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Troubleshooting Startup Problems

Here's the most common things to look at when XSI crashes or hangs at startup.

For other startup errors and warnings, please see Startup Errors or No Interactive License Available.

Table of contents

1 Run the runonce.bat command 2 Try renaming your User folder 3 Test whether the crash is display driver-related 4 Check your display driver version and settings 5 Delete crash backup files 6 Clean boot and try to start XSI 7 Does XSI crash at the splash screen? And do you have Zone Alarm? 8 QuickTime, QuickTime + iTunes

Run the runonce.bat command

1. Exit XSI.
2. Open an XSI command prompt (click Start > All Programs > Softimage Products > Softimage 6.5 > Command Prompt)

   If you are on Vista, you need to right-click the Command Prompt shortcut and click Run as Administrator. Then cd %XSI_HOME%.

3. In the command prompt, run this command

   runonce.bat > runonce.log

If XSI still won't start, open the .log file and check for any errors.

You can ignore the error about sidiolayer.dll. That DLL is installed only if you have an Avid Mojo.

Try renaming your User folder

Try renaming your User folder (eg rename C:\users\steve\Softimage\XSI_6.5 to C:\users\steve\Softimage\XSI_6.5.bak). Then try to start XSI.

Test whether the crash is display driver-related

• In a text editor, open the file

  C:\Softimage\XSI_7.0\Application\layouts\Default.xsily

• Change line 81 from this:

  <frame name="vm" type="View Manager" primary="false" toolbar="own"> </frame>

  to this:

  <frame name="vm" type="explorer" primary="false" toolbar="own"> </frame>

• Save the file
• Try to start XSI.

If XSI starts, then the problem is UI-related, and the problem is probably the display driver for your video card.

Check your display driver version and settings

If XSI freezes after drawing part of its user interface (eg after drawing the main window frame and the main menu bar) it could be a graphics card/display driver problem (especially if XSI freezes before drawing the four OpenGL viewports).

• Check the settings for your graphic card. Are you using the Softimage XSI settings?
• Try reinstalling the display driver.
• Are you using the recommended version of the display driver? See

http://www.softimage.com/support/xsi/graphics_cards/default.aspx

Delete crash backup files

Delete any crash backup files in your Projects: look for folders like "Project-name\system\user-name\CrashBackup" and delete (or move) any crash backup files you find.

Note that the =system= folder is a hidden folder.

Clean boot and try to start XSI

Clean booting allows you to start a computer with a minimal set of services and programs. This allows you to troubleshoot possible conflicts with other applications. For example, if XSI normally does not start, but does start when you clean boot, then something is conflicting with XSI.

It's probably a good idea to use Process Explorer (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx) to check on what is running after you clean boot. Sometimes anti-virus software like NOD32 will still be running even after you clean boot.

Does XSI crash at the splash screen? And do you have Zone Alarm?

For Zone Alarm Security Suite you may need to do this to make it work:

To have XSI and Zone Alarm Pro run on the same PC

1. run "imf_editor.exe" located in the "Zone Labs" folder
2. go to the "black list" tab, browse and add XSI.exe
3. select option to filter all applications except those on the Black List
4. apply settings

QuickTime, QuickTime + iTunes

A small number of customers have had problems starting XSI until they removed QuickTime. Sometimes they need to remove iTunes as well. See http://www.xsibase.com/forum/index.php?board=9;action=display;threadid=17779;start=13.