Error code 21 in media center vista

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Posted by Denis on September 8, 2007, 6:42 pm

Hi everybody,

As many people, I get the error code 21 while updating the EPG (TV guide) in
windows media center for vista. Having browsed the web during one month to
solve this problem, I realize now that it can be very difficult to fix. The
error can appear suddenly after the EPG has been working perfectly for
months. The error already occured with windows XP media center operating
system, and could often be solved simply by deleting the EPG folder (in the
ehome hidden folder), and reinstalling the guide in the media center (MCE)
program. Good overviews about MCE errors and corresponding fixes can be found
at http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/articles/490466.aspx and
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/articles/487537.aspx, although error 21 has no
real fix there.
In windows vista, many people seem to be unable to fix the problem with the
method mentionned above. Moreover, Microsoft does not seem to dare helping
people with this error: they quote it in the general Vista Help and simply
recommend to call the PC manufacturer for assistance. I have even found two
consumers complaining they had paid the official Microsoft support to have
this error 21 fixed, unsuccesfuly. Peolpe having this problem often pretend
the error message is delivered after a partial download (between 3% and 25%)
of the guide. Actually, the progress bar or progress message is not
redisplayed sufficiently fast and it is possible that the error occurs when
decrypting the data, only after their complete download. The real diagnosis
of error 21 is not the message displayed to the user, but the content of a
log file with an XML extension located in the
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\EPG\tracehelper folder.
I think it is worth including systematically in our posts the few lines in
this file that describe the last error(s). These lines are located at or
near the beginning of the file (last input is added at the beginning of the
file), with precise time indication. Don't forget to update the guide and
generate the error 21 immediately before opening this log file.
Below is a copy my log file. You can see that 100% of the guide seem to be
downloaded and that a "Couldn't decompress and secure files" error with
eventID 26 occurs before the error 21 is displayed.
Does anybody have an idea about why a decompressing error could occur ?

************************************************************

- <trace>

<event level="Error" source="Media Center Guide" time="2007:09:08

08:59:54:307934" eventid="26" category="0">Erreur d’exécution de la
décompression des données. Couldn't decompress and secure files</event>

<event level="Info" source="Media Center Guide" time="2007:09:08

08:59:54:307934" eventid="0" category="0">State now changed to:
STATE_ERROR</event>

<event level="Info" source="Media Center Guide" time="2007:09:08

08:59:54:205893" eventid="0" category="0">@ Ehepgdat Decompressing and
securing files</event>

<event level="Info" source="Media Center Guide" time="2007:09:08

08:59:54:202892" eventid="0" category="0">@ Ehepgdat: Bits Run
Successful</event>

<event level="Info" source="Media Center Guide" time="2007:09:08

08:59:54:202892" eventid="0" category="0">xn: bits: successful run.</event>

<event level="Info" source="Media Center Guide" time="2007:09:08

08:59:54:178882" eventid="0" category="0">The job EPG Download is in state
Transferred and is 100% complete.</event>

<event level="Info" source="Media Center Guide" time="2007:09:08

08:59:53:947790" eventid="0" category="0">The job EPG Download is in state
Transferring and is 100% complete.</event>

<event level="Info" source="Media Center Guide" time="2007:09:08

08:59:52:782324" eventid="0" category="0">The job EPG Download is in state
Transferring and is 63% complete.</event>

--
Denis

Posted by chelseamick on September 14, 2007, 9:02 am

I'm getting the same problems but not tecky enough to fully understand all
your discussion, however I've copied the report as you suggested
unfortunately you've got the full works, sorry. I've had the problem for
the last 2 months and nobody seems able to help

- <trace>

<event level="Error" source="Media Center Guide" time="2007:09:13

08:19:05:764701" eventid="26" category="0">Data decompression processing
error. Couldn't decompress and secure files</event>