Category Archives: Cord Cutting

Fix: Windows Media Center Can’t Update

If you’re still using Window Media Center to power your OTA cable cutting hotness: go you! We are a dwindling number :p

I recently had a problem where I kept being alerted that the guide data only had 3 days left. Allowing it to download the data did not seem to fix it.

(As a side note: it was also showing the wrong program icons for TV shows.)

The fix it turns out is very simple (so you can hold off buying that Tivo Roamio OTA for now):

Start->Run
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\eHome\mcepg2-0

Delete all of the files in that folder. There will likely be 3 files and folder:
Root.mem
Events.mem
Blocks.mem
backup

You will probably be told that you can’t delete one or more of the files because they are in use by some process.
Don’t cancel, leave that message up and continue following these instructions.

Press: Control-Alt-Delete
Choose Task Manager
Click the “Processes” tab
At the bottom, click the “Show processes from all users” button.
Click the column header that says “Image Name” to sort by name (and make your life easier).
Find the process that in the error message when you delete.
Click the process, then click the “End Process” button in the lower-right corner.

In the error message window that said you couldn’t delete, click “Try Again.”
Repeat this process until all of the files are deleted.

Launch Windows Media Center
Go to Guide
You should now see a full schedule of programs.

Restart your Windows Media Center computer to make sure all of the processes you ended are started back up correctly.