PM Refuses To Run

[mklass]

All of a sudden, PM 4.4.3.3 refuse to run in Win XP Pro SR2. I've been using it for a few months now, but today PM refuses to start adn generates and error dialog that sends a zip file to you.  I've tired, uninstalling, reinstalling, starting in safe mode, reinstalling. No go. HELP!

Mick

[Kirk Baker]

Mick,

All of a sudden, PM 4.4.3.3 refuse to run in Win XP Pro SR2. I've been using it for a few months now, but today PM refuses to start adn generates and error dialog that sends a zip file to you.  I've tired, uninstalling, reinstalling, starting in safe mode, reinstalling. No go. HELP!

It is likely the Navigator.  Did you install any other software recently?  Perhaps something that adds functionality to the Windows Explorer?  They're called Shell Extensions and many of them are poorly written and cause the Navigator to crash on startup.

The Navigator can be disabled manually by using RegEdit to adjust a single registry key.  If you contact our support folks, they can step you through the procedure.  Call 503-531-8430 to talk to them.

Sorry for the inconvenience,

-Kirk

[mklass]

I did install Microsoft Photo Info, which may have been teh problem. However I uninstalled it and reinstalled PM, but still no go. I'll try tech support tomorrow.

[Eric]

Mick,

I've had Photo Info installed for 2 weeks (I think) without issue on a P4 3.6ghx 3GB and XP-Pro.

[JerryL]

Hi Kirk!

I have a similiar story to the original poster, but with a major difference:  I haven't installed any new software, outside of the typical Windows updates (and none of the recent camera codecs).

PM (most current version) just hangs at start time, with the splash screen showing and nothing further.  It's also very "tough" to kill via task mgr; takes a long time to respond.

Not sure if this is helpful, but PM's behaving this way on two separate WinXP SP2 machines that are not identically configured (i.e. are not mirrors of each other).

Just out of curiosity - is there any wonky cache stuff that may be going on?  Is there a way to explicitly clear the cache (if I can ever get PM to launch again)?

Thanks...
jerry

[JerryL]

Also - you mentioned a regedit change - would love to know what that is, if it'll help.  PM won't launch at all now...

Many thanks!
j

[Kirk Baker]

Jerry,

Also - you mentioned a regedit change - would love to know what that is, if it'll help.  PM won't launch at all now...

The registry key is:

My Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Camera Bits, Inc.\Photo Mechanic\FileSysNavigatorIsShown

Set its value to zero and the Navigator will not be shown or initialized at all.

Unless you are a RegEdit pro, I don't recommend messing with your registry without over the phone assistance.

-Kirk

[JerryL]

Thanks, Kirk - for the quick reply and the reg key.  (For myself, regedit's just fine).

Also further info -
1. Rebooted my machine, and then got PM to complete the launch (that's been the only working trick for a while now)
2. Moved the cache location to a new folder as a way to attempt force-flush the cache in case it was part of the problem.  Got an error dialog from PM that either the source or dest was not available; makes no sense since both source and dest folders exist w/o issue.
3. Relaunched PM, and checked prefs.  Clear cache upon exit was still checked (as it always has been).
4. Also, changed prefs so that PM no longer attempts to reopen the last folder visited, as a way to speed the launch up.
5. For the moment, PM is launching OK now...  If it starts to have launch problems after the machine's been running after reboot for a while, will let you know.

Thanks,
j