# Magic Bullet Looks will freeze then crash every single time!



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

Hello everyone!
First of all I just wanted to say thank you for helping me so well every time I have a problem. And when I use this forum it's usually when it's a very difficult problem so fasten your seat belts!

Here are the specs of my computer: Asus G74SX-BBK8 Specs | PCMag.com

Basically, Magic Bullet Looks V2.0 simply crashes whenever I try to open it. Here's a screenshot:
http://gyazo.com/f68e638e28a1c02b6d19c0c626d42f39.png

I've searched for weeks on the internet, re-installed the program in 100s of different ways, installed it in Safe mode, cleaned the AppData and registries for the program before re-installation, done a Clean boot up, updated my NVIDIA driver, ran the program as Administrator and much more... 
Finally, I decided to contact Red Giant (the one that makes this editing program) and they told me it was a graphics card problem, so I installed bunch of different versions without any success...
They said to me to contact NVIDIA (I was completely losing hope at this moment). So I did and we changed some settings in the NVIDIA Control Panel but without any luck whatsoever. The guy that helped me was very good and professional and he said that if I contacted NVIDIA again, he would take care of me. So I can take it from where we stopped last time.

I'm a very patient dude and I've been trying to fix this for a few weeks now, please get me out of this misery. After all this I go on this forum, not before trying EVERYTHING!

Some suggestions: Registry error or misplacement? AppData folder problem? Program Files folder misplacement?

-HSC


----------



## VirGnarus (Jun 28, 2010)

A couple ways we can grab information from this.

First, grab Process Monitor. Open it and it'll start logging. Try opening Magic Bullet Looks V2.0, then when you see the error message click the magnifying glass (Capture) button on Procmon and then save, zip up and send us the log. Make sure to have "All events" selected when you save it.

Second is to grab and open Process Explorer. It's essentially a beefed up Task Manager. Open Magic Bullet and let it crash. Locate the process name of it in Process Explorer and right click it and create Full Dump. Then zip it up and upload it to a 3rd-party filesharing site (too big to upload here).


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

Ok I'll upload both zip files to mediafire. For Procmon, I did the capture when the program was "(Not Responding)" and selected "All events" when I clicked the save button. That's how I was supposed to do it right?


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

Here are both logs, tell me if I did something wrong but I don't think I did as I read your answer 3 times 

Magic Bullet Looks.rar

Logfile.rar


----------



## VirGnarus (Jun 28, 2010)

As long as you started the ProcMon capture BEFORE you attempted to open up the program it should be fine.

Also, you mentioned the "Not Responding". Does an error message actually pop up, or does the program become unresponsive, and when you click on it it displays that error message? Have you tried waiting for a while to have the program load?


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

It's "Not Responding" if I just change page or it will stay just black with my cursor loading. It's if I try to click or close the window that the message appears.


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

Have you seen anything unusual in the logs then?


----------



## VirGnarus (Jun 28, 2010)

How many seconds did you wait until after it started hanging that you decided to click? Do you remember?

Also, now that I am aware that this is a hang, not a crash, I will need another full dump from you from Process Explorer, except this time, dump it while it's hung, do NOT click on it first to bring up the error message.

I'm looking at the Procmon log and compared it to the dump and it looks like a thread got hung waiting on what's called a critical section. However I don't know any further specifics yet. I wanna try something new here in order to cross reference. Grab WhatIsHang and run it. Then start up Magic Look and let it sit hung for a while. It should eventually show up in WhatIsHang. Click the entry then press F9. Then save the results and send em over.


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

I once let it hang for like 15 minutes, the cursor just kept loading and the window just stayed black. It hangs right when I start it up. And I'll send you the logs in a sec for the next steps


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

Here are the logs:
Magic Bullet Looks.rar

I'm not sure if these are the results, but it saved a .txt file.
Hang results.txt


----------



## VirGnarus (Jun 28, 2010)

Ack, that WhatIsHang log didn't end up providing anything. You may have to press F9, then F8 (which copies entire report), then paste in a txt file and send over. It should be small enough that you can upload it to this site, no need for a 3rd-party.


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

I found the log strange too, but how do I upload it to the site?


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

Here's the Hang log.
View attachment MBL hang log.txt


----------



## VirGnarus (Jun 28, 2010)

That is very strange. Everything is zeroed out. This application may not be able to help us, as it looks like it's not providing any data on it. It is right on one thing though, that there's a single call it's waiting on, which is that it's waiting on a critical section that isn't getting released. I'm still sketchy on figuring out how to deal with critical sections and other stuff involved in debugging this, so please mind my ignorance.

However, I think I may have a lead and would like to confirm it. I think BitDefender may have something to do with this. You will have to deactivate its "Active Virus Control" or whatever, or even go so far as to uninstall it temporarily. Then try the program again. If it doesn't fix the problem, go ahead and dump it again (remember, don't click on it!).


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

Holy **** it worked!!! BitDefender was blocking it all along!!! Thanks you so much!! What a stupid problem... Ok now, how can I re-install BitDefender and make it so it stops interfering with Magic Bullet Looks?


----------



## VirGnarus (Jun 28, 2010)

Well, first of all, I believe the problem wasn't so much BitDefender itself, but that it was conflicting with Windows Firewall. Check to make sure that:

1. You do not have Windows Firewall on
2. You do not have any other AV software operating at the same time.

See if that remedies the situation.


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

I re-installed BitDefender and without any surprise MBL is hanging when I open it. 

1. Here's what I see when I go in the Windows Firewall:
http://gyazo.com/292b887d8947c9b926d0a306565f9063.png?1327005739

2. I only have Bit Defender 2012 installed.


----------



## VirGnarus (Jun 28, 2010)

Windows Firewall shows it is _on_ but it doesn't like the settings currently present. Try turning it off altogether.

Now that I realize, what I'm looking at is most likely _not_ Windows Firewall itself but the entire Action Center. Something about BitDefender is having an ugly time dealing with it, and it's holding up Magic Looks from starting.

Interesting to note, Nvidia drivers _are_ involved in this. The same callstack shows the Nvidia drivers doing their thing, trying to call Windows to do something, then BitDefender intercepts to see if there's anything ugly going on, then BitDefender passes it to Windows. All three components are involved in this process, so it may be that there's a bug in either BitDefender or Nvidia, that only manifests if both Bitdefender _and_ Nvidia are present, but when one is removed, the problem is gone. I won't be able to discern this without getting really down and dirty inside all the code flow, and as curious as I am about it, I know that in my current expertise it will take me a good long while to diagram it and take it all in to figure a conclusion. Plus, I don't have access to their private symbols, so it will take a lot of disassembling of their code to figure out cause.

Anyways, the specific Nvidia driver responsible is the NVidia Compatible OpenGL driver. I find it interesting to see that when looking at the details, it lists it as a _private developer build_ of the driver. Maybe this is a false positive, but I find it very curious that it says it. I wonder if it's just the symbols I'm using.

The first thing is see if this happens with all AV software. Try an alternative temporarily (like MSE and Avast) to see if the same effect applies. If they also suffer the same, we are most certainly dealing with BitDefender. To be honest, I wouldn't put it behind them. I've also seen BitDefender screwing up on other people's PCs lately. But I wouldn't assume on this, but rather find an answer.


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

Ok I'll try another AV, however I bought BitDefender so is there any good free AV I could test on?


----------



## VirGnarus (Jun 28, 2010)

Avast, Microsoft Security Essentials, and AVG are good options to test this with. Make sure you only have one running/installed at one time during testing.


----------



## Evil Edison (Jun 9, 2012)

I stumbled on this thread as I was having a similar issue in Adobe CS6 using the latest version of Magic Bullet. I was crashing while opening either MB Looks or MB Colorista. Found the winning clue here in that I'm also using Bit Defender. Fix is actually quite simple. Open Bit Defender --> click Anti Virus panel --> click Exclusions tab --> click Excluded Processes --> click Add --> click Browse --> navigate to program files\adobe\adobe premiere pro cs6\adobe premiere pro.exe --> make sure "Allow" is selected and click Add.

Obviously if you are having an issue with a program other than Premiere Pro you will have to add that instead. I've had similar issues with Bit Defender in other software. In fact, I'm starting to think that whenever I have an odd issue, Bit Defender is the likely culprit. Best I can determine, Magic Bullet activates a separate control panel and Bit Defender doesn't like it for some reason, hence the hang. Take Bit Defender out of the equation and all is well.

Anyhow, I realize it's a long time since the OP posted this but hopefully this will help others who happen along the same issue.


----------



## Evil Edison (Jun 9, 2012)

One more thing upon further troubleshooting... My fix above solved Colorista but it still froze when trying to open MB Looks editor. To resolve this do the same steps above and add this file to the exclusions list:

program files (x86)\looksbuilder\magic bullet looks.exe


----------



## Evil Edison (Jun 9, 2012)

While you're in that folder you might as well add LooksBuilderPL.exe and LooksBuilderQL.exe to the exclusions list (if you have those products installed). So much for Bit Defender running invisibly in the background


----------



## HSCinema (Jan 4, 2011)

Thanks a lot man  I ended up switching up to another anti-virus but I guess with that fix I can go back to Bit Defender!


----------

