Re: ProveIt! Won't Start

[Wire Moore <wirem@home.com>]

Good system hygiene is the key. Do a clean build of Windows, then install
your apps from scratch. Test stuff along the way. If something gets skrogged
at a step, try to debug and resolve at that point. Do not reload windows
over the top of the broken configuration. It's just as likely to ruin
something else as fix your immediate problem.

Windows configuration is one of the great mysteries of the universe. Mostly
because MSFT laid a dreadfully primitive foundation for systems
configuration management, maybe to form the agar in a Petrie dish for
cultivating Certified Professionals.

In general, loading SW then reloading windows over the existing
configuration (or upgrading) will eventually make a mess of the system. The
problems stem from third party developers (and MSFT) taking liberties and
making poor assumptions about component dependencies on top of MSFT's weak
foundation. For example, Windows might have some DLL placed in some location
indexed by some registry key. The third party developer needs a later/other
version of this DLL and provides it through the installer. Another 3rd party
installer does the same thing, but for an earlier version of the DLL,
because both third parties think they are the "latest version," which from
their perspectives at the time they configured the installer they were the
latest. Later you might reinstall windows and it replaces both later
versions with it's version. Even if the DLL doesn't change, registry entries
the relationships of parts may be changed in similar narrowly reasonable yet
mutually incompatible ways.

Mac and Unix face the same overall systems configuration management
problems. On the Unix side it much worse. It's a right of passage to tweak
and recompile the kernel to add device support. A few Linux companies
pretend to support configuration with some pleasant looking canned scripts,
but these make MSFT look like gold! On Mac it's a bit better than Windows,
but still a huge problem. Apple presents the systems components in a human
readable GUI-object-oriented (visual) format (extensions, control panels and
preferences), so that with experience you can gain a sense of the system
components and their relationships and dung out junk. Apple has always taken
responsibility for the full platform design. Because of this, I think Mac
third party developers in general have a stronger sense of the total system
relationships and their products. This has enabled a third party to make a
tool called Conflict Catcher for assisting configuration management. I've
never seen it's equal in either Windows or Unix.

Whatever. Everyone is having system configuration headaches (nightmares).

[See 1st paragraph again]

-Wire

on 7/11/01 9:12 PM, Bernard Epstein at bepstein@home.com wrote:

> I was recently away for nearly two months, during which my computer was
> not used (I did have someone come in once a week to turn on my printers
> so they would not develop clogs, but they did *not* turn on the
> computer.) I'm on a Pentium II PC running under Windows 98SE. ProveIt!
> correctly applies the specified monitor profile when I start the
> computer, but it has been awhile since I profiled the monitor (a 21"
> ViewSonic P815) and I wanted to create a new one. When I try to start
> ProveIt!, I get an error message identifying ProveIt!.exe and containing
> the text, "A device attached to the computer is not functioning." When I
> click OK, an "Error Starting Program" message reads "The MSVORT.DLL file
> is linked to missing export MSVCRT.DLL:??_U@YAPAX1@Z." The Chroma 4
> colorimeter is correctly plugged in (shouldn't make any difference
> anyway, since ProveIt! can be run manually), and all of my other devices
> (printers, Zip and CD-W drives, and scanners) are correctly hooked up
> and functioning.
> 
> I uninstalled, then reinstalled ProveIt! (Version 1.5.1; superseded I
> think, but it was working before) and then reinstalled Windows, but the
> problem persists. The same problem occurs when I try to open Calendar
> Creator 5.0 (not the latest version, but it worked before under Win98).
> In addition, at the end of the boot-up sequence (I think just before or
> after the ProveIt! monitor profile gets applied), I have been getting an
> error titled "EA2Check" with the message "Run-time error '48'. File not
> found: FP4032.DLL." (However, a search of my C: drive shows that file in
> the Windows\System folder.) This error also continued after reinstalling
> Windows 98. I could not find any applicable FAQ on the Microsoft Web
> site or on several other sites (I did find some discussions of Run time
> error 48, but none seemed to apply to my problem).
> 
> Does anyone have any idea how to correct this problem(s)? They don't
> appear to affect any other program I use, but I would really like to
> reprofile my monitor before I make some portfolio prints for another
> photographer.
> 
> TIA for any help.
> 
> Bernie Epstein
> 
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