Audacity Never Starts - Stuck at Splash Screen

I’ve searched the web and these forums and can’t seem to get Audacity 2.1.2 to start.

Initially, when I attempted to start Audacity, both the audacity and pluginsettings config files were blank (completely empty). One of the ‘fixes’ I read was to restart Windows in safe mode, in safe mode start Audacity (that worked), then restart the computer and Audacity should work. Well - it does. One time. Them it’s back to hanging when I attempt to run it when Windows boots normally.

I can get Audacity to run again if I restart Windows in safe mode, start Audacity in safe mode, then restart in normal boot. But again - that only solves it ONCE. To use Audacity, I always have to do the Safe Mode shuffle all over again.

I’m on fully patched Windows 7 x64. No viruses, malware or other garbage. And I’ve read every post in these forums on this issue - and none permanently solve the problem. I’ve even uninstalled and reinstalled Audacity numerous times and reset preferences each time. I’m technically savvy and can dig as deep as needed.

CAN ANYONE help?

https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/2-1-1-wont-start-win-7/40990/4
https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/2-1-1-wont-start-win-7/40990/3
https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/audacity-not-responding/40074/4
https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/audacity-stuck-on-loading-screen/39114/3

That said, I now have data in the config files in case these are helpful. I’ve attached .TXT versions
pluginsettings-config.txt (1.86 KB)
audacity-config.txt (3.62 KB)

I’m technically savvy

That opens the possibilities. How might your Win7 differ from a plain Windows 7 a non-savvy user might have? Do you have network connected drives? Are you trying to run Audacity from one?

Do you have live, network-connected storage?

It’s possible in some systems to have stiff Virus Protection not allow you to run. Does it change if you disconnect the network, shut down the virus software and try again? Not necessarily get better, but just be different.

How many different intentional users might your system have?

Do you routinely edit your Registry?

Koz

Thanks for the reply, Koz.

If it helps, my Win7 x64 Professional isn’t highly customized at all. I like plain vanilla Windows 7 and work hard to keep background processes and other resource stealing items at bay. That said, I have Acronis monitor (for backups) and EVGA Precision to spin up the fans on my graphics cards when gaming. Little else.

Other than that, I have a NAS, but no network-attached drives. And everything I do is local to the PC (not via a network or network-attached drive). My virus protection is weak (Microsoft Security Essentials only) - and disabling (and even removing it) made no difference. My machine has no users but me (not even login IDs for anyone else but Administrator and Guest - which are always disabled. I don’t edit my registry - and don’t trust tools that whack my registry for me (like CCCleaner).

Anything I can do to troubleshoot? Debug mode - log files?

The log system is part of the Help Menu. Anything in here?

http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/help_menu.html

Item #6 Show Log.

Also:

https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/audacity-crashes-on-startup-solved/23632/1
That’s for Macs, but it turns out there are add-on effects packages Audacity doesn’t much like. Are you bringing effects forward from another Audacity version?


Here’s another piece. Audacity crashing.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_installation_and_plug_ins.html#How_can_I_solve_Audacity_not_appearing_or_crashing_on_launch.2C_or_crashing_after_I_add_a_plug-in.3F

Koz

Just for others reading this, turn off your internet connection before doing that.

Gale

Clearly it is an audio device/system service issue if Safe Mode fixes it once.

Has Audacity always been like this since you’ve used it? If the problem only just started, try System Restore back to an earlier Restore Point.

You could try without SoundBlaster connected.

And you could try selectively enabling/disabling services in msconfig (or perhaps more conveniently, services.msc).


Gale