Project will not render with 'I-Frame only MPEG'

Question

Hey Adobe, I am posting this at your request.    
I previously used to have an old Intel Core2 chip system.
I upgraded this so that my video editing life would be faster.  I have a new motherboard, with a new intel I7-4770 @ 3.5Ghz chip. same memory (16Gb-1600), graphics card, hard disk, DVD drive, etc..
On the Core2 system, video projects which I worked on all worked fine. I mainly use a Sony Z5 to shoot video which creates .M2T files.
On my old system, running Premiere CC it ALL WORKED - no problems, but on the new build, it crashes EVERYTIME i try to render, with 'Error Compiling Movie - Unknown Error'
Having spent FOUR hours on the phone to your tech supports in India, they came up with a workaround. I stress - it's a workaround, not a solution.
They found that if i changed the sequence to be 'Custom' and then selected 'Microsoft AVI' (and any Codec, doesn't matter which) as the Preview File Format  instead of 'i-Frame Only MPEG' then yes - it renders.
The tech told me that this was because 'M2T' files were fussy, and needed to be treated like this.
WRONG!
if this *needed* to be the case, then why did it work previously on my old system without any problem?
Also, if I take a project that crashes on my desktop PC, and copy it over onto my laptop, de-activate Premiere on my desktop and activate on my laptop and run in on there .. IT RENDERS FINE, using the 'I-Frame Only MPEG' setting.
Also, i shot some video with a Nikon D5100 which produces full HD .MOV clips, *AND THE SAME PROBLEM STILL OCCURS* when rendering on my desktop PC, and only renders when i switch the Preview File Format to be 'Microsoft AVI - so it's not related to the .M2T video file type.    
So I can render stuff, but ultimately it's a workaround and not a solution, as when I am finished with a project, and want to archive it off I do so by exporting and choosing 'Match Sequence Settings', with with Microsoft AVI selected, it wants to therefore obviously export it as an AVI, which i do not want - I want to export it as 25mbps MPEG which is the original quality/format that it was shot at.  When i try and do this with 'i-Frame Only MPEG' selected as the sequence type - you've guessed it, Media Encoder crashes
So.  Why does i-Frame Only MPEG work on one machine (my laptop), but on my main machine (desktop) which i want to use, it doesn't? What piece of software/codec/file am I missing?
- i have installed from clean build of Windows
- i have deactivated and reactived Premiere CC
- i have uninstalled Premiere CC and reinstalled it
- i have uninstalled all Cloud CC programs and reinstalled them
- I have run CC cleaner too
- I have the latest video drivers for my graphics card (it is the same graphics card that worked just fine on my old system anyway, so is not the issue)
- I have full Windows/Admin permissions. it is not a permissions problem
please don't suggest any of those options.  None of them work.  I need someone who understands your software and knows what i-Frame only MPEG is to be able to tell me why it isn't working on my system.  I am now past the point of anger (because i have lost several days worth of worktime - and thus money) and being upset (because it's massively frustrating when somthing that previously worked now doesn't), and am now just at the point of being bewildered that no one there can seem to tell me what is going on here, and how to solve it.
Many thanks,
Geoff.

Answer 1

I have to put in my 2 cents...and first of all I'm sorry things are happening that are not FANTASTIC results... etc... but there may be ways to make things better... but this stuff is complicated and extremely computer intensive ( math stuff with cpu and ram and stuff ) .. so the platform is very critical to best results.. not just the software.
There's books on compression and how that stuff works ( lossless or not ) and it's all about changes from frame to frame and how to best make file size smaller while keeping every single pixel perfect in each frame... and this is unfortunately not standardized on planet earth. Different companies make up what they can to sell cameras and recording medium and so on..  there are some standards ( for broadcast and movies etc ) cause at some point some groups have to deal with delivery to PEOPLE to watch stuff.. and have decent quality to watch...
In general this is very complicated and full of problems cause there is no single work flow , and probably never will be .
What Jeff is talking about ( I think ) is that during the process of a computer program interpreting images ( frame by frame ) those pixels that have not changed a lot are described in a line of code by the software that says, " This stuff has not changed much if at all ".  Some stuff from one frame to the next one DID change a lot ( someone walking or someone running.. the running changes more fast ) .. and so lines of code say ,  " this stuff changed a LOT "....
During the process of the software to determine what changed and how MUCH changed.. is complicated.. cause the program basically looks at frame A and then Frame F and notes the changes of pixels... and THEN ( as if that wasn't complicated enough ) the program then goes BACK  to frame A and then ahead to frame J ... so now it has expanded it's look at what changes have occurred...
Now the ' CODEC " ( the specific codec used by the program you are running , like CC or avid or FCP ) is going to make it's best GUESS as to what really changed that matters the MOST to the image...so you basically get a nice image from A to J ..... but it is now compressed and taking up less room on your hard drive and ram etc....cause it is interpreting the image changes... and so on...
So if you had every single frame without any guess work and no compression to save space cause those pixels did not change between A and J .... you would have HUGE FILES .... and no benefit in terms of being able to edit anything on a little home desktop computer... even if you have a really powerful one.. it is not going to be good enough to do that stuff....
It would be unfair to say that adobe isn't doing the best they can to accomodate all the camera manufacturers " codecs " and give the best results they can , with a million different computer platforms and hardware out there you can buy off the shelf ....
The I frames and B frames and other frames have to do with the " guessing game " of changes in pixels, changes with every " action " in those ranges of frames, and is very complicated... but there are books about it and what standards exist can be researched and studied if you're into that stuff....
I am an idiot about this stuff but the main thing is dont give up.. and just try to be patient when things dont work out like you thought they would, and figure out what is going on so you can make things work the way you want...
and good luck !