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bruceravel / demeter

Process and analyze X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy data using Feff and either Larch or Ifeffit.
http://bruceravel.github.io/demeter
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Windows 7 Issue - Crashes When Performing Any Operation #17

Open andreahi11 opened 9 years ago

andreahi11 commented 9 years ago

Bruce,

I want to first say thank you for providing all of us comp illiterate folks with a great tool.

I'm unfortunately having issues using Athena, from ALL versions. The problems with each version vary slightly, but they are consistent in that the program crashes when trying to compute anything from imported data. Ive tried everything I can think of. To give you a quick rundown, Ive checked the MyGwin path problem (just to see), uninstalling & deleting all registry entries and the roaming/demeter folder, reinstalling windows, etc.

I would say this was machine specific except for the fact that I've tried this on multiple Windows 7 machines to no avail.

I'll start from the beginning. Here is my %APPDATA%/roaming/demeter: demeter_log

When I open up dathena.log I see this: dathena_log

I'll import data (the data works fine on my friends computer so I know it is not the issue) and try to autoalign and this is what I get in the command window: errormessage_window errormessage_autoalign

I also get this error window that shows up (same error window when trying Normalized, etc) errormessage_normalized_det

If I don't run the command window, the program simply crashes, deletes all the files in the roaming/demeter/stash and does not write anything into the log file, except for onetime that pointed to 'dividing by zero' in the Math.c file.

It seems like the program does something slightly different each time based on the version and computer, but they all crash without fail.

I feel like it might be an issue with a variable or file that does not get written properly, or in the correct path, and when you call it from Spline or Math, it basically tries to find it, fails, and freezes.

Any help or guidance appreciated.

Best,

Andrea

bruceravel commented 9 years ago

@andreahi11,

I'll import data (the data works fine on my friends computer so I know it is not the issue) and try to autoalign and this is what I get in the command window:

For me, this is the most telling line in your issue. Clearly there is something different on your computer than on your friend's.

My first guess is that you have another version of perl installed on your computer and there is some conflict finding a library. Have you installed ActivePerl? Citrus Perl? Git? Or anything else that installs a complete perl interpreter? If so, then we may need to think about modifying the PATH in your computer's environment.

My second guess is that you have installed some other package that includes a version of MinGW and there is conflict finding some library. There are many things that come with a version of MinGW (Python(x,y) seems to be popular). Again, we'll have to think about modifying the PATH. Here's some more information on the MinGW issue as related to Demeter.

andreahi11 commented 9 years ago

Bruce,

Thank you for the response.

I thought along the same lines at first. However, I have reinstalled Windows cleanly from an OEM disc so there exists no perl interpreter or compiler. Same with MinGW.

I think it may be that the installer did not install a portion properly or a path wasn;t updated.

I find it strange because Athena worked perfectly in December. While I was at Argonne Labs, there was a windows update and since then the software has not worked. I reinstalled windows at that point to see if the problem originated elsewhere but this did nothing to alleviate the problem.

bruceravel commented 9 years ago

@andreahi11,

I find that strange also. Sure seems like something in that update changed your machine in a way that I have not planned for.

You still are not giving enough information for me to have an informed opinion. Demeter demonstrably works on all the Windows machines I have and on those of the vast majority of its users. Something is happening on your computer that I have not planned for, but you have not given me enough information to know what it is.

Are you installing somewhere other than C:\strawberry (as in this)? If so, what happens if you install to C:\strawberry?

Do you have an anti-virus tool that thinks something in Demeter is suspicious? If so, what happens if you take the machine off line, disable the anti-virus tool, and try again?

Are you unable to write to %APPDATA%\demeter\ as a normal user, for some reason? If so, do you know why?

Did the installer actually complain in any way? If so, what did it say?

Does %APPDATA% have any Unicode characters which may be confusing Demeter? If so, can you make a user account without Unicode characters and try installing Demeter there?

bruceravel commented 9 years ago

@andreahi11

Looking at the screenshot of the command window you attached to your initial post, I suspect that the problem might be that Athena was unable to read the data file for some reason. I don't know if that means the file was corrupted in some way or if it was in disk space that couldn't be accessed. That's kind of the problem with a screenshot of something displaying text -- I cannot see what came earlier.

It would be helpful to know more about the file. Where it lives, what it's contents are, what Athena reports in the command buffer when trying to read it, what (if anything) Athena reports on the command line (or in the log file) when trying to read it.

Without more information, I can't really help you resolve the problem.