Trouble Opening WAV file for Editing

[steve]

Also note that although you say you have no 1.2.6 any more, its config file is still lurking in your system, waiting to pounce on you again if you ever delete the version 1.3.x audacity.cfg file! If you are comfortable editing the Windows registry (DANGER - can totally mess up your computer if you do it wrong!), have a look at this wiki page that details how to rid yourself of the 1.2.6 config file

If you look on the page that bill has given the link to you will see a "safe solution" for resetting the Audacity 1.2.x preferences. That is the method that you should use, but still make a backup copy of your registry first. If you run "regedit" (click the Windows "Start", then select "Run" and enter the "regedit.exe" (without quotes). Regedit has an option to Export a backup copy of the registry. A copy of the exported registry file may be of use to Bill (just the Audacity branch really, but it may be easiest to send the whole thing and let Bill dig out the relevant part). (As Bill says, do be careful with regedit - deleting the wrong part of the registry can trash the whole system).

Will I have to upload it to that site, or can I attach it?

This site is pretty good for uploading stuff http://www.sendspace.com/

[cetacean_dreams]

Bill -

You say that you think the old 1.2.6 file is buried in there somewhere? Tell me how to find it, and I will send it to you.

I have looked around quite a bit and don't see it.

Where does XP keep its old backup copies of the Registry?

thanks

[billw58]

Bill -
You say that you think the old 1.2.6 file is buried in there somewhere? Tell me how to find it, and I will send it to you.
I have looked around quite a bit and don't see it.
Where does XP keep its old backup copies of the Registry?

I'll have to leave this to Steve to answer. I'm a Mac guy, actually.

-- Bill

[steve]

You say that you think the old 1.2.6 file is buried in there somewhere? Tell me how to find it, and I will send it to you.

I have looked around quite a bit and don't see it.

Where does XP keep its old backup copies of the Registry?

Read ALL of this message before proceeding.

To make a full backup of the registry (this is for XP, but I guess Vista a similar - you probably need to logged in as an Administrator):
1) Start > Run > type regedit > Enter
2) In the registry editor (regedit) - File > Export > browse to where you want to save it and ender a name for the file > set the file type to ".txt" > Select "All" for the "Export Range" > Save

To export just the Audacity branch:
1) Start > Run > type regedit > Enter
2) Double click on "HKEY_CURRENT_USER", then on "Software" - you will now see the "Audacity" entry, so click once on "Audacity" to select it.
3) File > Export > browse to where you want to save it and ender a name for the file > set the file type to ".txt" > Select "Selected Branch" for the "Export Range" > Save

In both cases, if you do not set the file type to ".txt" Windows will add a ".reg" extension to the file name.
Do not double click on a ".reg" file - double clicking will add the contents of this file to your registry. Exporting as a .txt file will prevent you from accidentally doing that.

It is the "audacity branch" of the registry that is of interest to us.

To manually remove the Audacity 1.2.x references from the registry, the procedure is as above and you just delete the complete Audacity entry including all sub-items. The thing you have to be careful with is to not delete or change anything else. The reason we continually stress caution is not because it is difficult but because if you delete or change something that you shouldn't the consequences can be dire.

[cetacean_dreams]

Here is the Registry entry.

I can't tell whether the old stuff is still in there, it is hard for me to see a way to differentiate between 1.2.6 and 1.3.9

It would be nice to clean out everything that is obsolete. I have no problem resetting all my preferences from scratch each time I re-install, in fact I prefer it.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/tvyrjs

[billw58]

Here is the Registry entry.

OK, this tells us that your default project format was 44100 Hz 24-bit.

I have confirmed with 1.3.10-alpha-Nov 1 2009 that importing a 16-bit WAV or AIF file into a project where the default sample rate is 44100 and default sample format is 24 bits will cause this problem. MP3s import fine. I will report this to the -devel list.

Apparently no-one has ever seen this before, probably because 24-bit is not a popular choice for a default project format. Most people choose either 16-bit to match their sound card, or 32-bit for maximum quality.

-- Bill

[billw58]

Create a new project. Set Quality Prefs to 44100 16 bit (not strictly necessary, but demonstrates that problem is not with export). Generate 10 seconds tone, amplitude 1.0. Export to WAV. Delete track. Set Quality Prefs to 44100 24 bit. Import the 10 second tone file. You get this:

window008.png (28.08 KiB) Viewed 1121 times

[kozikowski]

I always wondered about this, What happens after you destroy your registry and Windows will no longer start? You're holding a perfect, correct, clear backup of the registry on a CD in your hand.

Now what?

I make images of the whole Mac System Drive and I've been known to need to restore them after an unfortunate laptop accident, but Windows will not allow such shenanigans.

Time Machine is supposed to be able to completely restore a damaged machine...we'll see. I don't know of any Windows tools that will do that. System level tools in Windows have always been exquisitely painful.

Koz

[steve]

Code: Select all

Key Name:          HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAudacityAudacitySamplingRate
Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time:   11/19/2008 - 4:16 PM
Value 0
  Name:            DefaultProjectSampleRate
  Type:            REG_DWORD
  Data:            0xac44

Value 1
  Name:            DefaultProjectSampleFormat
  Type:            REG_DWORD
  Data:            0x40001

Ah - you beat me to it Bill.

Confirmed on Windows XP SP3 with Audacity 1.3.9
No problem on Linux though.

[steve]

What happens after you destroy your registry and Windows will no longer start? You're holding a perfect, correct, clear backup of the registry on a CD in your hand.

Now what?

If the machine is bootable you would use System Restore.
On WinXP, booting into Safe Mode gives the option of launching System Restore.

For WinXP and earlier, if the machine is totally not bootable then it would generally mean reinstalling the OS. You would need to do some pretty major damage to make the computer totally unbootable.

On Vista and later, even if the machine is not bootable you can still use WinRE.

WinRE can be started from a Recovery disk made by the user (usually at the time of installation) that may be on CD, a hard drive, or other media. Most PCs that come with Vista pre-installed will have a hidden partition on the hard drive that includes the Windows Recovery Environment. Booting to the Recovery Environment is activated by a key press combination during bootup.