operating system incompatabilities??

[schnerp]

Hi all,

I have been working with PICtoEXE for a couple of weeks. I am experiencing a devastating problem.

I create the .exe file on my new Athlon based computer running Windows XP. It works perfectly on that computer. The .exe file is 10Mb (one version) or 20Mb (another version with higher-quality jpg's), with about 70 slides. The music synchronizes very well (when I select the synchronize function.)

The .exe show runs fine on other computers running Windows 2000. However, it crashes at the very start on computers running Windows ME. This is a huge problem because the people I am making this show for run Windows 98/ME! The WnSoft website indicates this should work.

Can anyone help on this? It has been VERY frustrating as I have put an awful lot of time into this show.

Thanks in advance.

- Rick

[anthrodoc]

Hi Rick,

I run PTE primarily on ME (an athlon processor based laptop)... and have few if any problems. I do find that if my individual images are on the large side (above 100k) it causes glitches; I have found it a good practice to keep my images as small as necessary for good quality screen display, and watch for any sound incompatibilities that could crop up.

I would be happy to try to run your project on my laptop if you thought it might help to get a test outside of the systems you use. Let me know if you would like to try this.

Meanwhile, I am sure that others on this board with much more technical knowledge than I will be even more helpful. It probably will help to provide more details as well.... like what kind(s) of sound files are you using, what size pictures, etc.

Good luck. I am relatively "green" with this stuff myself, and find folks on this board to be super when it comes to being helpful and patient!

Brian

[marian]

Have you tried builidng and compiling the show on the ME system?

There's something going on with the compiling and it may be native to the system OS. Is it possible to build and run it on ME?

[nobeefstu]

Rick,

Always give us as many details about your show build :

-Image : type, size and resolution, size mb

-Music: type, multiple and size mb

-Show built to Sync, Custom, or ?

When you say it crashes:

The .exe show runs fine on other computers running Windows 2000. However, it crashes at the very start on computers running Windows ME. This is a huge problem because the people I am making this show for run Windows 98/ME! The WnSoft website indicates this should work.

Explain to me what your CRASH is doing. Does the show instantly go to "blue screen" and give ERROR MESSAGE and you have to ESC out... or ... Does the show lock up on the first slide and you have to ESC out ... or ... any ERROR MESSAGES ?

One simple test to see if it a music issue within your SHOW ... build the same SHOW without music and see if the issue continues.

Sometimes the issue is beyond your control and even though WnSoft says it will play on those various OS types ... however ... those PCS must all be properly maintained with all driver updates (esp all MS DirectX and MEDIA files)

[Ken Cox]

also try copying the exe to the 98/ME machine's desktop and try running from there

ken

[schnerp]

Hi all,

Ok, I have some additional information per the homework I have been assigned (thanks for the responses!)

First, here are more details on my show:

* Images: all are .jpg images, all are 60-100k in size, the total .exe file is 10Mb (~70 images). [i have a larger version of the show with higher quality images in the 200-250k range (for this the .exe file is ~23Mb).] I am having the problem for both shows.

* The music: one .mp3 file, it is 5m 45s long, and the size is 5.5Mb.

* The show: was built using the "Customize Synchronization" option. There are several key transitions that I am synching to the music. (By the way, this option is really a joy. When the show does run, on the Win 2000 and XP machines, synchronization is NOT an issue.)

Now, the failure mode:

When I try to run the show, either from the CD OR from the desktop, I get the "loading" indicator, then immediately 3 or 4 ERROR pop-up windows (overlapping) that indicate the following: "Exception EAccess Violation in module TITLE.EXE at 000111B2. Access violation at address 00456DD4 in module 'TITLE.EXE'. Read of address 00C0230A" and then the "OK" box.

** Does this make sense to anyone?

I will continue to work on the following assignments and report back if I learn anything

- I will build the show without music.

- I will build a smaller test show (without music).

- I will try to compile the .exe show on the Win ME system (this will take a little more time).

- I have sent the file to yet another Win ME computer and I am waiting to hear if that works.

** I am also considering the comment on driver updates. I didn't appreciate the importance of this. The only thing I can think of is to go to the HP website to look for the driver updates for MS DirectX and media files. Does this sound right?

Are there any other ideas? Your help is really appreciated.

Thanks again,

Rick