Bug Report -- VISTA

[gfv]

I have been running the 1.3.5 Beta for a long time and decided to upgrade to the 1.3.6 Beta this afternoon.

The program installed correctly but when I attempt to access the "Edit Preferences" tab [either directly or using "CTRL+P" the program crashes and gives me a Dialog Box that reads "Audacity, the Free, Cross-Platform Sound Editor has stopped working."

My OS is VISTA Home Premium with all updates installed.

Is this a known BUG?

Is there a work-around?

I will be uninstalling the 1.3.6 version and returning to 1.3.5 until the bug is found and fixed.

I look forward to the solution being implemented so I can try the new program Beta.

[steve]

Before installing Audacity 1.3.6, delete the audacity.cfg file.
This is a hidden file located in:
Documents and Settings<user name>Application DataAudacity

Let us know how you get on.

[raymer]

I have the same problem as the OP. So I was glad to read of this possible solution:

Before installing Audacity 1.3.6, delete the audacity.cfg file.
This is a hidden file located in:
Documents and Settings<user name>Application DataAudacity
Let us know how you get on.

Umm, I'd like to but there is no such path on Vista. At least on my install, which is Windows Vista Ultimate w/ SP1. Wait a minute...
I found this file at:
<DRIVE>:Users<user name>AppDataRoamingAudacity

After deleting this file I reran Audacity and observed that it prompted me for a language and showed the initial help screen, however when I clicked the preferences menu item it crashed. I also uninstalled audacity, then reinstalled. Still no joy. I want to set the path to ffmpeg because I heard that we can now import WMA media. Am anxious to use this but with 1.3.6 I can't even look at the preferences!
FWIW, I also tried running as Administrator and in compatibility mode (WinXP SP2). No change.

Help,
Ray

[steve]

The "hot-key" short-cut for "Preferences" is Ctrl+P
Does that also cause Audacity to crash?

[steve]

I've found some information that indicates that this problem (opening Audacity Preferences causes Audacity to crash on Windows Vista) may be due to the absence of an available recording source.

See the information on this page and make sure that a valid recording source is available in Vista before you open Audacity. http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... ng_sources

[raymer]

Steve,

I've found some information that indicates that this problem (opening Audacity Preferences causes Audacity to crash on Windows Vista) may be due to the absence of an available recording source.

See the information on this page and make sure that a valid recording source is available in Vista before you open Audacity. http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... ng_sources

Finally went back to the office after the holidays. Yes! Thanks for posting the link that helped me figure it out. Vista seems to report at the driver level that there is no recording device when there is no mic plugged in on my computer. There must be some bad error handling code in Audacity that causes the whole program to crash when the preferences are accessed in this case. I plugged in a mic and preferences showed up fine allowing me to install ffmpeg support.

I have to say it is sweet being able to import and export WMA with Audacity! Are the developers working on the preferences crash issue?

Thanks,
Ray

[steve]

There must be some bad error handling code in Audacity that causes the whole program to crash when the preferences are accessed in this case.

I think the problem only appeared last April when Vista SP1 came out. To my mind it's another case of Microsoft saying "jump" and the rest of the computer world being forced to ask "how high?" (just a personal opinion )

[Gale Andrews]

Ray

Although we have not done anything explicitly to address this, we haven't yet been able in development builds to reproduce this crash if there are no recording or playback devices present on Vista. Would you be able to try out this development build and see if you can reproduce the crash?

I see there is a suggestion here that SP1 has changed things, so I'll check our test machine actually has SP1.

Gale

[raymer]

Hi Gale,

Although we have not done anything explicitly to address this, we haven't yet been able in development builds to reproduce this crash if there are no recording or playback devices present on Vista. Would you be able to try out this development build and see if you can reproduce the crash?

I see there is a suggestion here that SP1 has changed things, so I'll check our test machine actually has SP1.

Gale

Well, Audacity 1.3.7-alpha_Jan 9 2009 (ANSI) doesn't crash on my system when I access the preferences regardless of whether I have the mic plugged in or not. However 1.3.6 does crash every time I access preferences with the mic unplugged. So someone must have changed something between builds that affects this behavior.

Hope this is helpful,
Ray

[Gale Andrews]

Thanks, Ray. Our test machine has Service Pack 1, so assuming you're on that too, that sounds hopeful. I think you can check that in the Windows Control Panel at System and Maintenance.


Gale