[Help] Calibre 4.X eBook Viewer Broken

[Hakarune]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@Hakarune - simplest way to get a fresh calibre is to install the portable version, because it is self contained it won't use or overwrite anything from your existing install.

BR

But I would prefer a normal system installed app that is x64 that is setup correctly. If I did got portable route, then I'd want to delete all Calibre junk dangling on the system. Was hoping a complete wipe of everything Calibre could be the fix since I can now get the app open on its own, but through Calibre it crashes.

I can test using the portable and attach to my library or create a new one, but again if it does work, then some of the extra Calibre junk floating on the system is causing it clog and needs to be removed.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by Hakarune

No, it's a legitimate question. Especially when the solution is disable all QT hardware acceleration system wide, impacting performance of every other app that uses or could potentially use QT, or not use the program. That's an extreme "fix". If there is never going to be a fix for the issue, especially when a bug is submitted and within 24 hours is marked as invalid, then it seems like Win10 is bugs will be ignored going forward.

Since this is a Qt WebEngine issue, if you dont disable it system wide, then no Qt webengine based program will work. So I dont know what you are complaining about. Not to mention that you dont actually need to set the environment variable system wide, you can use a bat script to set it and launch calibre.

[gbm]

Originally Posted by Hakarune

But I would prefer a normal system installed app that is x64 that is setup correctly. If I did got portable route, then I'd want to delete all Calibre junk dangling on the system. Was hoping a complete wipe of everything Calibre could be the fix since I can now get the app open on its own, but through Calibre it crashes.

I can test using the portable and attach to my library or create a new one, but again if it does work, then some of the extra Calibre junk floating on the system is causing it clog and needs to be removed.

It is not a calibre bug, but a QT bug/blacklist.
I have no problem running calibre 4.14 on my windows tablet with an Atom Z3735F processor and Intel HD Graphics for Intel Atom Processor Z3700 Series.

All I can recommend at this time is to use the AMD Cleanup Utility to completely remove your drivers and then reinstall them.


For my system using:
Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon
Intel© Core™ i5-3470S
Radeon R5 430
bernie

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Hakarune

But I would prefer a normal system installed app that is x64 that is setup correctly. If I did got portable route, then I'd want to delete all Calibre junk dangling on the system. Was hoping a complete wipe of everything Calibre could be the fix since I can now get the app open on its own, but through Calibre it crashes.

I can test using the portable and attach to my library or create a new one, but again if it does work, then some of the extra Calibre junk floating on the system is causing it clog and needs to be removed.

Indeed, if portable works it would mean that your problem is not with Qt web engine or video drivers - that's all I was seeking to prove at the time.

If you want to nuke what you have,

• use the button in Preferences->Miscellaneous to open the calibre configuration directory;
• close calibre;
• delete the configuration directory (its normally in %APPDATA%);
• uninstall calibre,
• run a lightweight registry cleaner to get rid of the calibre related entries that Windows creates.

That won't remove your libraries, but it will remove all preference settings, customisations, plugins etc.

BR

[Hakarune]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Indeed, if portable works it would mean that your problem is not with Qt web engine or video drivers - that's all I was seeking to prove at the time.

If you want to nuke what you have,

• use the button in Preferences->Miscellaneous to open the calibre configuration directory;
• close calibre;
• delete the configuration directory (its normally in %APPDATA%);
• uninstall calibre,
• run a lightweight registry cleaner to get rid of the calibre related entries that Windows creates.

That won't remove your libraries, but it will remove all preference settings, customisations, plugins etc.

BR

Huzzah!! First person that actually was able to help me. Just got Calibre Portable, wiped the QT engine variable garbage and reset. Hooked up my library to the portable and it worked without issue.

Now to find out what previous Calibre danglers is causing the issue. I will follow through all the places you mentioned here and wipe them. Then try reinstalling. Thank you, half way to finding the issue.

[Hakarune]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Since this is a Qt WebEngine issue, if you dont disable it system wide, then no Qt webengine based program will work. So I dont know what you are complaining about. Not to mention that you dont actually need to set the environment variable system wide, you can use a bat script to set it and launch calibre.

Please see my previous post. The bug is not within QT or related to my video drivers. The bug is related to something with Calibre during upgrading from 3 to 4. The person on here helped find out that it wasn't a compatibility issue. The portable works without issue and without modifying my system. I'm now trying to hunt down all the Calibre install stuff and registry markers and appdata to delete and do a fresh install.

[Hakarune]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Indeed, if portable works it would mean that your problem is not with Qt web engine or video drivers - that's all I was seeking to prove at the time.

If you want to nuke what you have,

• use the button in Preferences->Miscellaneous to open the calibre configuration directory;
• close calibre;
• delete the configuration directory (its normally in %APPDATA%);
• uninstall calibre,
• run a lightweight registry cleaner to get rid of the calibre related entries that Windows creates.

That won't remove your libraries, but it will remove all preference settings, customisations, plugins etc.

BR

Thanks a bunch on the help. Uninstalled all Calibre and then Followed all the locations you said and deleted all files and then ran CCleaner for the registry cleaning and temp files and then installed Calibre 4 and now it's working. Thanks for the helping me out find how to get past the bug.

[Hakarune]

Originally Posted by gbm

It is not a calibre bug, but a QT bug/blacklist.
I have no problem running calibre 4.14 on my windows tablet with an Atom Z3735F processor and Intel HD Graphics for Intel Atom Processor Z3700 Series.

All I can recommend at this time is to use the AMD Cleanup Utility to completely remove your drivers and then reinstall them.


For my system using:
Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon
Intel© Core™ i5-3470S
Radeon R5 430
bernie

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Since this is a Qt WebEngine issue, if you dont disable it system wide, then no Qt webengine based program will work. So I dont know what you are complaining about. Not to mention that you dont actually need to set the environment variable system wide, you can use a bat script to set it and launch calibre.

Issue has been resolved. The bug is not QT related and is something to do with upgrading from 3 to 4. Something is not removed or deleted and was causing the crash issues. Following the advice of @BetterRed to completely kill all Calibre info on the machine and install 4.x after was the resolution. Now everything is working as it should be (though the new epub reader is kind of slow loading compared to previous versions of Calibre).

P.S.
Given that the bug is related to Calibre and you may want to undelete the bug report I submitted and link the solution to this forum thread for anyone else that may encounter the issue.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Hakarune

…(though the new epub reader is kind of slow loading compared to previous versions of Calibre).

Same for everyone, its a bit faster if the book has been opened previously and recently.

Glad you got it working, I had a similar problem with some almost new Toshiba laptops. I didn't have an opportunity to figure out the actual problem, it was when we were moving towards lockdown and the users were teachers.

Take care

BR