PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Strange thing after Blue Screen of Death

While working in BIAB 2013 tonight I had an audio problem that crashed my PC with the Blue Screen. Mind you, I downgraded from Vista to Windows 7. Yes, downgraded. I have had nothing but trouble with this OS. None of which I experienced with Vista.

Anyway, here is what I am getting since rebooting my PC from the crash. Certain portions of the BIAB window are blacked out including the main screen where you enter the chords. I removed and reinstalled BIAB thinking there was something that the reboots were not correcting. Nothing is working. Has anyone experienced this with BIAB after recovering from a system crash in Windows 7! (Supposedly the superior OS)

I have a screen shot of what happened. I just cannot paste it to the post.

Hi Ricke,

Try the following ...

• Click on "Opt" (1) and choose "Preferences".
• When the "Preferences" window opens (2), select "Colors" (3).
• Now click on the drop-down box under the heading "Color Scheme" (4).
• From the list, select "Default" or "Default 256" (5).

This may or may not fix the display but it is certainly worth trying.

All the best,
Noel

There is a critical file in BB that the program must be able to write to when BB exits. This file controls a lot of different things, and if BB should freeze, crash or otherwise is unable to make a graceful exit, that file can easily become corrupted and that can cause a wide range of issues, some of them exactly what you report here.

Also, it is important that you run BB as Administrator in Win7, also important that BB NOT be installed to the "Program Files" folder, you should accept the default install at c: bb -- IF YOU INSTALL BB TO PROGRAM FILE IN THESE LATER OS'S THE OS DOES NOT LIKE ALLOWING AUTOMATIC WRITING TO FILES as happens when BB exits.

There is a routine inside BB that allows for us to automatically rebuild that critical file, though.

Inside BB, under the Options menu, perform a "Return to Factory Settings" - which will reassemble that file and should do exactly what it says, and very likely will allow you to see all thoswe things inside BB again.

Good idea to make sure you have not installed to Program Files folder first, and that you are logged on as Administrator.


--Mac

Thanks Noel,
Unfortunately, it did not work. I have a feeling this problem orignates from a Windows 7 crash. All other apps run fine. This is the only one that did not come back properly.
I mean to have their Tech Support look into this.

Thanks again!

UPDATE:
For future use:
I just spoke with a fabulous tech support person. Another reason for why I love this product! Great support staff.

The woman directed me to delete the "intrface.bbw" file from the directory. BIAB will recreate the file once you reopen it. All that needs to be done from there is to reassociate your drivers and MIDI compponents as you did in the initial set up.

Problem Solved! I am off to play!
THanks Tech Support at BIAB!

That is *exactly* what using the Return to Factory Settings button does, you were just told how to do it manually.

Matter of fact, there are two choices in Return to Factory, the first one resets eveything BUT the MIDI/Audio setup, which is often all that is needed, the second button rebuilds that critical file and also invokes the MIDI/Audio selection wizard, this one shold be used when there are also sound related problems.

Don't know why people seem to be loathe to use of that Return to Factory Settings button, the manual removal of the intrface.bbw file is exactly the same thing. But the button is faster, you don't have to close down BB nor search for that file in the folder.

The only time I recomnmend that manual method is when BB refuses to open. If it can't open, you can't get to the Return to Factory button...


--Mac

Thanks Mac. I thought uninstalling and reinstalling would have fixed it. But, after reinstalling it, I had to call tech support. Not sure how the uninstall works if this file is not wiped and replaced during the process.

It works that way so that when the file is not corrupted, a reinstall or upgrade to newer version does not overwrite the file and thus we can keep all of our personal preference settings.

Reinstall of BB is not generally necessary. BB itself does NOT write to the windows registry but is a standalone .exe. There used to be lots of programs like that, today they all write to the registry and serve to muck it up, slow it down, etc.

I love the fact that BB is not like that, especially when moving the USB drive with full program on it from machine to machine.

If you have problems in future such as the one reported here, keep that Return to Factory Settings in mind, it works.

We used to have to manually go into the folder, locate that file and move it out or delete it.

It was during a Beta Testing of one of the previous releases of BB, sometime back, when I made the suggestion to incorporate the one-button Return to Factory Settings routine, because we here on the forum were always having to type out the old manual routine to folks with problems. Peter apparently liked the idea and implemented same.

The thing to remember is that when and if you are ever working with BB and suffer an "ungraceful" exit of the program for any reason, such as Freeze, Crash, sudden Reboot due to power interrupt, etc. -- and upon restarting the program you find anything that is not working as it used to work, it is very likely that file, which BB must write to upon exit, has become corrupted. In all cases where you can still Open BB, the Return to Factory Settings button is very handy. Of course, if that file should become so corrupted that BB will not Open or Open fully so that you can get to the Return to Factory command, then the manual method of going inot the BB folder, locating the "intrface.bbw" file and either moving it out or deleting it will usually allow you to Open BB again.

Long Edit sessions in which quite a few song parameters get changed without a Save and other issues which may cause your machine to run low on resources can also sometimes mess up that file as well.

Have Fun,


--Mac

Mac,

This section of text needs to be in the help documentation for the program, if it's not already - and be made required reading for other developers. I also love programs that simply run off of .exe without writing to the registry.

It should also be a 'sticky' in this forum, or in 'Tips and Tricks'.

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Reinstall of BB is not generally necessary. BB itself does NOT write to the windows registry but is a standalone .exe. There used to be lots of programs like that, today they all write to the registry and serve to muck it up, slow it down, etc.

I love the fact that BB is not like that, especially when moving the USB drive with full program on it from machine to machine.

If you have problems in future such as the one reported here, keep that Return to Factory Settings in mind, it works.

We used to have to manually go into the folder, locate that file and move it out or delete it.

It was during a Beta Testing of one of the previous releases of BB, sometime back, when I made the suggestion to incorporate the one-button Return to Factory Settings routine, because we here on the forum were always having to type out the old manual routine to folks with problems. Peter apparently liked the idea and implemented same.
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