after editing has finished, I attempt to export the Video to various formats. I try burning to DVD, exporting to AVI, MP4, etc. In all instances, the rendering starts and continues for a while but then all of a sudden my computer crashes and shuts down. When I restart my system, depending on the format I have selected, I either find some incomplete output result or corrupt output file. I have updated all my drivers and have tried this with both version 15 and 17. Any suggestions?
I would check to see if there are other applications running during this process. It could be that the software is facing some resource issues.
In some cases, I would recommend that after you finish your project, you save the project (as a project file) then use the MSCONFIG to disable all start-up programs, reboot the computer... it will go through the selective start-up notification, once this is complete, start the Movie Edit Pro software, load the project and burn.
Once the burn is complete, use the MSCONFIG to enable all that you disabled and reboot, this will put everything back to the way it was...
Why all that? Well this way all your resources are reset and there will not be any background applications running that take away from resources from just booting the computer. If it works that way, it also clues you in to knowing that something you have installed that automatically runs when the computer is powered up is causing some sort of conflict; more than likely another burning utility installed.
Another possibility is that your computer is over-heating during the export phase.
MEP and VPX are both extremely demanding of any computer's processor power whilst exporting to any format I have used. I regularly see the processor on my PC run at 100% (it's a Quad Core 2 @ 3GHz, so pretty fast) and the computer's own internal temperature rises by anything up to 15 degrees Celsius and the internal fan is clearly working very hard!
So, john-auvil's suggestion is a very good starting point, and will certainly help if the problem is over-heating. However, you should also ensure that the cooling fans on your internal power supply, your CPU and your computer case are all "clean" (free from excessive dust) and running properly.
This is the first time I hear a program needs all the computer resources to itself! Or it requires such a high end system to run. Last time I checked these hardware requirements were not listed when I purchased this software, and I have been purchasing multiple versions for a long time. I am trying real hard to keep supporting this company but it is really costing me a lot of frustration.
Thank you all for your troubleshooting tips.