Superlab 4.5 hangs on splash loading screen

Hi there,

I’m trying to install Superlab 4.5 in Windows 7 64bit and when starting it hangs at the “Generic Presenter…loaded” stage. I have to force quit the application.

Anyone have any ideas why this might be?

cheers,
Craig

I am not sure what the problem could be, but I can ask you some questions and mention a few facts that will hopefully lead us down a productive troubleshooting session.

There is one known issue on 64-bit Windows.

The known issue happens when you try to launch SuperLab by double-clicking a saved experiment file. This sometimes causes SuperLab to immediately crash just as it begins launching.

Therefore, the first thing that you should try (if you are not already doing this) is to launch SuperLab.exe directly by locating the SuperLab.exe program file in the folder where you installed it, and double-clicking SuperLab.exe.

The next thing I will ask is “was an older version of SuperLab ever running on this computer?”

If this computer previously ran an older version of SuperLab, then it is very important to make sure that SuperLab 4.5 was installed to a different folder.

For example, if SuperLab 407b is in “C:\Program Files\SuperLab” then make sure that the new installer installs to something like “C:\Program Files\SuperLab New Pro 4.5”. If this did not happen correctly when you installed SL 4.5, then please reinstall and choose a brand-new, different folder this time.

The installer should do that by default, but always double-check to be sure.

Something else to try would be to find the SuperLab.exe (the one that I recommended double-clicking earlier), right-click the file, and choose “Run as administrator”. Let me know if that results in any improvement.

Another thing you can try is temporarily renaming plugins.

If you look inside the folder where SuperLab 4.5 was installed, you should see a sub-folder named ‘plug-ins’.

This would be in a location like:

C:\Program Files\SuperLab 4.5\plug-ins\

This is where all of the plugin libraries are stored. It is the plugin names (such as the “Generic Presenter” name that you mentioned) that are shown on the splashscreen.

In that folder, you should see files such as:

ap-libsndfile.dll
ap-PortAudio.dll
dv-serial.dll
dv-XID.dll
ev-Movie.dll
ev-Picture.dll

… and others.

You can try moving these files one at a time (or temporarily renaming them, like ‘IGNORE_ev-Movie.dll’) to see if SuperLab will launch successfully with one of the plugins removed. That would indicate that a plugin library perhaps installed incorrectly.

Note: making changes inside the “plug-ins” folder is not to be done lightly. I mention it as a diagnostic. No changes should ever be made inside the “plug-ins” folder on a CORRECTLY WORKING instance of SuperLab. If SuperLab opens and runs, then [SIZE=“4”]you should normally never alter what is in the plug-ins folder, or you risk making SuperLab stop working.[/SIZE]

However, since in your case SuperLab is already not working, you may try renaming plugins temporarily if you wish.

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for the reply.

This is being installed on a laptop that has never had Superlab installed before. I’ve tried v4.5 and the run-only versions of 4.5 and they both have the same crash.

I don’t have any superlab files to double-click on (I’m IT support, not a researcher) so I am launching Superlab directly. I’ve also explicitly run the executable as ‘administrator’ and this also makes no difference.

I’ve gone into the plug-ins folder as you suggested and renamed all the files with ‘generic’ in them, ie : ap-Generic.xrc, pr-Generic.dll and pr-Generic.xrc. Now the loading seems to skip the Generic Presenter plugin but hangs on ‘XID Devices… loaded’.

I’ve also tried moving all the dll and xrc files out of this directory, however in this case the application does not seem to begin loading at all, ie, you double click it and nothing happens.

cheers,
Craig

I’m sorry to hear that the problem persists. We test our windows installers on XP, Vista, and Win7 (specifically 64-bit Win7). However, just as an added sanity-check for myself, I just installed SuperLab 4.5 on a Windows 7 64-bit computer and everything seems to be working fine.

Someone else on the dev team here suggested that perhaps the recent service pack (SP1 for Windows 7) could be a factor.

So… I updated a 64-bit Windows 7 machine with SP1 and tried again. That did not cause any problems for me either. It did not break the prior install of SuperLab 4.5 that I had done moments earlier, and it did not interfere with the second install of SuperLab 4.5 that I repeated as a test after installing SP1.

This is certainly frustrating.

Do you happen to have a different 64-bit Windows 7 computer that you can try the installer on? I would be very interested to hear how this turns out for you on some other 64-bit Windows 7 computer.

For your current computer (the one with the problem), I will make a couple more suggestions just in case.

  1. Re-download the latest installer of SuperLab 4.5. Do not choose “Run” if the web browser asks you if you want to run the exe file. Make sure to simply save the exe file (the installer) to the Desktop (or any folder you choose).

The latest installer can be found here: http://community.cedrus.com/showthread.php?t=1131

  1. Try explicitly right-clicking the installer and choosing “Run As Administrator”. Install to a DIFFERENT folder yet again. (something like “C:\Program Files (x86)\SuperLab 4.5 TEST MARCH 9 2011”)

  2. If there is still a problem after using the latest installer as an administrator, then close (force-quit, etc) SuperLab. Set these two environment variables:

CEDRUS_OBTRUSIVE_DIAGNOSTIC_LOGGING=1
CEDRUS_ACTIVATOR_FORCE_OFFLINE_MANUAL_MODE=1

In other words, the Variable Name is CEDRUS_OBTRUSIVE_DIAGNOSTIC_LOGGING and the Variable Value is 1 (similarly for the second variable)

… then try launching SuperLab yet again.

Since you are an IT member, then I would guess that you do not need any explanation of what an environment variable is. However, for the benefit of any other people reading the Cedrus Community Forums, more info on Windows environment variables can be found:

On Wikipedia

On superuser.com

On other how-to pages and tips pages

(Also, be sure to unset/remove those variables before inviting any users to use SuperLab; those environment settings will cause an end user to have a “suboptimal” experience with SuperLab, due to potentially too many verbose error messages popping up on occasion.)

Lastly, try launching SuperLab from the command-line with a special command-line option to disable the splash screen.

This is shown here:

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/3536/picture18y.png

and here

All that the images show is that I opened “cmd.exe”, and I navigated to the folder that contains SuperLab.exe, and then I run this:

SuperLab.exe --nosplash

This might be helpful if there actually is some error message or crash report that is showing up behind the splashscreen and therefore cannot be seen.

Hi again Kelly,

Thanks for the tips, I’ve tried a new installer, SP1, a different path, the environment variables and launching without the splash screen. The same thing happens in every case, except when suppressing the splash screen where nothing at all happens and I have to kill the executable.

I’ve tried this now on a bunch of different computers, PCs and Macs, all under Windows 7 64-bit. It works on them all however I’ve found a few more of the same model Macbook that I’m having troubles with and they are all producing the same error.

They are the current model 13" Macbook and I didn’t notice this when installing on the first one but on the other two I’ve gotten the error message that I’ve attached to this post. DOes this give any insight into what might be causing the problem with this model?

thanks,
Craig

superlab-error.jpg

5db00000001 class: “UNKNOWN-THEREFORE-SKIPPED”. (This warning is suppressed af

In regards to the very cryptic-looking warning message that contains the hex numbering:

This error/warning can be ignored:

5db00000001 class: “UNKNOWN-THEREFORE-SKIPPED”. (This warning is suppressed after appearing 10 times for any one stream.)

You can click “OK” on the pop-up that announces the warnings. After that everything should continue forward without any trouble.

These errors/warnings will only show up when using the licensing-related window dialogs. These errors will not show up during “normal use” of SuperLab (as in: while editing and executing SuperLab experiments).

This error only happens when using the earliest available version of SuperLab 4.5 (which was released in December 2010). When you install SuperLab using the installers that are currently posted for download at http://community.cedrus.com/showthread.php?t=1131
– then these warning pop-ups should not happen.

The message is harmless. It happens because SuperLab is expecting the license server to be communicating in a specific protocol, and we have since updated our server with a slightly expanded protocol. SuperLab has always been able to adjust and continue communicating with the server despite slight protocol variations. That is why when you click “OK” everything still works. That warning pop-up was only ever intended to be an extra indicator to our development team, and the warning should have been supressed in the version of SuperLab that was released to the public. In subsequent versions this warning is indeed suppressed.

Hi Craig,

As you can see from my previous message, the “UNKNOWN-THEREFORE-SKIPPED” errors do not have anything to do with the computer that simply refuses to get beyond the splash screen.

Please tell me if I understand all this correctly:

  1. There is only one computer where you have found that SuperLab 4.5 will not advance beyond the splash screen, correct?

  2. The cannot-get-beyond-splashscreen computer is a laptop.

  3. The cannot-get-beyond-splashscreen computer is running Windows 7 64bit ?

What I fear I am most confused about is the following point:

  1. even though it uses Windows 7, the cannot-get-beyond-splashscreen computer is a MacBook ?? Is that correct? So I assume that you are using bootcamp?

4b. is the cannot-get-beyond-splashscreen computer using bootcamp?

4c. is the cannot-get-beyond-splashscreen computer running Windows 7 in some kind of VM ?

Please point out where I am right and where I am wrong. I apologize if I have mis-read or misunderstood any of your previous posts.

Sorry I must have been using old installers. However shouldn’t the new installer be called 4.5.1 or something to indicate there is a difference, no matter how small?

To answer some of your questions.

I’ve found a number of machines that do not work now, they are all the same model Macbook laptop (current model, not the Macbook Pro) using Bootcamp 3.2 and Win7 64bit. We’re booting the OS natively, not via VMWare or any other virtualisation app.

We’ve been running Superlab (and other similar programs) via windows on Mac hardware for years, it just seems to be this model hardware we’re having problems with.

I’ll re-download the installers and try again, incase there is something else that has changed in them. I’ll also try a fresh Windows install without any drivers installed incase there is a problem with one of the drivers provided by bootcamp.

cheers,
Craig

Hi Craig,

I continue to be perplexed by this, as I am sure you are as well.

I have a few more ideas.

  1. what happens if you right-click the SuperLab.exe and choose “Properties” and then go to the “Compatibility” tab. Check the box and make the drop-down selection for “Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP”. Will it fully launch when running in that XP mode?

  2. Since you mentioned that you have always used a Windows version of SuperLab on Macs before, I am curious what will happen if you try to use the prior version of SuperLab now, specifically on these ‘cannot-launch’ Mac laptops. If you are willing to try, you can find an older installer here: http://superlab.com/v4/files/superlab-4.0.7b.exe

Hi Kelly,

I’ve tried 4.0.7b on the same model laptops and it does not work either. I’ve also tried 4.5 (definitely using the 2011 version now) and 4.0.7b with XP compatibility mode enable and the same crash happens.

I’m going to grab two of these laptops without Windows and install Windows 7 64 on one and 32 on the other and try superlab without any drivers from bootcamp and see what happens.

cheers,
Craig

Ok so I decided to try 32-bit Windows 7 first.

I formatted the machine and did a fresh install from the Win7 32-bit media, immediately after the installer finished I installed Superlab 4.5 and it worked. Hooray… well sort of, the machine has no drivers at the moment and isn’t useable for well, anything.

So I’ve installed Bootcamp 3.1 from the original restore disc for this laptop (ensuring the correct drivers are loaded - I haven’t made the mistake of using a retail OSX media or media from a different model Mac). Unfortunately after the reboot when the bootcamp 3.1 installer is finished Superlab is crashing again. The same problem also exists after installing the bootcamp 3.2 update from Apple Software Update.

So I think the issue is now isolated to an incompatibility between Superlab and one of the Apple provided drivers for this model Macbook. We can also rule out the issue being related to 64-bit drivers as both 32 & 64 Windows are crashing.

I can remove drivers and bootcamp provided apps one by one looking for the one that is causing problems, do you have any suggestions where to start? What hardware is Superlab particularly interested in during startup (probably all of it I imagine)?

cheers,
Craig