Sequencer freezes & error on scheduler
Printed From: Aurora
Category: Aurora Sequencer Software
Forum Name: Bug Reports
Forum Discription: This is the place to report bugs
URL: http://www.aurorashow.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=585
Printed Date: 08 Jun 2024 at 10:08am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.06 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Sequencer freezes & error on scheduler
Posted By: wellinge
Subject: Sequencer freezes & error on scheduler
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2008 at 9:30pm
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Ok, so here's the deal... I'm working over the phone having my sister installing the software and sending her my shows and everything. Here is why, I'm at college and the judges are going to be comming by sooner than I'm comming home problem eh? Haha I had her download the latest version (build 32 i think it was)of the software and install it.
So let's start with sequencer.... She tries to open a show I sent, and she says it starts to load but when it gets to the loading of the audio I guess the progress bar stops and nothing else happens. She waits a long time and then it stops responding. Scheduler now... She's able to create a show, but when she goes to start schedule (green button) it comes up with and error 3709. I tried having her delete that berealis.bat or whatever, but all it did was delete the shows. She remade it and it still has an error! What makes it even more frustrating is that it works PERFECTLY on my computer! :) If anyone can help me ASAP it would be appreciated! Thanks |
Replies:
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2008 at 10:14pm
| Ok correction.... At least to scheduler... When she tries to create a new show her computer freezes and she has to do the whole task manager thing to close it out. But... When she restarts her computer and opens up scheduler the show is there. That's when she tries to start the shows and then gets the error 3709.... |
Posted By: Jonathan
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2008 at 10:19pm
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1) Save your sequence on your system with the audio in the default audio directory (c:\program files\aurora sequencer\audio). 2) When you send her the audio files, have her put them in C:\program files\aurora sequencer\audio (if Aurora is installed in another spot, have her put it there, just make sure it is in the default audio directory). This way the sequence will check to see if it has the audio, and when it finds it she will not be prompted to look for it. 3) Have her open the file in sequencer. Once it loads correctly, have her save it. 4) Assuming that the USB driver the RS485 uses is already installed on the show computer (if not, then get and install them), she will need to setup the network and COM settings, and they may be different than on your own computer. She can find the COM number by connecting to the HW Utility. The sequencer and scheduler needs to be setup separately. Note that if a sequence isn't playable and it generates an error, it's usually because the scheduler can't find something it needs, such as the audio source. If there are still errors, have her completely uninstall Aurora via the control panel, and then reinstall it. Are both computers running the same operating system? ------------- ~Jonathan |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 08 Dec 2008 at 10:26pm
| When I can get a hold of her tonight I'll have her try all this, and yes we both are running vista. The driver for the adapter might be the solution foe the scheduler but not so sure about the sequencer but I'll have her try it. |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 12:50am
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ok so i just spent the last hour on the phone with her... as far as the connection between the computer and the controller, thats all fine. We downloaded the hardware utility and could turn the lights on and off and all that jazz from her computer. So this problem is just with the aurora software (not the controller or connection or anything). We made sure that the audio file locations were the same and everything. We keep getting the error... "The audio/video file specified in the sequence file does not exist on this computer. Please select a new media file location" and of course the dialog comes up to choose a new audio file. she tries to pick the one (in the correct location), it has the status bar (like it should when it works fine) but it stops at "Opening File - Extracting Audio From Media File" and freezes. It kind of looks like an issue with the audio file, but I don't know how to fix it moving from one computer to the next. Is there a way for her to choose the audio file without even opening the show file? Another interesting thing, it that when she goes to create a new show, it also freezes up during the "Opening File - Extracting Audio From Media File" phase. as far as the scheduler goes... i'm kinda guessing if the sequencer can't get the show file working, then definitly the scheduler wont be able to run it. but i'll explain though what we keep running into... when she tries to make a new show, it freezes and the had to close out of it. after a restart of the computer, the show shows up. The com ports are correct, and connect speed match. so that shouldn't be a problem. Then when she goes to click the start scheduler or whatever (the green button) this error shows up: Aurora encountered and unexpected error and will now reset. Debugging Information: 3709: The connection cannot be used to perform this operation. it is either closed or invalid in this context. Aurora.Scheduler.FilterSchedule.0 Aurora.Scheduler.Start.4 anymore suggestions? (we have also tried multiple builds of the software. 25,28,and 32. All installed after a clean uninstall of the other one. All having the same problem.) |
Posted By: Pony_God
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 8:54am
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I didn't see a "I had her reboot" note in here. She did reboot after installation, right?
I know that when I get stuck on decompiling, nothing works until reboot. ------------- Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights. http://www.frappr.com/dlight - D-Light users Unite! 
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Posted By: Jonathan
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 9:21am
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Ok, so it's definitely an audio issue.
Since you are communicating long distance, the temptation might be to use an mp3 rather than a wav file. While Aurora can handle those file types, the various encoding of mp3's can often wreck havoc. For that reason, when you experience an audio issue you should only use wav format. If the wav file is too big to e-mail to her, have her use Audacity to export the mp3 as a wav. The program should not ask you to find the audio file if it's in the defualt director on both computers unless thee is an issue with the file itself. If you are already using a wav file, try replacing the audio with a clean copy that's saved in Audacity. ------------- ~Jonathan |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:07am
| Yeah I always had her reboot after any type of installation. As soon as she wakes up I'll have her try the wave file. I'll most likely have to change it too right? Because that show will be looking for an mp3 file when I send it to her correct? |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:09am
| What bit rate and everything does aurora like best? 16 bit... 44000? |
Posted By: Pony_God
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:22am
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I haven't had a single problem with Audacity's default.
32-float and 44,100 ------------- Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights. http://www.frappr.com/dlight - D-Light users Unite!
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Posted By: ChrisL1976
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:32am
For what its worth, I believe Michael recommends that Wav files be on 16 bit.....I know if I change the rate to 32bit, I get errors when loading the sequence. ------------- Chris www.lightsonsixth.com |
Posted By: ChrisL1976
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:35am
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If I remember right, Audacities Default is 44k 16 bit anyways.
------------- Chris www.lightsonsixth.com |
Posted By: Pony_God
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:40am
Funny, my default is 32-float.
16bit is probably safer though. ------------- Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights. http://www.frappr.com/dlight - D-Light users Unite!
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Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:43am
| ok, I just made the wav file. (AIM sends big files fairly fast) Also something i just now noticed that i may have overlooked, was on my file I had a specific picture for the devices to be drawn over. I never gave her that. So what I have done is saved the show file with the path to the new wav file, and took off that picture, so its now the defualt. I'll send her these two files as soon as I can. thanks |
Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:50am
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16 bit is best. Depending on exactly what else is installed on the machine 24 or 32 bit may or may not work, but they are not recommended.
Do you by any chance have video editing software installed on the computer (the one which can not open the audio files)?
If so, this may be an issue where the two computers simply have different codecs and/or .ax filter files installed on them. If this is the case then you might be able to make the MP3 work by closing Aurora, running wmfdist.exe in the Aurora Sequencer directory, rebooting, then restarting Aurora (this will reinstall some missing codecs). If it still doesn't work, then you will need to use WAV files instead.
Note: After switching to WAV you might notice that the enitre timing is shifted to the left by a few tenths of a second compared to the MP3 file. There is a "Timing Shift" option in the Edit menu which will fine tune this alignment. Since you are doing this at a distance, I recommend you test and align the data to the WAV file on your computer to make sure it is how you want it to appear. ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/"> 
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Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:52am
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ok thanks logan i'll look into the timing shift!
Edit: About the video editing software, I have it on mine (Sony vegas). But she doesn't have anything like that. I think I'll try the wave file first and if there's still trouble I'll have her try installing that file. |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:53am
| hey logan, what does the 3709 error mean with scheduler? |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 2:01pm
| ok i sent her the wav file and the new dhow file, she put it in the right directories and everything, and its still freezing up at the same spot when trying to open it. |
Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 2:02pm
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IIRC, 3709 is an ADO connection "invalid context" error. That usually indicates a bad borealis.dat or some other bad .dat file in \Shows. I suspect that since the audio files were never loaded properly the show file was never created properly. Two other customers have reported that installing the .NET framework sometime after installing Aurora also results in this error and requires an Aurora uninstall/reinstall to fix. While this doesn't make sense and isn't lab reproducible, it apparently does happen.
In your case, just delete all of the .dat files from the \Shows directory and recreate the show schedule after the audio issue is fixed. ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 2:10pm
| any more ideas? |
Posted By: Pony_God
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 2:16pm
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Can she _create_ a new sequence without importing anything? ------------- Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights. http://www.frappr.com/dlight - D-Light users Unite!
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Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 2:17pm
| no, she goes to create a brand new show, and it still freezes up at the same spot, trying both an mp3 file and a wav file, both hang up. |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 2:18pm
| she says it has the rotating circle (that vista uses instead of an XP hourglass) and it stops responding |
Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 2:26pm
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Sounds like the hang is occurring in videoedit.ocx which does rely on the computer having the proper installation of codecs and well formed .ax filter files. Sometimes other applications (e.g. PowerDVD) change these files and some versions can cause havoc with other programs. One thing you could try is to find all of the .ax files on the system and temporarily rename them to the .ax2 extension and then rebooting (note: this will almost certainly break some other application... you will need to change them back for that other application to work if this happens... we're just testing right now to see if one of them is the culprit). ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: Pony_God
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 2:26pm
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Well, after it hangs once, you have to reboot.
^I get this on XP all the time.^
Is she in IE, or anything else at the same time? ICQ, IM software? ------------- Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights. http://www.frappr.com/dlight - D-Light users Unite!
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Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 2:27pm
| where should i have her look for these? |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 2:29pm
| everthing is closed when she has sequencer open.... |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 8:06pm
still cant get anything to work right. If anyone can tell me where to have her look for the .ax files, or have anymore ideas, please help me out. I gotsta get this running before thursday night! 
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Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 8:39pm
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They could be all over the place... you will need to do a search/find to locate them. Search for *.ax ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: deweycooter
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 9:57pm
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Offtopic - SharedView is a nice free utility to help in remote debugging - just requires a Windows Live acct (hotmail) and broadband internet access. wellinge, you might find this extremely helpful in debugging since you can take control of the computer your sister is using. ------------- http://www.deweycooter.com/wiki/index.php/Aurora - Aurora Lights Wiki http://www.aurorashow.com/"> 
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Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 9:59pm
| oh that sounds very helpful! i'll look into it! |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 09 Dec 2008 at 10:48pm
| ok so i just took control of her computer (thanks for the info about shareview) and i searched for .ax files on her whole C drive. There were no results. |
Posted By: Pony_God
Date Posted: 10 Dec 2008 at 10:35am
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I searched on my Vista box and I found ax files here:
C:\Program Files\Any Video Converter Professional\codecs C:\Program Files\Common Files\Elecard
C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD DX\Kernel\Movie
C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio 4.0 SE Basic C:\Program Files\VistaCodecPack\filters
C:\Program Files\VistaCodecPack\QT C:\Windows\System32
C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\<MANY_SUB_DIRS>
C:\Windows\winsxs\<MANY_SUB_DIRS>
Where, I do realise that you won't have all of those, but you will have some, and possibly others that I do not have. ------------- Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights. http://www.frappr.com/dlight - D-Light users Unite!
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Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 10 Dec 2008 at 2:31pm
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ok soooooo... she found .ax files in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Elecard and C:\Windows\System32 she was able to change the file names to .ax2 in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Elecard dir only. the system 32 wont allow her to change it. I'm telling her to restart the computer right now after only that one dir was changed and will have her try sequencer to see if it works... NOTE: I just had her restart the computer after those few changes, and it still hangs up at the same spot. How can I make those other ones change? Or would they matter? |
Posted By: Pony_God
Date Posted: 10 Dec 2008 at 3:01pm
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It's stuck at the "decompiling" step? Or a different step?
She's probably not an administrator, and does not have access... What was the message? "In Use" or something different?
OH!
Can she log as an admin? I do remember something in a thread about normal users not having access, but admin did. ------------- Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights. http://www.frappr.com/dlight - D-Light users Unite!
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Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 10 Dec 2008 at 3:18pm
| It freezes up at "Opening File - Extracting Audio From Media File" um, well i had her turn off UAC, how would she log on as administrator? |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2008 at 12:01am
| She does have administrative right, and still won't let her change them... It's weird. I guess we will just have to wait until I can get home with my computer and miss out on the lighting contest since they are judging tomorrow night. Thanks to all that helped me! |
Posted By: Jonathan
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2008 at 12:29am
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My guess is that this is related to Vista itself. The UAC apparently really messes things up sometimes. Quick and dirty last ditch effort. Have her use the HW Utility to connect to the lights, and have her select 'all', so that commands will be sent to all your controllers. Then have her play the song via media player. She can start with a fade in, change to a random twinkle, do a chase or two, random shimmer for a bit, then fade out. At the very least, a twinkle can cover a lot of sins. You might just get away with it, especially if you are using a song with a lot of beats that doesn't change tempo that much. Hey, if you don't even enter a submission, you definitely will lose! ------------- ~Jonathan |
Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2008 at 7:22am
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Just a thought... does she have file permission access to the Aurora folders? If you originally installed Aurora with your account and she is logged in under another account then Aurora may not be able to access its own cache directories (even if she reinstalled under her account the folders were still in tact from the original install with the original permissions). ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: ChrisL1976
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2008 at 8:34am
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Question...... If she opens Aurora Sequencer, can she open the Stock Winter_Wonderland_Elvis.dls that comes with Aurora?
------------- Chris www.lightsonsixth.com |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2008 at 11:23am
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yeah, thats what i just got off the phone with her about. I'm having her record her voice that says the show wont start till (whenever we decide i can set mine up) and just put that on repeat. Then she'll use the Hardware utility to at least have the lights on or have them twinkle or something. Hopefully the judges will know to come back later (which i think they will, because they remember our house from last year). I tried having her open the elvis show, but she couldn't find it in the show folder or in the aurora software in general. I don't know where it went! I think her whole computer is just weird! haha. Like I said before, its just so frustrating, because it all works perfectly on my computer, but not on hers. Once again, thanks everyone. |
Posted By: ChrisL1976
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2008 at 11:40am
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if she opens up Aurora Sequencer, in theory if she has not been able to save any files or get them to open, then it should be the only file on the list when Aurora opens....unless she has copy and pasted your sequences into the Sequences Folder. ------------- Chris www.lightsonsixth.com |
Posted By: Pony_God
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2008 at 12:36pm
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Even at that, Elvis is required and if it is missing, it's re-installed. It has to be there.
Looks like there's large install/security issues there.
Can she go to "C:\Program Files\Aurora Sequencer\Sequences" in file explorer? winter_wonderland_elvis.dls has got to be there, if it isn't then Aurora probably never did install correctly at all. ------------- Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights. http://www.frappr.com/dlight - D-Light users Unite!
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Posted By: LightsOnLogan
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2008 at 2:52pm
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Elvis can't die... can he??? ------------- http://www.aurorashow.com/">
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Posted By: Pony_God
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2008 at 2:53pm
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I saw him just yesterday! ------------- Fine. You're so smart you rig up the lights. http://www.frappr.com/dlight - D-Light users Unite!
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Posted By: Jonathan
Date Posted: 11 Dec 2008 at 3:35pm
If so, just have her log in as you. If you have Spectrum, as a final last ditch effort you could try to revert back to that. ------------- ~Jonathan |
Posted By: wellinge
Date Posted: 14 Dec 2008 at 9:49pm
| So I was able to persuade the gudges To not look at our house until I got home (which was late Friday night) and my computer worked the first time I pluged it all in. We just learned we got 2nd place! I'm glad they waited! Thanks for all your support. I looked more closely at her computer and still can't understand why it just won't work. I want to thanks everything who was giving me ideas to try when I was in need! Good luck to all of you this season! |
Posted By: Jonathan
Date Posted: 15 Dec 2008 at 12:42am
Congratulations! 
------------- ~Jonathan |