You are here

Home » Forums » Support Forums » PortableApps.com Platform

PortableApps will not work on one PC

7 posts / 0 new
Log in or register to post comments
Last post
October 28, 2008 - 4:30pm
#1
mcderd
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 3 months ago
Joined: 2008-10-28 16:18
PortableApps will not work on one PC

Hello,

I have portableapps version 1.1 loaded on a USB Key Drive

It works fine on 3 PCs (2 using XP Pro SP3 and one using Vista Business)

But it crashes on another PC also running XP Pro SP3

I chatted to some very helpful guys on the live chat and they suggested I post here.

They also asked me to do a new download and install which I tried, and also asked me to run some apps without using the menu system, I tried Firefox Portable and Open Office Write and they both worked fine.

All other software on the PC works fine

So it seems there is just a problem with the menu system.

Thanks in advance

mcderd

Top
October 28, 2008 - 4:57pm
rab040ma
Offline
Last seen: 6 months 1 week ago
Joined: 2007-08-27 13:35
Just to check: were there any

Just to check: were there any error messages visible on the screen or in the Event Log? If so, what did they say?

Can you replicate the failure consistently, including immediately after the PC is rebooted?

Does it make a difference whether you run StartPortableApps.exe versus PortableAppsMenu.exe?

Could you tell how far the menu/platform got loaded before it failed? (A geek might use Process Explorer or Process Monitor to watch the progress as it loads, but normal people might find it hard to answer that question.)

Could you right click on the PortableAppsMenu.exe executable from windows Explorer on the XP SP3 machine in question, choose Properties, and confirm that it shows a valid Digital Signature in one of the tabs? Is the Digital Signatures tab consistent with what shows on the other machines?

"Crash" can mean many different things, from "causing the whole computer to reboot" to "silently exiting or freezing up". Is there anything further you could say to clarify what you mean by crash?

Can you say what file system the USB drive uses (FAT32 is the most usual, but some use NTFS).

(I'm asking these questions to try to narrow down what we're looking at; it might be something in the USB interface on that machine, or with permissions/privileges, or it could be a bug in the program that needs to be fixed.)

MC

Top
October 28, 2008 - 7:29pm
(Reply to #2)
mcderd
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 3 months ago
Joined: 2008-10-28 16:18
Response

Just to check: were there any error messages visible on the screen or in the Event Log? If so, what did they say?

It is a Windows Xp crash where it offers to send details

Can you replicate the failure consistently, including immediately after the PC is rebooted?

Yes

Does it make a difference whether you run StartPortableApps.exe versus PortableAppsMenu.exe?

No, its the same problem if I run PortableAppsMenu.exe or StartPortableApps.exe

Could you tell how far the menu/platform got loaded before it failed? (A geek might use Process Explorer or Process Monitor to watch the progress as it loads, but normal people might find it hard to answer that question.)

I dont see any evidence of it loading at all, just the normal windows error dialog with the offer to send error report

Could you right click on the PortableAppsMenu.exe executable from windows Explorer on the XP SP3 machine in question, choose Properties, and confirm that it shows a valid Digital Signature in one of the tabs? Is the Digital Signatures tab consistent with what shows on the other machines?

It shows a digital signature from Rare Ideas LLC dates 21 May 2008 22:03:07, same on another PC where it works ok

"Crash" can mean many different things, from "causing the whole computer to reboot" to "silently exiting or freezing up". Is there anything further you could say to clarify what you mean by crash?

As mentioned above its when I start PortableApps and is a normal windows there has been a problem type dialog

Can you say what file system the USB drive uses (FAT32 is the most usual, but some use NTFS).

FAT32

(I'm asking these questions to try to narrow down what we're looking at; it might be something in the USB interface on that machine, or with permissions/privileges, or it could be a bug in the program that needs to be fixed.)

I have tried it on hard drive as well and get the same result so I do not think its a USB problem

As suggested in live help I tried Geek Menu, this gave an error 'cannot create shell notification icon' but then continued to load

So it seems as though it may be a problem creating the tray icon?

Thanks for you help !

Top
October 28, 2008 - 9:12pm
(Reply to #3)
John T. Haller
John T. Haller's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 hour 30 min ago
AdminDeveloperModeratorTranslator
Joined: 2005-11-28 22:21
System Tray

Are you using a Windows Shell without a standard system tray? Or a computer that doesn't allow you to create system tray icons? If so, the current menu is incompatible, but the upcoming major release will be.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

Top
October 29, 2008 - 5:09am
(Reply to #4)
mcderd
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 3 months ago
Joined: 2008-10-28 16:18
Windows

No, its standard Windows Xp Pro SP3, I installed it myself. I have tray icons for other software working fine, Skype, Messenger, AVG etc.

Top
October 28, 2008 - 5:00pm
MarkoMLM
MarkoMLM's picture
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 3 months ago
DeveloperTranslator
Joined: 2006-01-16 04:08
As telled You before in the irc ...

... the XP versions on the mini laps like EEPC or OnePC are NO normal XP editions.
This are modified versions for the special hardware.

Sometimes some object on this systems (like on other mini systems like PE based ones) eg. the systray object are not present or not available for system calls.

This could be one reason for the problem.

Paid for Software more or less?
What You need is OSS!

Top
October 28, 2008 - 5:29pm
(Reply to #6)
mcderd
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 3 months ago
Joined: 2008-10-28 16:18
OS

I have a full install of Windows XP Pro SP3 I loaded it myself

Top
Log in or register to post comments