt video cards
no specific sound card (just whatever included w/ my nvidia mobo)
winamp v 5.552

Also FYI, to get the my plugins list to work, I had to do it immediately after I installed the plugin in winamp.. first time I tried it just wouldn't work.. neither would the standalone .exe. Don't know if that matters.

Included is the rar of my hijack this and the plugins.

[jcaz1]

Just developed the same problem. Media Library blank but can access fies directly from Winamp. Looks like more others are starting to experience same problem. If anyone finds a fix, please post. OS vista home premium.

[DJ Egg]

FAQ

Grey/blank Local Media views in Media Library

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=304613

So far (at the time of posting) it's just been a few isolated cases reported.

Not sure what's causing it to happen though....
Some old/dodgy/incompatible 3rd-party plugin maybe?
Installing 5.552, reverting back to an older pre 5.55 version then reinstalling 5.552?
(the 5.55 mldb format is not backwards compatible).
A major system crash occurring during usage/scanning?

If switching tabs from ML to Video and back doesn't fix it....

Deleting %appdata%\winamp\plugins\ml\main.idx will fix it
(make sure Winamp is closed first).

But it then means you'll need to reimport your music into the library :-(

I recommend making regular backups of main.dat (local media database) and main.idx (local media index),
and maybe also regularly use the 'Export Database' feature (via Library button menu) to save the mldb to xml.

And/or regularly use the Winamp Backup Tool :-)

[biscuitboy]

I too have this problem,

It occurred in the last version of Winamp aswell as the current version and happens randomly...

I deleted the main file and this solved the problem however I had to reload all my files.

Must be a bug in the player,
I am running Vista 32,

I wonder if it could have something to do with my C: drive being filled and the file was in use and could not be saved due to lack of space, hence an error in the player??

I since freed up some space and it seems ok, have the others experiencing the problem filled their drives whilst winamp is in use or perhaps the file is in memory?

[squall14716]

Just had it happen to me for the second time. A reinstall fixed it the last time.

No plugins that didn't come included, was using 5.55. Just doing an upgrade to 5.56 didn't solve the issue, but a clean install would.

If I had to take a guess, an unclean shutdown probably caused this, as I was last using it last night with no issue, but hard shutdown my computer last night (power button) in a fit of rage and it doesn't work today.

Just backed-up and deleted my settings (C:\Users\squall14716\AppData\Roaming\Winamp) and it works again, so it is related to something in there breaking.

[ujay]

If it's any help, just had it happen.

Greyed out media library.

'main.dat' and 'main.idx' are zeroed out.

main.dat.n3wxxxxxxxx is not deleted(some sort of intermediate file ???)

UJ

[dcbear78]

Add me to the ever growing list.

[DJ Egg]

Does anyone here use aimtunes?

Apparently, aimtunes could be the cause of the problem, because it reads the mldb but uses an older version of nde...

[lual]

run winamp as administrator

maybe my problem differs a little from the others in this thread. i havn't a clean installed winamp5.56 because i was not able to ex- and import my old grown ml data. not by using ml_impex and not by coping the plugins/gen_ml.ini + plugins/ml/*.* files.

i want to let you know - i was able to fix this greyout ml problem on my vista64 by running winamp as administrator.

i was not able to find out what exactly causes this. as i find an other thread - disable "Restore file associations at Winamp start-up" didn't help me.

but i don't mind. run it as admin is ok for me.

regards

[Nobody 004]

Solved! (I think)

Ok, well first let me describe my exact situation.

Fresh install of Winamp - everything works fine
After a while - Media Library goes grey, switching to another tab (eg. Video) and switching back makes everything fine
A while after that - Media Library stays grey

This time around when I was at the "After a while" stage, I noticed that the Media Library would only become grey if there was an instance of "winamp.exe" currently running, even though I may have exited a previous session of winamp. (Tested with allow multiple instances enabled AND disabled, the only difference with disabled is that after about having 3 or 4 winamp processes, they simply stop showing the winamp application, but continue to launch these ghost processes)

It seems to me that when you exit winamp there is a problem with ending the winamp.exe process that is causing this media library bug. For now I have created a Winamp Launcher batch script that I use to launch Winamp, this script ends all processes called "winamp.exe" before starting a new one (added at the end of the post). Sure it adds a few seconds, but it seems to have solved the grey Library problem.

I'm yet to see if things still somehow manage to progress to the "A while after that" stage.

##Winamp Launcher Batch##
taskkill *winamp.exe* /F
taskkill *winamp.exe* /F
taskkill *winamp.exe* /F
taskkill *winamp.exe* /F
taskkill winamp.exe /F
taskkill winamp.exe /F
taskkill winamp.exe /F
taskkill winamp.exe /F
"C:\Program Files\Winamp\winamp.exe"
##End##

Just copy from the first "taskkill" to "...winamp.exe" into a notepad file, save it as "Launch Winamp.bat" or whatever suits your fancy, just make sure the extension is ".bat"

Those of you running x64 systems may want to change the last line to:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Winamp\winamp.exe"

I'm also going to try running winamp as an elevated process to see if that makes a difference in ending the winamp.exe process on exit.

Hope this was helpful!

[Nobody 004]

Update: Running as an elevated process seems to make no difference.

Also, note: The winamp.exe process staying open doesn't seem to happen all the time when you exit.

OS: Win 7 x64 Pro

[Nobody 004]

Ok... so this solution only seems to work at the second stage. I've now reached the third stage and it's back in grey permanently again.

[llr]

FAQ

So far it's just been a few isolated cases reported.

Oh no, i've seen this problem occur on at least 10 different pc's in the past year. (win vista 32, win7 32 bit, win7 64bit) (all dutch)
5.541 doesn't have the problem. Every release after 5.541 does have it.
It's sickening, since most people do want shoutcast to be a part of their digital lives.

However 5.541 does have the problem that if you close winamp a couple of times it sais there is another instance running, as do versions folowing up to 5541.

It would be nice if this issue is resolved somewhere in the near future.

[Ayoo]

This also happened to me today, so it's still out there.

[llr]

5.59 v3033 still has the bug - HOWEVER -
the problem only occurs with the bigbento skins (tested with large)

With the winamp modern skin shoutcast loads each and every single time (in the medialibrary)

buggy big bento?> I think so.