Vista - WinSAT for Vista Performance Index fails

At some point, my WinSAT refuses to complete. I have Vista Home Premium
SP1, been through numerous alleged registry fixes, uninstalled
everything that has ever been installed that has to do with codec's or
multimedia, etc.etc.

My system has a Radeon 4870, Creative X-Fi soundcard with the latest
drivers, Vista Home Premium 32 bit, 4 gigs of ram. No other problems
other than this annoying system index isn't rated.

I've tried earlier restore points to no avail. I also tried installing
(and uninstalling/reinstalling) Windows Media Encoder 9 series with no
luck. Without saying, I've also uninstalled my video drivers and
re-installed them without help.

When I run the Windows Index Experience tool, it finishes with a dialog
that states: "Cannot complete assessment. The assessment or other
operation did not complete successfully..." etc.etc.

The WinSAT.log lists only the following error:
============================
6445571 (5480) - winsat\main.cpp:1161: > Running Assessment: media
'-input {winsatencode.wmv} -encode {winsat.prx}'
6445961 (5480) - winsat\main.cpp:1430: > Assessment FAILED due to an error

If I run winsat formal -v, the log for the above section lists:
============================C:\Windows\Performanc
e\WinSAT\winsatencode.wmv -encode
C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\\winsat.prx -v'
Initializing COM.
Creating temporary file for encoding output...
Temporary output file "C:\Users\owner\AppData\Local\Temp\wst51E8.tmp"
created.
Creating temporary file for ETW kernel trace...
Temporary trace file "C:\Users\owner\AppData\Local\Temp\wst51E9.tmp"
created.
Creating filter graph.
Loading encoder profile from "C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\\winsat.prx".
Creating encoder, saving to temporary file.
Disabling file sink.
Loading input file "C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\winsatencode.wmv".
FAIL: mediautils.cpp @ 592: 0x80040241 == VFW_E_CANNOT_LOAD_SOURCE_FILTER
(The source filter for this file could not be loaded.)
FAIL: mediatest.cpp @ 490: 0x80040241 == VFW_E_CANNOT_LOAD_SOURCE_FILTER
(The source filter for this file could not be loaded.)
Error: WinSAT failed to connect the input file to the WMV encoder.
Deleting temporary output file
"C:\Users\owner\AppData\Local\Temp\wst51E8.tmp".
...
Deleting temporary ETW trace
"C:\Users\owner\AppData\Local\Temp\wst51E9.tmp"...
C:\Windows\Perf
ormance\WinSAT\winsat.wmv -nopmp -v'
Creating temporary files for ETW tracing...
Temporary trace files created.
Initializing COM.
Initializing Media Foundation.
Creating playback window.
Resolving source.
Creating session for source.
Attaching event sinks.
Building topology.
Resizing window.
Starting kernel logger.
Starting EVR logger.
Starting playback.
Waiting for finish.
Finished!
Stopping EVR logger.
Stopping kernel logger.
Opening kernel trace log...
Opening EVR trace log...
Processing kernel trace log...
-------------------------------

I wish I had the source code from above. Anyone have any suggestions
aside from "reinstall" ?

So, no one has had WinSAT stop working for them?

Steveo wrote:

I also have Vista Home Prem 32 bit, and the assessment tool has also stopped working. Looking for workabout: my log;

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: BEX
Application Name: winsat.exe
Application Version: 6.0.6001.18000
Application Timestamp: 47918beb
Fault Module Name: StackHash_e52f
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
Exception Offset: ffeeff51
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Data: 00000008
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: e52f
Additional Information 2: e98dfca8bcf81bc1740adb135579ad53
Additional Information 3: 860f
Additional Information 4: 6eabdd9e0dc94904be3b39a1c0583635

Hi Stevo. Sorry I do not have an answer, just a similar question that
aparently nobdy wants to tackle. So I have been monitoring you. Even my
question fails to show. Perhaps we can help each other.
Here is my problem:
-----------------------
Good day gentlemen."Steveo" <someearthlink@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:E6WdnURAL6XMQF3VnZ2dnUVZ_jGdnZ2d@xxxxxx--
R. E. Creagh, MD FACS
Heartburn Centre Des Moines
HEARTBURN?? WHY??!!
Demand a Peace Conclave!

navigate to: C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore
delete all *.xml files...
Run elevated CMD and excute the following command.

--
Ramesh Kumar MVP

RAMESH KUMAR
Microsoft MVP: 'My MVP Profile'
(https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Ramesh.Kumar)
My Blog: 'It's My Windows' (http://itsmywindows.com)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ramesh Kumar MVP's Profile: http://winvistaclub.com/forum/member.php?userid=17
View this thread: http://winvistaclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20908

Hello Ramesh. I tried your fix but it doesnt work. I stil get the same "winsat stopped working" error. please someone help. thanks.

In an attempt to resolve the Winsat issue, I have bought 3 almost identical Samsung X50 laptops with the following specs:
1.73Ghz Pentium M, 2GB Ram, ATI Mobility Radeon X600 64Mb video ram.
2.00Ghz Pentium M, 2GB Ram, ATI Mobility Radeon X600 128Mb video ram.
2.13Ghz Pentium M, 2GB Ram, ATI Mobility Radeon X700 128Mb video ram.

All three run Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux just fine.
But, after a side-by-side fresh install of Vista, only the LOWEST spec machine runs Aero glass consistently. On the mid-range machine, Glass will OCASIONALLY work, but only if I repeatedly run Winsat until it passes, and then reboot. This works for one session only though, so if I reboot again, I have to repeat this process, which often takes hours. On the high spec machine, Winsat never completes, so I cant get an assessment score to run Aero Glass. Swapping screens, Ram and harddrives had no effect, so the issue is with the motherboard, or a bug in Winsat.

Is it possible to fake the Winsat scores, to enable Vista glass?
Simply copying the Winsat registry settings and xml files from the working machine did not work, since the hardware is slightly different.

Please help. I a desperately running out of ideas.

yes you can fake the scores. go to C:/windows/performance/winsat/datastore. click on the .xml file which is the newest (you can open with notepad but it will look sloppy, i used dreamweaver). Find the first line with "winspr" which should look like this

you can modify those lines but i don't know if you can enable aero with that (which is what i tried to do but failed)

Thanks for your reply.
I dont actually have this xml file, because winsat always fails, even during Vista installation. However, after more testing I have found some another solutions:

(1) It seems Vista doesnt like my ultra high resolution screens: WUXGA (1920x1200)
The laptops can all run Vista Glass if I downgrade to WXGA (1280x800). (Yuk!)
Simply setting a lower resolution doesnt work. I acutally had to replace the screen.
Im guessing that is why all the newest laptops come with crappy WXGA screens?

(2) I found a very old pre-release beta driver for Vista RC2 from the Softpedia website, which does work with my WUXGA screen, even without winsat scores. I'm guessing that that part of the driver code was not yet complete, so Vista cant tell it to turn off glass. These drivers run Glass, but dont seem to have OpenGL support yet, but its better than nothing.

However, I have found a solution to this problem too!
During my struggles with Vista drivers, I tried some radical ideas, like Ubuntu Linux.
As a Windows software developer, Linux scared the crap out of me, but, to my surprise, I found that Linux Wine can run ALL my favourite Windows software AND Games, even on my WUXGA screen! And the spinning 3D cube in the Compiz 3D Desktop looks/works so much better than Vista Glass!
Now I'll much rather switch to Linux, than downgrade my laptop for Vista.

yeah, ubuntu is pretty nice, although it does have its downsides. it really couldn't replace windows for me :/