Panic, Windows media center will not open

OK, my first big problem with my dv6000t. Windows Media Center will not open. All I get is a message that says: Windows Media Center has stopped working, Windows is looking for a solution, then the only option I have is to close program.
This is my laptop in the living room and is the primary use of this computer, we watch tv on it daily. Please help if you have ever come across this.

And I have searched, this forum and others

Thanks!!
Matt

 

Try doing a system restore to a day you know that Media Center worked. This won't affect your personal files like recorded TV, so no worries there.

----------------
Now playing: Ne-Yo - Lie To Me
via FoxyTunes

 

Wow, I thought I was the only one who believed in the power of system restore.

 

....Of course not! It's one of Windows best features.

OP, if a Sys Restore doesn't solve the issue...try doing a Windows Update.

 

You are.

The rest of us curl into little balls and reformat.

Rofl.

 

Yeah, um, well I turned system restore off to squeeze more room out of my 80gb hard drive. Sounds like it is time to reinstall. I was probably due for a clean install anyhow.

I pulled McAfee off and went to AVG. I deleted the show it was recording at crash. I searched the services and tried to restart the Media Center system tray app.

Windows update is up to date, I may wait a day or to to see if I get a problems and solutions suggestion. Any other ideas would be appreciated

Thanks for the fast responses!

 

Finally found this KB article, it worked like a charm, I just deleted the mediacenterdatastore file

Thanks!
Matt

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Help and Support Home Select a Product Advanced SearchError message on a Windows Vista-based computer that is running Windows Media Center: "Media Center has stopped working"
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Article ID : 947464
Last Review : January 16, 2008
Revision : 1.1
SYMPTOMS
On a Windows Vista Ultimate-based or a Windows Vista Home Premium-based computer that is running Windows Media Center, you receive the following error message:
Media Center has stopped working

A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Please close the program.
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CAUSE
This problem occurs if the Windows Media Center update process (Mcupdate.exe) cannot access the Windows Media Center data store. You may experience this problem if the data store is damaged. The Mcupdate.exe process is a scheduled task that runs two times every day. If this scheduled task cannot access the data store, the Mcupdate.exe process crashes.
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RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, try to rebuild the Media Center data store. To do this, follow these steps:1. Exit any running instance of Windows Media Center.
2. Delete the following file:
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mediaCenterDataStore.db
To do this, follow these steps:a. Click Start, type run in the Start Search box, and then click Run in the Programs list.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
b. In the Open box, type %systemdrive%\programdata\microsoft\ehome, and then click OK.
c. In the details pane, right-click mediacenterdatastore.db, and then click Delete.
d. Click Yes to confirm that you want to move the Mediacenterdatastore.db file to the Recycle Bin.

3. Start Windows Media Center.

 

Thanks man! I was having the same problem you were and your KB article fixed it. I really appreciate it, I had tried almost everything to get it working. At least now I know what to clean up if it ever stops functioning again.

You'd think they could have someone create an autofixing patch for Windows - if a certain file was found to be corrupted, it asks the user permission to delete the file to fix the problem, and boom! Media Center starts correctly. I guess this would either require more manpower than MS is interesting to find and create autofixes for this, or more AI programming than they want to do. I guess I should be grateful for the MS KB article. And Matt, haha. Thanks!