since upgrading v4.9 to v5.1 will not work

[AmandaMoo]

I've recently upgraded PTE v4.9 to v5.1. Ever since then I've not been able to play a show successfully without half way through it just closes automatically.

I've tried on both my laptop which runs on WinXP and my pc which runs on Vista. PTE v4.9 never ran smoothly on my pc anyway as whenever I'd hit escape it would crash rather than just closing. This no longer happens with v5.1 on Vista on my pc. Unfortunately it stops in the same place and closes on both my laptop and pc.

I uninstalled PTE altogether on the pc and then tried playing the same show which was successful this time but now after making a couple of changes it now comes up with a Windows error message instead.

Please can anyone suggest what could be causing the problem?

Cheers, Amanda

[Ken Cox]

first thing to try is play it without music

ken

[fh1805]

Hi Amanda,

PTE V4.49 and PTE V5.1 happily co-exist on a PC. Unlike some other software products, PTE does not uninstall the previous version as part of the install of a newer version. So, is it possible you are getting confused as to which version of PTE you are working with?

When working on your PTE project, take careful note of the PTE version as displayed in the Title bar of the PTE window. Bear in mind that PTE project files (the ones with the *.pte form of name) are not backwardly compatible (i.e. project files produced using PTE v5.1 cannot be processed by PTE v4.49); whereas PTE v4.49 project files can be opened in PTE v5.1 (but if then saved using PTE v5.5 will no longer be compatible with PTE v4.49)

[AmandaMoo]

first thing to try is play it without music

ken

Hi Ken

I've tried playing the shows again after removing the music files and they worked fine, playing all the way through. I then added the tracks back and the same problem occurs, they just stop, close and go back to my desktop.

Thank you very much for the PDF document, that's very useful. I am struggling to see if there is an answer or solution for this problem though in there, I don't seem to be able to find one. Was there a specific page you had in mind?

Thanks

Amanda

[AmandaMoo]

Hi Amanda,

PTE V4.49 and PTE V5.1 happily co-exist on a PC. Unlike some other software products, PTE does not uninstall the previous version as part of the install of a newer version. So, is it possible you are getting confused as to which version of PTE you are working with?

When working on your PTE project, take careful note of the PTE version as displayed in the Title bar of the PTE window. Bear in mind that PTE project files (the ones with the *.pte form of name) are not backwardly compatible (i.e. project files produced using PTE v5.1 cannot be processed by PTE v4.49); whereas PTE v4.49 project files can be opened in PTE v5.1 (but if then saved using PTE v5.5 will no longer be compatible with PTE v4.49)

Hi Peter

I thought the reason I was having this issue was maybe due to the fact I still had the older version PTE v4.49 (sorry, not v4.9) installed so deleted it earlier this week. The shows I'm trying to play back I definately made with v5.1. I didn't realise it doesn't effect the software having older versions installed, so I may as well reinstall v4.49 then do you think?

Amanda

[AmandaMoo]

Hi Peter

I thought the reason I was having this issue was maybe due to the fact I still had the older version PTE v4.49 (sorry, not v4.9) installed so deleted it earlier this week. The shows I'm trying to play back I definately made with v5.1. I didn't realise it doesn't effect the software having older versions installed, so I may as well reinstall v4.49 then do you think?

Amanda

Hey Peter

I've just reinstalled v4.49 on my pc, tried reopening one of the shows and a window appears warning that it will not be supported so it was definately saved using v5.1.

Ho-hum, this is so frustrating, I've been faffing about with it for a few days, intermittently.

[fh1805]

Amanda,

If you feel you would make use of both versions of PTE then it will not do any harm to install v4.49 again. However, I would advise holding off doing that until we've cracked your current problem.

Now, you discovered that, if you remove the music tracks the problem goes away and if you add them back in, it comes back! So the problem is clearly associated with the music files in some way.

Let's proceed from there. By the way, you mentioned that you had two PCs, a laptop and a desktop, and that one ran XP and the other ran Vista. Can I suggest that we focus on solving the problem on the XP system first. Vista brings it own little set of problems that we can well do without whilst we're diagnosing your problem.

So, please confirm, using the XP system, that removing the music files eliminates the problem, and that adding them back in brings the problem back.

I'll assume that this is the case and move to the next step in the diagnosis. You've mentioned music files (plural). So, what happens if you remove them all again and then add them one at a time (i.e you add just one piece back in and preview the sequence; then you add the next one and preview; and so on). Stop adding at the point where you witness the problem.

Next, remove them all again and then add just the piece that seemed to be the one to cause the problem. Does this piece on its own, cause the problem?

I'll await your answers.

[fh1805]

Amanda,

For the moment, please uninstall v4.49 again. Let's keep the number of variables down to a manageable level.

[Ken Cox]

Amanda

with the music back in

make sure it is un synchonized

report back

ken

[AmandaMoo]

Ken & Peter

I've managed to source what was causing the problem thanks to all your help. It was an mp3 that was the black sheep, which I've now removed and deleted never to be used again.

I did just use my laptop with runs on XP & I haven't reinstalled PTE v4.49 yet. I did what you suggested Peter and eliminated one at a time until finding the pesky culprit.

Ken, I haven't synchronized music to the shows since discovering that music without a decent beat would sometimes skip back a little but thanks for pointing that out.

I just wanted to say how grateful I am to both of you for helping me resolve this problem, I've been trying to work it out for a few days now. You both must be very busy and looking through the forum obviously put a lot of your time into helping people on here, so thank you very much!

Amanda 80)

[fh1805]

Amanda,

Now that you've resolved the problem on the XP-laptop, the next steps should be:

- confirm that the same sequence works OK on the desktop-Vista machine

- if you feel you need to (and this is entirely optional now that you've got v5.1 working) re-install v4.49 alongside v5.1

The only reason I retain v4.49 is because I prefer it for building "menu" sequences from which to launch other sequences. Having said that, I have recently built a couple of menus using v5.1 that I am happy with. So, my use of v4.49 is probably over now.

[Ronniebootwest]

Please remember that PTE seems to work much better with an standard mp3 file, i.e. NOT mp3 pro.

I also recommend that, when using more that one music track, you join them all together to create just one single track (in your music editor such as Audacity or Audition).

Ron