2.0.4 Problem

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

So glad that Audacity sent the e-mail about possible usage problems with the new 2.0.4. I was one of those users and had that exact problem.

Loading the 2.0.5 beta has eliminated that problem for me when using audacity. I had tried three or four times to load the 2.0.4 version and each time got the “blue screen message” requring me to use recovery to revert to an earlier state. BUT, an additional problem is that right after having had the blue screen problem, I also tried to load the most recent set of Microsoft updates (I think there are about 24 - 27 of them) but, once they were loaded, my computer could not restart normally–it, too, gave me the blue screen message and then also said it had to reload the startup procedure (also warning that it might have to attempt several restarts) in order to start normally.

Was all this due to the 2.0.3 “problem”? Now that I have loaded the 2.0.5 beta, is it probably all right to trying loading the latest microsoft updates again? Any opinions?

Oh yes, my operating system is Windows 7 Ult 64-bit.

  • Dean A
2

Sorry about the problem.

What recovery did you use, what did the message say that said you had to go back to the last state, and when did you see that message?

Did you choose the last known good version of Windows in the boot screen? Or did you do a manual System Restore back to some previous point?

Windows Update can usually cope if you have done a system restore that was reported as successful.

If you are currently able to reboot the computer and 2.0.5-alpha with WDM-KS disabled starts OK, then yes you could try Windows Update again. If Windows Update is temperamental it can sometimes help to perform only selected updates at a time, reboot, then perform the other updates.


Gale

3

Gal;e -

Thanks for the quick reply!

I’m a “casual user” of the computer–using it daily but not really into knowing how the operating system works, etc. I’ll try to remember what happened in answer to tour questions.

What recovery did you use, what did the message say that said you had to go back to the last state, and when did you see that message?

Did you choose the last known good version of Windows in the boot screen? Or did you do a manual System Restore back to some previous point?

Windows Update can usually cope if you have done a system restore that was reported as successful.

If you are currently able to reboot the computer and 2.0.5-alpha with WDM-KS disabled starts OK, then yes you could try Windows Update again. If Windows Update is temperamental it can sometimes help to perform only selected updates at a time, reboot, then perform the other updates.

The first time I tried downloading the Audacity 2.0.4 updates, atr the end of the download I tried launching Audacity and got the “blue screen.” I managed to delete that download using the “manage programs” function from the control panel.

I tried the download a second time, but told the computer to launch Audacity after downloading it and again got the blue screen. I think this time I went straight to the “Recovery” function in Control Panel. At the end of the recovery process, the computer flashed that the recovery was successful.

Then I tried downloading the 23 Wicrosoft updates (a few anti-virus as well as quite a few Office 2010 upadates). At the end of the download the computer went into an automatic restart. This time, however, my homescreen was “messed up”–the task bar at the bottom of the screen was in a different color from what I normally have, and a pop-up appeared in the middle of the screen, but it was only a flat rectangle and had no text on it, only what appeared to be a button to be pushed, but that was not labelled either!

Another time for recovery! After all this, I tried once again to download the 2.0.4. This time I also did a recovery. But, during my restart this time, I got a blue screen saying that the computer needed to correct (my word) the start-up procedure, and that, in trying to correct the procedure, it might have to make several passes to correct the start-up, including several restarts along the way! That “correcting the start-up” recovery also said it was successful.

At this point I’m feeling very lucky that I managed to get the computer working again–and I’m also VERY gun shy about trying any Microsoft downloads again! I dread a time when the recovery might not work and I have too much important work stored on this computer!

Thus my reluctance to try the downloads, even though MS says they are critical! Even if only one of those updates is the culprit, I still dread having to do a recovery after that download.

Do you know how I can find if any partiucular downlaods are causing problems for the users?

Again, thank you for taking an interest in these problems!

  • Dean A
4

Was this system restore where you choose a restore point to go back to, or did you recover from a system image provided by the computer manufacturer, or something else?

OK. It doesn’t have to do that though - you can force Windows to wait until you permit it to restart.

This may or may not be a problem with your video drivers. Some Windows updates did mess up video drivers (see below).

It is possible that Audacity 2.0.4 is also conflicting with your video drivers which caused those crashes - or the Audacity problem may be purely to do with your audio devices.

You can try WhoCrashed as a fairly easy way to find out what exactly may have caused the different blue screen crashes at different times.

OK this sounds like Windows repairing its file system.

Create a system restore point now that the computer is booting correctly then you can always go back to that.

You should generally speaking apply Windows critical updates, however you can always check the Windows Update history and remove selected updates if you want to.

You can probably find some information here about the botched September updates: http://pcsupport.about.com/b/2013/09/10/patch-tuesday.htm .

Generally Microsoft will reissue botched updates and Windows will know whether to patch the bad update or apply the good patch if you removed the update. It gets sorted out eventually.


Gale