Failure to start after previous success

[tapejunkie]

I successfully downloaded 1.3.5 and recorded a tape. The following day I was unable to run 1.3.5 on my XP laptop at all. It just would not open. Yet MS Task Manager shows it as running. I clear it from Task Manager but it still will not run. So, I did an uninstall and reinstalled. Still it will not open and operate. I have removed all the folders and files I can find in Program Manager associated with Audacity along with the uninstall. I suspect that there may be fragments in the registry that are preventing a clean installation now. I don't know if something got corrupted when I started up on the second day. Is there anything I can do to clear the decks so I can start over again ? Have you heard of this problem before ?

[Gale Andrews]

Unless you used a 1.2.x version of Audacity before, there will be no traces of Audacity in the registry as Audacity 1.3.5 does not use it.

The most likely reasons for the problem are 1) you added an incompatible plug-in to the Audacity plug-ins folder, so it will not start until it is removed. 2) your default Windows sound device is set to some device (such as a special recording driver) that Audacity cannot work with, or a problem has arisen with the device that was working before. Uninstall Audacity, delete the entire folder where you had Audacity stored then follow these instructions to remove or edit audacity.cfg. Take care to follow the instructions to edit audacity.cfg if you have used 1.2.x before. Then ensure your default audio device in the Windows Control Panel is your inbuilt sound device and try installing Audacity again.


Gale

[Gale Andrews]

Thanks for your reply. I will attempt to follow your instructions. If this does not work would you recommend using the earlier download, 1.2.6 ? - Tapejunkie

It's unlikely to make any difference because the reasons that would prevent 1.3.5 from launching would also prevent 1.2.6 from launching, also there are not any known launching problems unique to 1.3.5.

Gale

[Gale Andrews]

Thanks for the reply. I followed your instructions and it worked! I'm not enough of a computer engineer to know why but it seems that the config file got in the way of the launch. Is that a common problem ? I also note that the recoded file has to be exported to save as a wave file. Otherwise it saves as a data file which I have no way of opening. - tapejunkie

The cfg file can occasionally become corrupted like any computer file for example if there is a power outage or system problem. Without knowing what sound devices are on your system, or whether you made some change in preferences last time you ran Audacity that created a problem, it's impossible to say.

Gale