I'd almost definately say overheating is the culprit. That's a long time for a laptop to be on, let alone doing something as intensive as rendering. And some laptops are worse than others in this respect. (For that matter, 20 hours is a pretty darn long render time -- can you break the project up into pieces?)

Blow some compressed air into every opening that laptop has to clear out any dust, make sure none of the vents are blocked, and maybe get one of those laptop cooling systems.

Rob

We were worried about overheating as well but it's only 10 d here and the laptop is not hot to the touch after 20 hrs. it is lifted off the surface so there is also good airflow. If it doesn't work again maybe I will go get a fan base but I can't see that being it. I just don't know if it could be that the laptops automatically shuts off after 20 hrs even if a program is running no matter what or if the disable hibernate but did the trick.

Thanks
Williamk

what are you rendering to? If you're rendering something comples to an mpeg, if you setup multiple regions & batch that to DV AVI's & then put those together & render that to mpeg, that could solve the problem.

More work, but when you batch render parts to AVI's you don't loose as much work when it does.

Also, put it in the fridge? :) (no, don't really, odds are you'd get condensation)

Update after another 20hrs. Again sony did not complete the render after about 20hrs.

It wasn't at the same place as the last two times so it's not something on the timeline.

It didn't hibernate this time so it's not a hibernation problem.

The first time it stopped was a problem with virtual memory as reported by sony which we increased and so the virtual memory is not the problem.

So that leaves me with a RAM problem which could be it. We are using an external lacie drive for storage on our toshiba laptop. The laptop has 448 RAM. HD free space 22 and lacie free space 44 - rendering to lacie.

The render is 24hrs long this time mpeg2 NTSC DVD Arch video stream. (audio render worked without a glitch and very quickly)

The documentary is 2:01:38 long.

Looking at getting a new computer with more RAM if that is the problem but we don't want to fork out the money if that's not the likely problem.

If we render in regions as an mpeg can we connect those in DVDA without glitch or will we have connection problems in DVDA.

(Thanks for your help and we decided to put it in the freezer (it's colder than the fridge) :) )

Why not try rendering to an uncompressed avi file (in segments) and then putting them together on the timeline and rendering out ot mpg2.

j razz

avi to mpeg 2.

So if I understand this correctly rendering to avi will put it on a single video track and a single audio track (rendered in 40 minutes segments which because uncompressed will come together flawlessly.) Then to render that rendered AVI to mpeg 2 as a single render will be less work for the RAM. Is that correct or am I missing something.

If it is RAM (100% for sure)I don't have a problem buying a new computer with a Gig of RAM as we do need one eventually. Can you tell me with some certainty that 448 Ram is too low or if it's not RAM for sure.


Thanks
Williamk

The ram is not that big of a deal. If you can render up to 20 hours, you should be fine- unless it is going bad.

The avi files- using uncompressed, will give you the abillity to join them back together on the timeline without loosing quality and there will not be an issue with any color correction or other intensive items due to it already being rendered.

With the avi option, you can render in sections- just divide it in half and render one and then the other and you should be fine.

j razz

Hibernate could be instigated by windows, the BIOS or a "PC name brand" system utility (possibly in the task bar). Removing the battery and running on the mains might overcome anything that is uncontrollable (not unlike dealing with a camcorder's self shutting down).

Set your PC to be a desktop, not a laptop - you can always switch profiles if you don't render all the time.

Go into the BIOS menu (if it is a namebrand you might need to clear away the vendor splashscreen that comes up quickly before Windows starts) - check here for any timers too.

An overheat is likely to cause other symptoms such as a slowing down before any self-shutdown occurs.

This might not help, but it seems worth mentioning something that will save you running against your stopwatch!

Thanks for the info. Turns out it's doesn't have to do with Hibernate and we already switched it off but it's useful info to know. For some reason there is an error in vegas after 20hrs or so. We caught it this time and the computer didn't hibernate.

Looking at rendering avi in section as jrazz suggested, but am curious about why we cannot render it as one complete avi and then encode mpeg 2.

thanks
williamk

You can just render to one avi. If there is another problem, you can just start the encode where you left off instead of having to start over at the beginning. You can do this with just 1 avi file as well- if it goes off or messes up, just start where the problem occurred and keep rendering.

j razz

Thanks Jrazz. I was wondering why I would have to break up the AVI unless there was some specific restriction. Hopefully making a single AVI and the NTSC MPEG 2 vid stream will work.

Will attempt and get back to you?


Thanks
WilliamK

"Why would it shut down if the porgram is running."

This probably doesn't answer your problem, but here's an answer to the question. If the laptop is running a program that makes no Windows I/O calls, then Windows eventually times out the hibernate "feature".

Steve

Thank you all for your help. We have successfully rendered a AVI files (in two sections) and have put them together and are now rendering to MPEG 2. Couldn't believe how big the AVI files were 25 GB and took most of our harddrive.

Will a faster CPU (dual core) enable us to directly to MPEG in the future?

Any thoughts.

Thanks

WilliamK

I had a 30+ hour render recently with no problems on a P4, 3.2Ghz. Any number of things could have gone wrong.

Heat: I would think that the heat would have gotten you in the first 4 hours. If you used an intensely complex effect at the 20 hour mark (think Magic Bullet) then it could have pushed the cpu/memory heat over the edge.

Bad hard drive spot: Maybe you have a section of your hard drive that is about to go.

Memory: maybe some effect you used needed a ton of memory, pushing the needs to the virtual page, which eventually filled up (you said you increased it, but did you increase it enough?) I've seen some effects push virtual memory way high.

Re. memory, how much physical memory do you have, and how big is your swap/paging file? Page file guidelines are 1.5 times your physical memory, but I've also read on this board that XP won't use much more than 3GB anyway. I'm not sure if that's in combination with physical memory, but I think so.

And the adventure continues but at least it's only in five hour time lines and not 28 still.

We have rendered to two avi files and have put them together on the time line. We then try to render that avi file to NTSC DVDA video stream and it kicks out at 77 precent. Now that is a similiar location to the previous time that it got kicked out after the 20 hr point now the 4 hr point, but in the same general frame area. That individual frame area renders without problem and vegas does not have a answer for it not working. They are avi files put together which rendered smoothly so we are now only encoding the avi files to mpeg 2. There are no special effects or anything at this point. Heat is not a problem either. The section renders by itself so it's not the bad point on the hard drive or the cpu peaking because of a highly difficult encode. No effects, We have over 45 GB of memory avialable and our virtual memory is at 1000 - 448RAM

Thanks

WilliamK

"45 GB of memory avialable and our virtual memory is at 1000 - 448RAM"

Can you clarify memory available (not disk space):
Physical Memory: 45GB
Virtual Memory: 1000-448? (i.e. Page File size)

Hey Fldave

45 Gb is on our harddrive free space wise

Our RAM is 448MB
Virtual memory is set at 1000

Another thing that I though of, we were able to render to Mpeg 4 although the quality was lacking and we want to burn a DVD.

Thanks

Williamk

This may not have anything to do with your original problem, but that's an odd amount of RAM. It sounds like you're using the video on the motherboard which "steals" 64Mb of your system RAM.

You barely have enough RAM to run windows and one or two applications. Programs will be run slow as they will be swapping in and out of virtual memory all the time. You really need 1 Gb of RAM for video editing.

Also, as an offside comment...

DV is 13.5 Gb/hour. My projects are usually 2-hours long and there's usuallly six or more tapes, so I start with a freshly formatted 120Gb work disc. You really should be using an external hard-disk drive for your video files.

Steve