Studio hangs on launch or does not launch

Answer ID 1596

Problems on launch can manifest in various ways. Studio may give an error message when launching, or it may freeze in mid-launch, or it may “hang” – fail to return control to you – after what had seemed an uneventful launch.

In all such cases, try any or all the following:

·    Restart the computer. After the reboot, double-click the Studio icon.

·    Wait a few minutes to confirm that the application is really hung. Even when you suspect Studio has failed to launch, wait a few minutes more just in case. On some computers, the launch process may take longer to complete than you anticipate.

·    Uninstall and reinstall Studio.

·    Start Windows in Safe mode. If Studio still won’t launch under Safe mode, your installation may be corrupt. An uninstall and reinstall of Studio should deal with this.

If Studio does launch under Safe mode, the issue probably relates to a faulty device driver or an application conflict. Try to narrow it down further:

·    Disconnect capture hardware. Start with Pinnacle external devices such as Dazzle or MovieBox. If Studio now launches, reconnect the device and reopen Studio. If it fails anew, continue to the next step.

·    If you have a webcam, try launching Studio with the device unplugged, and again with it plugged in. If the launch succeeds in one of these states but not the other, make sure to use the same set-up whenever you launch Studio in the future.

·    Next, investigate capture cards mounted in your computer. To see what capture devices are present, use the AM Capture utility (StartØAll ProgramsØStudio 12ØToolsØAM Capture), and click on the Devices pull-down menu. One by one, try physically disconnecting the devices listed. You can also try uninstalling the applicable drivers.

·    Download and install the latest drivers for your sound and graphics cards from the manufacturers’ web-sites. Both must support DirectX. Many users have either NVIDIA or ATI graphics cards, for which the latest drivers are available at www.nvidia.com and www.atitech.com.

·    If you have a sound card (rather than a motherboard-based sound device), try removing it from the system. Some older sound cards may not work well with newer versions of Windows. This can be verified by shutting down the computer, removing the sound card and restarting. If Studio now launches, you probably need to replace the sound card.

·    End background tasks. You can use either the End Process button in the Windows Task Manager, or one of the available software utilities designed to assist with this procedure. Alternatively, you can prevent unnecessary (and possibly conflicting) tasks from ever being run by editing your list of startup programs.

Editing startup applications

To keep applications from loading when your PC is started (or rebooted):

1.    Click on Start Ø Run

2.    In the Open box, type: msconfig

3.    Click OK

In the System Configuration Utility window, click on the far right tab called Startup. Remove all checks from the boxes except for Explorer and System Tray (SysTray.exe).

Studio hangs on launch or does not launch