This happens in both versions of PE (2 and 4) and PPE 3. The program freezes, I get a "not responding" message, and I have to shut it down.

What to do?

Unplug the computer, pick it up, and HEAVE it through the nearest window.

JJP

Joel, never thought I'd have to ask you for more information - like when does it freeze?

Peter: Whenever I click on the emulator. Nothing happens and the program is frozen in the headlights. The rest of the programs run all right, until I attempt to open the emulator.

PS to John: Its good to know that that's how a professional responds. Makes me feel my instincts are appropriate.

Now now Joel. I was only trying to insert some levity here. You should know me by now.

Anywho, to get back to your original question, what other applications are running at the time this happens? I'm no computer guru by any means, so I'm just asking the obvious.

Don't know what version of OS you're running, but here with Windows 98, there is a program called Resource Manager. Open it and leave it displayed while you run PE and the emulator. It will tell you what your resource percentage is.

Normally, when I'm running TSS or PE, with the emulator open, I'm around 77%. But that will depend on your machine and what apps you have running at the time.

I'd be curious to know what percentage of resources you have when you run into the problem.

JJP

Well, Big J, I'm running XP and it doesn't give you a readout like that, but the performance meters don't look like there's much strain on the system. Last time I used PE (it's been about a month), there was no problem.

PS Did it sound like I was taking you seriously? you know I would never do that.

I had that problem myself, but the emulator started working properly at some point. I'm not sure what I did to fix it. I think maybe it was after I updated the firmware on my remote. Other things I did that may or may not have had any effect: I copied and pasted ProntoEmulator.exe into the ProntoEdit4 directory (but when I deleted it from that directory, it still worked, so I'm not sure that did anything), and I used Pronto.ini Workshop to enable developer mode and all font sizes.

John C -

So as I understand it, you did some things that worked but you are not sure what they are, and some of the things you did worked even after you undid them. is that right?

Joel, I'm still not sure when it happens. You click the emulator button on the toolbar in ProntoEdit. The emulator fires up. Then what? And what do you mean by 'headlights'? Does it happen with other CCFs?

Joel--

After I first installed ProntoEdit 4, the emulator wouldn't work for me. It would just freeze the program every time I tried to launch it. After trying several times, I decided not to bother with it for a while.

Then I updated the firmware on my remote, installed and used Pronto.ini Workshop to enable developer mode and all font sizes, made some modifications to my CCF, and downloaded the CCF to my remote.

At this point, I still thought the emulator wasn't working, even though I hadn't tried using it again after the initial failed attempts. I decided to copy the ProntoPro version of the emulator into the ProntoEdit4 directory and see if that would get it working. After I did that, I tried out the emulator and it worked, so I thought moving ProntoEmulator.exe to the other directory was what fixed it. Just out of curiosity, though, I deleted the copy from the ProntoEdit4 directory, tried launching it again, and it still worked, so now I think that it must have been something else I did before that fixed it.

I just listed all of those things because I couldn't pinpoint which particular step fixed the problem. I thought maybe if you tried everything that I did, you might be able to get your emulator working, too.

This message was edited by John Corkery on 05/05/02 19:28.06.

Stop right there, Peter. the emulator does noti fire up.


Then nothing. The toolbar disappears and the program is frozen.


A metaphor like "deer in the headlights". Just sits there frozen blinking at me (the cursor, that is).


Has nothing to do any particular CCF. Does it whenever I try to click on the emulator. And in any version of PE or PPE.

(Did I mention I hear little tiny giggling coming from inside the computer when it happens?)

Sounds like ProntoiEdit is trying to launch the Emulator, and is waiting for it to start up. But as it is not succeeding, it remains frozen.

One possibility is something corrupted in the registry.

ProntoIni workshop plays with the registry, so there is an outside chance that would fix it. This is one of the things John did.

Otherwise, Joel's famous 'fix it' is entirely appropriate. Uninstall and reinstall ProntoEdit!!

This maybe in left field but have you checked for a virus? Have you added any software or uninstalled something since this has happened? You could have uninstalled something that used a shared file? I think Peter's advice is a good place to start. Uninstall the reinstall.

Well, curiouser and curiouser.

Uninstalled everything. Tried to reinstall, but only PE4 would reinstall. For PE3 or PPE, I clicked on the install icon, got the "unpacking files" dialog, which then disappeared, and nothing else happened.

PE4 installed OK, uploaded my CCF from the Pronto (so it IS communicating), but when I clicked on the emulator button--same old same old. After awhile with no emulator appearing, I try to click on the toolbar, the text menu disappears (not the icons), and the title bar says (not responding). So then I have no choice but to shut her down.

Any more ideas?

More news -- I copied the "Pronto Emulator" file from the TSU200 sub-dir to the Pronto Edit 4 directory and clicked on it in explorer, both with the program closed, and with it open with a CCF loaded. In both cases, the emulator comes up, and the display says "can't open configuration file". When I click on the tool bar button after opening the program and loading a CCF, however, I get no response at all--as before.

I am proceeding to open the window.


PPS So now I've downloaded and installed Prontoini workshop, enabled developer mode, etc. Net result--nada. Emulator still doesn't respond.

2 or 3 Valium oughta help this.


This message was edited by Joel Warren on 05/06/02 03:08.57.

Still looking for an answer. Anybody got any ideas?