Sure had my share of troubles! Delete the Sonic Foundry Installation temp directory totally. Use "remove program" in control panel then use explorer to eradicate it from your hard drive. Reboot aand reinstall, re-register and go to work.

Peter

I am having MAJOR problems just with version 4 (not 4B). Exception errors all over the place. I don't understand why it's happening so it's hard to fix the problem other than switching to software which freakin works....like Premiere 6.5 perhaps? Vegas is the buggiest software I have ever used. It's laughably unstable..but I am hoping it's something I can fix because otherwise, I love this program..really I do. My brother seems to be happy with Premiere 6.5 and it has real-time preview, and it doesn't crash (same OS).

Ideas? Also, sometimes my audio go freaky when I hit the spacebar for a real time preview...it just races ahead at light speed and then, no surprise, the program crashes yet again. Is there some kind of issue with Multi-Threading or dual processor support (or lack thereof) that I should know about? Maybe it doesn't like all my RAM? (1.6 GIG). Perhaps it doesn't like media on several different hard drives?

Whatever it is, Vegas is a big ol' crash monkey. It's amazing I can get anything done with this program, but now my project is in it and I am sort of hosed for time...after this though, I am switching to Premiere 6.5 unless a fix comes SOON.

:|

NukleoN

Interesting, as I found Premier to have many of the same problems on my system that you describe.

I was able to stabilize the system pretty much for Premier by making sure I had all the latest motherboard drivers, all the latest drivers for hardware like my sound card, up-to-date bios and the latest service pack from MS; since I have a VIA chip set, the PCI Latency patch developed by George Breese did wonderful things for stability.

You might also want to consider downloading a memory tester such as www.memtest86.com - some of the problems you describe can be a result of flakey memory.

All of this effort on my system got me to the point where Premier would at least let me do some editing; I don't use it for editing anymore though because the limitations created between it and the Matrox RT2500 card I purchased just weren't worth the hassle.

I took a look at your other post (the one with the exception error's) and it looks like that maybe the Vegas update didn't finish. Try this: Uninstall AND delete all Vegas files/folders. Then, install JUST the V4b update. Enter serial number and see if it works then. The error's you pointed out that the Mpeg files and some MS Window's DLL's are causing the problems. Don't have a virus, do you? That was suck. Also, I remember you (by stroke of bad luck)bought a pirated version of vegas some time ago. Are you trying to update the illegal copy (not accusing you of anything, just wondering if you got a new serial number from SoFo)?

NukleoN: Vegas usually has NO problems, with a few exceptions. What's the error's your getting? Also, I don't think Hyperthreading isn't built into P3's. You'd probely want to disable that. It might not be how much RAM you have, but it COULD be that your RAM is overheating. I used to have games crash all the time until I found out my Video Card was over heating. I had to add a cooling fan to my case. Are you over clocking anything? Is you RAM brand name or Generic? Generic RAM isn't as reliable as name brand. ALso, a fix for Vegas CAN'T be posted unless you e-mail/call tech support and post the exact problems like Chessmaster did. Post your error's. I belive you have 90 days free phone tech suppot, and Vegas 4 was realesed only 2 months ago (download), so give 'em a call. Unless of course you're using an illegal version. Then that wouldn't be a wise idea. :)

My boss said 2 years ago when I upgraded the work computer said "We GOTTA get the Matrox RT2500! It's realtime and everything! It's perfect!" That's what happens when your boss "does the research." I wish I was back on the Targa 1000 and Premiere 5.5 back at work. I can't STAND the Matrox 2500.

No this is a company version which they bought just over 1 month ago on my advice:) they bought VV4, which works perfectly. And so did VV3 demo.

I am not able yet to get my own educational version of VV4, so I now use my companies version, which they use to make DVD's to send to clients.

As for your install procedure, been there, done that.

Vegas 4b is the only thing causing problems, V4 works perfectly and has not had one error yet.

As for phone support you mentioned to other people, still to damn expensive from Australia, and as long as V4 works fine, then they and I will be content for now. Just would like to know what the hell is causing the problems with the update.

NukleoN,

"switching to software which freakin works....like Premiere 6.5 perhaps?"
"Whatever it is, Vegas is a big ol' crash monkey. It's amazing I can get anything done with this program"
"Vegas is the buggiest software I have ever used. It's laughably unstable"

Ouch! It's extremely unfortunate to be having the types of problems you are having. You've made some rather bold statements however, that are likely to bring you an unpleasant barrage of unpleasant replies if not outright flaming. (I'm trying to be polite here.)

Have you called tech support? That would be my first place to rant before coming to this forum to make broad statements that generally do NOT reflect the opinions and experiences of most Vegas users.

Please, take a deep breath, call tech support and methodically research your problems. Once you get squared away you'll find you made an exceptionally good investment in this fine program.

Mike

"Try this: Uninstall AND delete all Vegas files/folders. Then, install JUST the V4b update. Enter serial number and see if it works then."

I got the same advice from tech support because of being unable to render to RealMedia 8. RM9 works fine though. To be more exact they told me to uninstall and delete the shared plug-ins folder but I guess you can't go wrong in deleting all Vegas files/folders. Then install from 4.0b.

Best/Tommy

I love how people can post all these problems that they are having with vegas, and only 1 or 2 other people are having problems with it. They blame it on the software, if it was the software wouldn't everyone be having the same problem?? Sounds like more of a computer related problem to me.

I have had thius happen several times, but not always:

When in Vegas or DVD Architect, I can click on an AVI or MPG file from a dialog box or in the DVD-A media window, and <<BANG!>> the program is gone. Gone! No errors, no shutdown, no unloading. Just touching a media file in an explorer-like window blows me completely out of the application.

It seems to be happening less and less, and I haven't done anything to the computer. Weird.

I had the problem of DVD Wordshop dissapearing when trying to open a large MPEG file. But I have had no problems with VEGAS or DVD Architect. One of the reasons I went from Primere to Vegas is that it just doesn't not blow up. I would reinstall everthing.

First off, people say wipe everything and do a total fresh install, as I have stated, been there, done that.

I state once again to anyone reading this, VEGAS 4 is fine, it's just the V4b update, VEGAS 3 BETA was fine previously also!

So instead of someone posting and bagging the program as buggy and having other people bag him, can someone get back to my actual problem. Whether upgrading, or deleting the program and installing it from fresh, the problem remains. I am obviously assuming it is my system, and want some suggestions other than to a total re-install which clearly does not work.

Calling tech support is out of the question, becuase I live in a country far, far, away.

Thanks

First question, do you have any other sonic foundry program installed on your
machine and if so which one? If you have sound forge 6.0E, blow it out and any
other sofo program, then re-install V4.0B. Then re-install the other programs
and sound forge 6.0D only.


JJK

Hello everyone,

I want to apologize for being so publicly annoyed with Vegas, but yes, I am a bit worried about this software. It crashes all the time..I mean, I started it a few minutes ago, didn't even do anything and it crashed.

However, your responses have me thinking that it might be just me (apart from those having problems with the upgrade to 4b).

The thing is, my computer is not unstable otherwise. I run 2D, 3D and audio programs on it without incident. I do have a huge amount of name brand Toshiba RAM (1.6 GB) so it's possibly some of it is flaky. I have the latest OS and Service Pack (Win XP Pro with SP1), my video drivers are current (NVIDIA GeForce 4 4600ti) and my audio drivers are also up to the minute current (Delta 1010 by M-Audio with ASIO support).

Don't get me wrong, I love Vegas..I think it's brilliantly designed, and would be only too glad to think it's just my machine (hence, something I could fix). If this is case, I'll take your word for it. ;)

Chessmaster, I'll get off your thread..sorry bout that. :)

Thanks....(still looking for answers).

Nuke

>>]NukleoN: Vegas usually has NO problems, with a few exceptions. What's the error's your getting?<<

Hello Friar,

I am getting exception errors. They seem to be the same type every time, and the crashes happen every few minutes..it's incredibly annoying, but I am inclined to think perhaps it's just me. There's something about my system Vegas really doesn't like..I am a bit stressed now because I committed to Vegas, my video is nearly done but now it's a big ol' crash monkey.

>>Also, I don't think Hyperthreading isn't built into P3's.<<

You mean multi-threading? The P3 certainly does support this...I know that's why I bought a dual processor motherboard! ;) However, some programs vehemently despise dual processors..and I fear Vegas may be one of them.

>>You'd probely want to disable that.<<

I think you might be right...this is a very likely possibility. ;) I'll see about disabling the second CPU in my BIOS and see if that makes a difference.

> It might not be how much RAM you have, but it COULD be that your RAM is overheating.<

Not a bad suggestion...I haven't noticed any other programs having a problem with this, but then again, perhaps the video editing is wreacking havoc with something like my video card that other programs wouldn't expose.

>I used to have games crash all the time until I found out my Video Card was over heating.<

Hmm...maybe I can try turning off hardware acceleration on the video card.

> I had to add a cooling fan to my case. Are you over clocking anything?<

Nope.

> Is you RAM brand name or Generic? Generic RAM isn't as reliable as name brand. <

True...I have name brand, lifetime warranty RAM by Toshiba.

>ALso, a fix for Vegas CAN'T be posted unless you e-mail/call tech support and post the exact problems like Chessmaster did. Post your error's.<

I believe I have done that, but I will try it again.


> I belive you have 90 days free phone tech suppot, and Vegas 4 was realesed only 2 months ago (download), so give 'em a call. Unless of course you're using an illegal version. Then that wouldn't be a wise idea. :)<

LOL! You're right. :)

Thanks Friar...ah you've given me some ideas..thanks a lot.

NukleoN

To answer JJ questions, I have no other Sonic Programs, and I cannot understand why I would have a problem if 3 and 4 worked fine and with never any problems why 4b would cause me trouble.

Second to Nuk, I do not have a problem with you being in the threat, just so long as people still remember my problem and it does not get into a Vegas is crap thread type of fight.

I struggle to retain a modicum of objectivity as Vegas crashes every few minutes. ;)

Look, this may sound like BS, but every-time I run into odd and unpredictable errors in any CPU intensive program I STOP and do two things.

1> Download Prime95 and run its torture test
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm
2> Download and run Memtest
http://www.memtest86.com/

You say to yourself. "Bull, my machine is just fine". That could actually be bull. Machines, especially tweaked, can have computational problems that will not cause a general crash. We see this a lot with the mpeg and audio encoders, NLEs, and frameserving software. Last week I found out I had had a bad 256k section of Crucial ram for months without a problem showing until I did a specific memory intensive operation. (btw, installing XP will show bad memory with a "can't copy somefile" error. Makes you think you have a bad install disk)

So, before bashing Vegas, one of the most stable video programs in existence, test your ram and as an absolute imperative, run the Prime95 torture test. Don't be surprised if it show a problem. Fixing it usually involves tweaking the CPU or Mem voltage up one or two notches if your machine supports that. Or, doing a reverse speed tweak and slightly slowing down bus speed or going to less aggressive memory settings.

I had vegas video 3 for some time on a dual P3 board, no problems, but no real advantage over a single proc. Passed it on to my son, now using P4. Never any problems with V4, or V4.0b. I would check RAMs, cooling, power supply. Check especially +12V supply and CPU temperature. Usually one of the 2 P3 is hotter than the other. Try swithing RAM bars and limiting down RAM in render to RAM to a smaller value, just using one or two banks. Hope you find the bug!
A.

Follow DDoggs advice and run those tests. Your's certainly sounds like a hardware problem, and those 2 tests may ferret it out. You also might try removing all but one stick of ram, as many computers behave differently with multiple sticks, or even with which memory slot the stick is placed in. Harware problems frequently cause conflicts. If you can borrow a simple generic video card, swap it out with the one you're using and see if that fixes the problem. Heat can always be a problem, but if other programs aren't crashing, then it's unlikely this is the cause. Also, it sounds like you have a lot of stuff on your computer, and you may be having conflicts with different applications. You may have picked up some weird bit of software in your internet travels, (if you access the net thru your computer), that is causing the crashes. As a final and last resort, you could copy your current operating system on your c: disk over to another disk, using Norton Ghost or a similiar utility, and try a clean install of your OS and only vegas. I'd bet my butt you've either a hardware or software conflict, and doubt that it's coming from vegas..

Great suggestions all! I will do this and let you know what I find. :) I'm a heeyooge Vegas fan, so it's not the software which bothers me so much as the crashes..perhaps I was too quick to judge Vegas...I'll see if there's something else going on before dispensing judgement. ;)

N

I'm running the torture test and mem tests ASAP. Then I'll try whittling down the RAM to see if that helps. I've already tried disabling hardware acceleration on my video card (no change). So we'll see what happens. Thanks for the great advice.