I'm not at all sure if this fits this particular forum, but here goes. For the last week, I've been getting random crashes of both Audacity and Freecorder when I end a recording. I'm running Audacity 1.31 and Freecorder 4.0 on Windows 7 Starter Edition. These crashes are not random, I can do 4-6 recordings in a row then boom, then they'll crash the next 2 or 3 times. As you can imagine, this is driving me nuts. I've half a mind to run my audio into an old boombox I have and put everything on tape, then just run the tape through line-in into my computer. Suggestions of any sort are greatly appreciated.
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Audacity/Freecorder Crashes-Advice?
- Thread starter Captainfirst
- Start date
What's changed on the computer since the crashes started (i.e. Windows Updates, new software, viruses, etc)?
Try using System Restore to roll the computer back to a date where the programs worked fine and see if that helps.
Failing that, reinstall Windows. Of course, you'll need to get that ol' boom box out of storage.
Try using System Restore to roll the computer back to a date where the programs worked fine and see if that helps.
Failing that, reinstall Windows. Of course, you'll need to get that ol' boom box out of storage.
Hmmm...no new software installed and a virus scan comes up clean as a whistle. I bet it was that last Windows update, I'll roll back to before its installation and take a look-see. And I told my Mom to dig the boombox out of her basement where I've been storing it.
Since it's happening in more than one program, it could be a problem writing temporary files. First of all, how much space do you have on your hard drive? Are you close to full? If not, it's time to check out the hardware.
Run an error check with repair scan & defrag on the hard drive. Open "Computer", right-click on the hard drive, and go to "Properties". Click on the "Tools" tab and click on "Check Now". Make sure both "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" are checked. When you click on "Start", you'll get a notice that it can't run now, but you can have it run on reboot. Select run on reboot.
The scan will happen the next time you reboot the computer. Depending on the size of your hard drive, the speed of your system, and any problems you may encouter, the scan can take anywhere from half an hour to half a day. 30-45 minutes is typical.
That, and a defrag, should elimate hardware as a problem. BTW, I'd also highly recommend Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to kill all those other evil things that aren't viruses. There's a free version available from http://www.malwarebytes.org.
Run an error check with repair scan & defrag on the hard drive. Open "Computer", right-click on the hard drive, and go to "Properties". Click on the "Tools" tab and click on "Check Now". Make sure both "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" are checked. When you click on "Start", you'll get a notice that it can't run now, but you can have it run on reboot. Select run on reboot.
The scan will happen the next time you reboot the computer. Depending on the size of your hard drive, the speed of your system, and any problems you may encouter, the scan can take anywhere from half an hour to half a day. 30-45 minutes is typical.
That, and a defrag, should elimate hardware as a problem. BTW, I'd also highly recommend Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to kill all those other evil things that aren't viruses. There's a free version available from http://www.malwarebytes.org.
Temporary files...never thought of that. As far as available memory goes, the computer is only a month old and I've only used 50 gigabytes and have 110 left to spare. I'll defrag and run a malware scan just to be safe.
Captainfirst said:
Not to start a war with the esteemed Rox, but in my nearly two-plus decades working with audio computers "run scandisk, defrag and delete temp files" RARELY fix problems with audio software.
First of all, the problems the Captain is experiencing is with two SEPARATE apps and secondly, the computer is only a month old so unless the hard drive's been used 24/7 for those 30 days, fragmentation and temp files counts are non-issues.
Did you try using the System Restore function as I suggested? If not, uninstall your two faulty apps, roll back the system to a date BEFORE you initially installed the programs, then reinstall them. And please tell us how it worked (or didn't).
Since it's happening with two aps that are prone to creating large temp files, and since it's a new box, I'd suspect the hard drive before anything else. If it's gonna fail, it's more likely to fail in the first 30 days than any other time before its end of life. And, bad sectors often go undetected because most boxes don't get a full hard drive test before they are boxed and shipped. They get an image thrown on them, maybe a quick test, and they're off the line. That's why I encouraged the chkdsk /r. It would eliminate the most critical hardware as an issue, leaving you chasing a software problem.
Sounds like you've got plenty of space, so that elminates that possibility. You can fragment a drive in less than 30 days with some software - notably databases or other programs that use large files that constantly change in size. A System Restore, removal, and reinstall of the programs won't hurt anything, and might solve it if it's a software problem. You could also check your virtual memory settings. It might be worth bumping virtual memory up based on the type of aps that you use.
Oh, and don't forget Malwarebytes. It's really good.
Sounds like you've got plenty of space, so that elminates that possibility. You can fragment a drive in less than 30 days with some software - notably databases or other programs that use large files that constantly change in size. A System Restore, removal, and reinstall of the programs won't hurt anything, and might solve it if it's a software problem. You could also check your virtual memory settings. It might be worth bumping virtual memory up based on the type of aps that you use.
Oh, and don't forget Malwarebytes. It's really good.
Okay- the issue seems to be solved. I did a full checkdisk just to be safe and everything was fine. I then did a system restore followed by uninstall of the programs in question and then a clean reinstall. I then ran a trouble compatibility check (think that's what it's called- man have things gotten complex since I learned Basic on a TRS-80 30 years ago!) and Windows actually did make changes that I saved and since then, no problems. Cross fingers.
Again, all the advice and help was much appreciated.
Again, all the advice and help was much appreciated.
Glad you got it resolved. I like to eliminate hardware as a possible problem first. You're right when you say that Windows has gotten more complicated - and more capable - when it comes to resolving issues with software. Let's hope that the problem doesn't recur over time.
And, did I remember to recommend Malwarebytes?
And, did I remember to recommend Malwarebytes?
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