Priducer cursor turning to hour glass every 2-3 seconds...

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Kathy:
Thanks for the ideas, - as far as possibly deleting some pictures, while I know
better than to say "impossible", I will go with "EXTREMELY unlikely" - the
show still loads fine with no error messages. I can also load a show from 8 months
ago that has not been changed and see the same problem now (it was fine then).
I create a folder for each show I am working on and then under that have folders
for pictures, sound, clips etc. Anything for that show gets copied to the local sub folders
to prevent problems (makes life much simpler).

Brian:
I did notice the "Sharing Violation" but I think it is just part of testing to see if
was opened OK (sometimes error messages are a bit misleading). The fact that
it occurs on the def.phd file which is then read without a problem a few lines down
makes me think that is not an issue. This is NOT a logfile that Photodex would
typically see - I get this from another tool I have called "Filemon" written by a
Mark Russinovich from Sysinternals -- a number of clever utilities there. It's
purpose is to show all file read/write activity - I filtered to only show Proshow
activity (none of the stuff I filtered out looked interesting). I think for my next
test I am going to install Producer on another machine in the house along with
my show and see how it acts there. STUPID MACHINES !! Something is telling
Producer to do something every 5-10 seconds - just don't know what it is (I notice
Andy had this problem and finally ended up restoring the drive from an image
he had made - my last image of the C drive is a month ago, but if I have to, I
can do that (most of my stuff - shows etc is on other partitions). Photodex needs
to identify what THEIR software is doing and WHY - I am not the only one that
has run into this issue.

mikey

[briancbb Profile Private message]

Mikey
This is a REAL headache now (I would have selected a lower part of the anatomy but the forum may not like that).

I actually meant the compic journal file being the fault report for Photodex, but it is always deleted.

You seem to have tried all the regular problem solves, deletion of files, reinstal of Producer. Did you try the register clean with Ccleaner after producer is deinstalled? This does seem to clean everything associated from the registry, even your registration details so make sure you have these (as if you wouldn't ).

Ccleaner is a free program, has never given me grief. The register cleaner is the second tab down on the right once installed.

Brian

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Thanks Brian -- I may give that a shot later today (as well as trying on another machine).
I have to go to my daughters soccer game soon (football on the other side of the
pond ). Yesterday, she dang near froze - it was foggy, the frost was still on
the grass and COLD !! (this was a 8am game) - today's game is 2 pm and it looks
much warmer out now (and brighter) - I had to shoot yesterdays game at ISO 1600
to be able to get 1/1000 second at F-5 (quite a bit of noise - but the cold helped keep
the camera noise down )

mikey

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

OK, I seem to be back again !!!!!

The "hourglass thingie" does seem to be gone !!!!!!

Ended up (after talking to support at Photodex ) - completely uninstall Producer,
Gold (which was an older version), Presenter using the control panel then went into
the registry and deleted all keys/folders with Photodex, Proshow or pxplay in them
(either as a folder name or as a key) (NOTE: This is dangerous !! ). Also, another
of my old unix tricks finally floated to the top (I wish it had done this at the start). -- I
had this problem pop up arount the 25th, so I did a search for all files that had been
modified between the 23rd and the 26th (you have to have view hidden folders on also).
Even after a complete uninstall and ripping everything out of the registry, there was
a copy of pxplay.exe (modified on the day of the problem) lurking in the
C:\Windows\Prefetch folder which is where windows keeps copies of things it uses
a lot and make it run faster. This *may* have been the guilty beast hiding in there.

Following the suggestions of the support guy from Photodex, created a new large
show (177 slides 4 audio tracks) from scratch. Loaded/played fine. Went back to
one that was a problem (my washington coast one was where this happened). It
now loads and plays fine (I did make sure the pxc file was gone before trying though).
So far, it looks like this may have fixed it and I am really curious if the pxplay.exe
in the prefetch queue was the problem.

Hope this helps someone (David from Photodex support is going to call Friday and
I will review this with him and should get a better idea then. If I find out anything,
I will add it here so others can find it (or I can find it when I forget what the
incantation was ... )

mikey

[cherub Profile Private messageWebsite]

Even after a complete uninstall and ripping everything out of the registry, there was
a copy of pxplay.exe (modified on the day of the problem) lurking in the
C:\Windows\Prefetch folder which is where windows keeps copies of things it uses
a lot and make it run faster. This *may* have been the guilty beast hiding in there.
mikey

Well, first let me congratulate you for getting rid of the problem.
Second, I just took a look at my Prefetch folder and there are 2 (two) pxplay.exe number.pf there !!
and also a proshow.exe !!




So, if you get a chance, please ask Photodex why two of them ?

BTW, I did not have a clock problem.

[briancbb Profile Private message]

Thanks Mikey for the update.

So it was in the registry, or possibly the prefetch. That is very good information to remember.
Now remembering this thread is the problem to be solved.

I have several times wanted to link a reply to your 'How to save a .px download', but can I ever remember the 'xxyyzz' sequence I guess I should be like Jan and make notes, but even finding them would be a problem, you should just see my computer desk ... or maybe it can't be seen with all the paper on it.

Cherub
I have just one entry of Pxplay in the prefetch, the 'pxplay.exe-361E63E6.pf'.

Brian

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Having copies of stuff in the prefetch is normal for stuff that is being
used all the time. I just found it interesting that there was a prime
suspect lurking in there with a modified time fairly close to when the
problem occurred. It is also interesting to note that since completely
ripping all Photodex stuff out and re-installing (2018) it loads much
faster. More snooping is required. Just wish I had remembered my
trick of seeing what files had been modified near that time BEFORE
doing all the other stuff. Often find interesting things that way.

mikey

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Thanks Mikey for the update.

So it was in the registry, or possibly the prefetch. That is very good information to remember.
Now remembering this thread is the problem to be solved.

I have several times wanted to link a reply to your 'How to save a .px download', but can I ever remember the 'xxyyzz' sequence I guess I should be like Jan and make notes, but even finding them would be a problem, you should just see my computer desk ... or maybe it can't be seen with all the paper on it.

Cherub
I have just one entry of Pxplay in the prefetch, the 'pxplay.exe-361E63E6.pf'.

Brian

Well, I guess you could put it in your favorites folder

Your problem is you lead a sheltered life I guess. If you had ever played one of
the early computer games "Adventure", that would be easy to remember (it was
a magic spell - and sometimes things happened and sometimes not when you tried it).
I even remember seeing a personalized license plate with "XYZZY" on it one time.

The other thing you could do (this is what I do) - create a shortcut on your desktop to
the temp folder where the shows get loaded to. Create another shortcut on your desktop
to the folder you want to save copies of the shows in. Open the temp folder, sort by
time and most recent download is probably at the end ... ta da !!

mikey

[andy]

Well done mikey!
Now just for your info I also have the same exe files cherub has in her (opps! or he’s ) Prefetch folder.

andy

[cherub Profile Private messageWebsite]

Well done mikey!
Now just for your info I also have the same exe files cherub has in her (opps! or he’s ) Prefetch folder.
andy

"her", Andy...
What's funny is that I tried to delete one of them (the one that Brian said he did not have), and it was created again after
opening a show.

[images-that-move]

It is possible that you can have multiple pxplay.exe-########... it seems a new instance is created everytime you run a unique "exe" created show... (it may happen with other shows but I confirmed it with "exe" based shows).

So everytime you create a "exe" show then run it that exe file should show up in as a prefetch entry. (My ZoneAlarm settings are fairly tight so everytime I create an "exe" show and run it I am ask for permission even though "pxplay.exe" is authorized -- each instance of a unique show and appears as a "unique" program...so ZA catches it and as new)

It is interesting that Mikey's problem may have been associated with the Prefetch ... maybe he can restore everything and try to recreate it....

(naw just kidding).....

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Just to help clarify it a bit, having the pxplay.exe in the prefetch folder is NORMAL.
I just found it interesting that it was still there after removing all of the Photodex
stuff (and the fact that it had a time stamp around when my problem showed up).
Normally, you don't even need to look in the prefetch folder (usually hidden I think)
but it is a possible location for something to get left behind and then run again.
That may not have been the issue, but I try and keep an open mind and look at
all options.

mikey

[briancbb Profile Private message]

Mikey

I did play the early 'Adventure' games, but for the life of me now I would never be able to remember XYZZY. Now I know the magic letters are one post below XXYYZZ which I may be able to remember.

Like you I save the shows using 'shortcuts', but it comes in useful when someone new to the forum asks how to do it and I beat you to it.

Brian

[andy]

Mikey

.......... but it comes in useful when someone new to the forum asks how to do it and I beat you to it.

Brian

to do what Brian? ....

andy

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Mikey

I did play the early 'Adventure' games, but for the life of me now I would never be able to remember XYZZY. Now I know the magic letters are one post below XXYYZZ which I may be able to remember.

Like you I save the shows using 'shortcuts', but it comes in useful when someone new to the forum asks how to do it and I beat you to it.

Brian

Heh -- that wasn't exactly what I meant about the shortcuts -- if you set up your favorites folder in
IE or whatever browser you use, create a folder in your favorites called "Photodex" or
whatever you want. When you find an interesting thread, at the top of the thread, click
"Favorites -> add to favorites" and select your Photodex folder. When you look in it later
for a link, it will show the favorite link property for the thread you added to the folder.
For example, the one on saving shows, displays an entry in the favorites folder with the text
"ProShow Enthusiasts View topic - How to save a shared show to your hard drive ... xyzzy"
and will have the appropriate hyperlink to the thread (until Mike changes the forum or something).
After all, it is just another web page - may as well bookmark it (which is why I try to use
meaningful subject lines on posts).

mikey