Front Row - Screen goes black

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Level 1

70 points

Front Row - Screen goes black

I did a clean install of Leopard this week and I have a problem. When I go into Front Row, I cannot play music. I can get into the menu far enough to select browse by artist. However, once I select browse by artist, the screen just goes black and starts to flicker. Movies, TV shows, and other stuff work fine but music will not play. I have to hold the power button to turn the computer off and reboot. Any ideas?

17" Intel iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Dec 2, 2007 6:08 AM

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Answer 1

Varick

Level 1

46 points

Dec 2, 2007 8:34 AM in response to mbushnell

Bummer on the problem. Maybe I can help. Are you able to play your music, videos etc. through iTunes? Also, what method are you using to run front row? (Remote, keyboard, etc.) If you can play videos, music etc. through iTunes, try repairing your permissions in the disk utility. Let me know what that turns up. Also, check your Console "console messages" for errors pertaining to Front Row. I sometimes notice a slight hiccup when going from the music tab of front row to the artist tab, as if Front Row has to find my music files. Also, make sure you have permission to access your music folder, and that your music folder is in the normal spot.

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Answer 2

mbushnell Author

Level 1

70 points

Dec 2, 2007 1:46 PM in response to mbushnell

I tried it again this morning and it finally worked. It must've just been a hiccup on the iMac because I also have a Macbook and Front Row works fine on there after a clean Leopard install. I thought it was still messed up when I tried it this morning because the screen started flickering but then the artist list popped up after a few minutes. I accessed FR via the remote to answer your question. I have repaired permissions and run the maintenance crons. I guess we'll see if it keeps working in the future.

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Answer 3

Varick

Level 1

46 points

Dec 2, 2007 5:37 PM in response to mbushnell

Ok. It might just be that Front Row is databasing its collection. Do you have album art on all of your albums? If you do, are they mainly the standard size (300x300) or are they larger? If larger, that can sometimes cause slow down.

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Answer 4

mbushnell Author

Level 1

70 points

Dec 3, 2007 5:42 AM in response to mbushnell

Yeah I have about 9k songs all with artwork. You are probably correct that it was trying to get them all queued up or something so FR could show the artwork and all that. Thanks for your help.

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Answer 5

Varick

Level 1

46 points

Dec 3, 2007 11:31 AM in response to mbushnell

No problem. You might look through your album art and downsize some if they are bigger than 300x300. I had an album that would crash my iPod because I had a 1024x768 pic for its album art...oops.

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Answer 6

icazzi

Level 1

4 points

Jan 15, 2008 5:53 PM in response to mbushnell

Just another suggestion, as I had this exact same problem. I was able to play music if I selected playlists or songs, but not artists or albums. I had a track that wasn't authorized to be played on this computer and authorizing fixed the problem.

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