Audacity Project Recovered but FLAT LINED???

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hi can anyone please help me. My Audacity crashed and when I started it back up it asks if I want to recover it. The files come up and all look recovered except they are all “FLAT LINED”. This is not recorded audio just a few audio tracks I mixed together and edited with effects.I also downloaded and installed the latest version of Audacity thinking that would help but it didnt.

I have included the log file below. Can someone please help me

System Info:
Windows 7 (64bit)
Audacity V. 2.1.1 (Newest)

Log…

5:36:23 AM: Audacity 2.1.1
5:36:23 AM: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries…
5:36:23 AM: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from default path, ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Ffmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll’.
5:36:23 AM: Looking up PATH environment variable…
5:36:23 AM: PATH = 'C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;c:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\iCLS Client;c:\Program Files\Intel\iCLS Client;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem;C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone'
5:36:23 AM: Checking that ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Ffmpeg For Audacity’ is in PATH…
5:36:23 AM: Warning: FFmpeg directory ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Ffmpeg For Audacity’ is not in PATH.
5:36:23 AM: Temporarily prepending ‘;C:\Program Files (x86)\Ffmpeg For Audacity’ to PATH…
5:36:23 AM: Checking for monolithic avformat from ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Ffmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll’.
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Ffmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
5:36:23 AM: Loading avutil from ‘’.
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
5:36:23 AM: Loading avcodec from ‘’.
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
5:36:23 AM: Loading avformat from ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Ffmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll’.
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Ffmpeg For Audacity\avformat-55.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
5:36:23 AM: Returning PATH to previous setting…
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
5:36:23 AM: Trying to load FFmpeg libraries from system paths. File name is ‘avformat-55.dll’.
5:36:23 AM: Looking up PATH environment variable…
5:36:23 AM: PATH = 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Ffmpeg For Audacity;C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;c:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\iCLS Client;c:\Program Files\Intel\iCLS Client;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL;C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem'
5:36:23 AM: Checking that ‘’ is in PATH…
5:36:23 AM: FFmpeg directory is in PATH.
5:36:23 AM: Checking for monolithic avformat from ‘avformat-55.dll’.
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-55.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
5:36:23 AM: Loading avutil from ‘’.
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
5:36:23 AM: Loading avcodec from ‘’.
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
5:36:23 AM: Loading avformat from ‘avformat-55.dll’.
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-55.dll’ (error 126: the specified module could not be found.)
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to load FFmpeg libraries.
5:36:23 AM: Error: Failed to find compatible FFmpeg libraries.

2

First of all, do you recall what you were doing when Audacity crashed, in case we can reproduce and fix that crash?

What Audacity version was it that crashed? Did you see the Debug Report “Audacity” window and if so can you attach the zip file for us to see?

There is nothing of relevance in the log. We’ve got to ask some questions before we know if anything can be done.

If the audio was flat lined, how did you know what it is? Did you know because of the length/order of the flat lined tracks? Could that audio be amplified to see what it is?

When the older version crashed, had you already saved a project (AUP file and _data folder)? If so, you can at least open that project AUP file again. It should open as you last saved it, and you would just lose the unsaved changes.

Otherwise, what did you do after you saw that the unsaved changes recovered incorrectly in that earlier version of Audacity? If a recovery is incorrect it is always best to force quit Audacity in Windows Task Manager. Don’t exit Audacity normally and answer the “Save Changes?” question, because if you answer yes you will save the wrong (flat lined) changes, and if you answer no, the unsaved changes are discarded.

If you force quit in the older version, then when you launched 2.1.1, did it offer to recover unsaved changes? The log for that might be useful.


Gale