After Installing, Calibre won't Open

1616jlg · 03-17-2018, 07:04 AM

Hi All

Hoping somebody can help me...

I recently swapped out my old Windows 10 laptop for another and tried to reinstall Calibre however after installation I can't actually launch it...

I have tried installing Calibre 64 & 32 bit, even tried launching the portable Calibre and all refuse to launch at all. (I also don't see a new process in Task Manager either). Compatibility mode and running as Admin doesn't help either.

However, if I boot into safe mode, I can launch without issues with any of the versions (64/32 bit or portable). I know this means there is something on my machine causing issues, but I have no idea what it could be. I disabled (then uninstalled to be sure) my antivirus and have nothing abnormal in my startup services / applications.

I have ran the calibre-debug command, but I don't get much back. I'll paste what I get at the end of the message.

Any suggestions on how I can narrow down the cause?

C:\Program Files (x86)\Calibre2>calibre-debug -g
calibre 3.19 embedded-python: True is64bit: False
Windows-10-10.0.16299-SP0 Windows ('32bit', 'WindowsPE')
32bit process running on 64bit windows
('Windows', '10', '10.0.16299')
Python 2.7.12+
Windows: ('10', '10.0.16299', 'SP0', u'Multiprocessor Free')
Interface language: None
Turning on automatic hidpi scaling

kovidgoyal · 03-17-2018, 08:03 AM

There's no easy way to knwo what program is causing the issues. THe tedious way is to get a list of all running programs in safe mode and not in safe mode using the process explorer, then try eliminating them one by one starting with ones that are likely to interfere with other programs such as antivirus/firewall/shell extensions etc.

1616jlg · 03-17-2018, 07:15 PM

Hi kovidgoyal

Thanks for the reply. Ouch, that will take a while.

Is there a verbose debugging mode for Calibre which would highlight where the program got to before it terminates?

JSWolf · 03-17-2018, 07:36 PM

Boot in safe mod and if Calibre runs, it should be an easy job to find which program to delete forever.

1616jlg · 03-17-2018, 07:50 PM

Hi JSWolf

It works in safe mode, but the only applications that load on startup in normal boot mode are Microsoft products (Skype, OneDrive, etc...) I've disabled them from starting upon boot, but still no luck.

Years ago I used to work in IT support and I have never seen a freshly installed application not starting up unless the antivirus was involved (which as I said in my post, is disabled at the moment).. Hence why I'm at a bit of a loss

BetterRed · 03-17-2018, 08:31 PM

Could be a shell extension or device driver. Piriform's CCleaner provides a fuller picture of what's running than Task Manager provides, via its Scheduled Tasks and Context Menu Items tabs.

Which AV/Firewall some of the 3rd party products don't go away fully when they're disabled, the only way to be sure is to uninstall.

When you tried Safe mode, was that with or without the network. If without, try Safe mode with network, that might help narrow it down.

BR

1616jlg · 03-17-2018, 11:01 PM

I have tried Safe Mode with & without network and Calibre will open with no issues.

I uninstalled my Antivirus & disabled Windows Defender.

I ran CCleaner and disabled everything in all three of the tabs you suggested, still no luck.

Starting to sound like a driver, but what drivers are likely causes? Video or network?

DNSB · 03-17-2018, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1616jlg

I have tried Safe Mode with & without network and Calibre will open with no issues.

I uninstalled my Antivirus & disabled Windows Defender.

I ran CCleaner and disabled everything in all three of the tabs you suggested, still no luck.

Starting to sound like a driver, but what drivers are likely causes? Video or network?

You might want to check the video driver since the last message in your debug log was "Turning on automatic hidpi scaling". Not sure if this will work, but you could try holding down Shift while clicking on Restart and then choose "Troubleshoot", "Advanced", "Startup options", "Low resolution video" (the equivalent of the old "Restart in VGA" mode with an extra reboot added in.

Does the event viewer showing any error messages for the time when calibre was starting up?

I would also suggest using MSConfig (msconfig.exe). On the services tab, click on the Hide all Microsoft services box, sort the remaining services by running/stopped and making note of which services are running (I like to use screenshots for this). After you have that information, click on the disable all which will disable all the non-Microsoft services. Restart your computer and see if Calibre will then run in normal mode. If it does, re-enable a block of the disabled services, restart and see if Calibre still runs. If it doesn't, one of the newly enabled services is the guilty party, otherwise enable another block of services and try again.

Good luck!

kovidgoyal · 03-17-2018, 11:53 PM

No I'm afraid there is no more verbose debug mode in calibre. You can try using process monitor to see what system calls calibre does just before terminating that might give you some ideas.

1616jlg · 03-18-2018, 01:00 AM

Hi All

I followed DNSB's suggestions and Calibre will now load. The only problem, I can't work out what resolved the issue as I have now turned back on all services I disabled and the issue doesn't present again. I also booted with low resolution but have rebooted into normal mode again (still can't replicate my previous issue).

So... thanks everyone and apologies for not being able to point to exactly what was wrong. If the issue comes back, I'll perform the same troubleshooting steps and provide more detail with exactly what caused the issue.

rcentros · 03-18-2018, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1616jlg

Hi All

I followed DNSB's suggestions and Calibre will now load. The only problem, I can't work out what resolved the issue as I have now turned back on all services I disabled and the issue doesn't present again. I also booted with low resolution but have rebooted into normal mode again (still can't replicate my previous issue).

So... thanks everyone and apologies for not being able to point to exactly what was wrong. If the issue comes back, I'll perform the same troubleshooting steps and provide more detail with exactly what caused the issue.

Congratulations on getting this going. I felt bad I couldn't help but I've been using Linux for about ten years now and have to dragged in to work on my wife's Windows computer any more (and I'm about worthless when I do "help" her). With Linux, if there was an error starting Calibre, I would just type 'calibre' in a terminal and it would return the error, so at least I would know where to start.

At any rate, all's well that ends well. I'm glad you got it working.

DNSB · 03-18-2018, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1616jlg

Hi All

I followed DNSB's suggestions and Calibre will now load. The only problem, I can't work out what resolved the issue as I have now turned back on all services I disabled and the issue doesn't present again. I also booted with low resolution but have rebooted into normal mode again (still can't replicate my previous issue).

So... thanks everyone and apologies for not being able to point to exactly what was wrong. If the issue comes back, I'll perform the same troubleshooting steps and provide more detail with exactly what caused the issue.

Hmmm.... the we don't believe in miracles, we just depend on them fix.

It could be something was blocking part of Calibre's initial setup and now that has been completed, Calibre is able to run.

1616jlg · 04-05-2018, 12:03 AM

Hi All

I experienced the issue again where Calibre won't open. After knocking off services one by one, I found the culprit. There is a Wacom ISD Service on HP touch screen laptops that causes this issue (side note, it also stops VLC from loading).

Anyway hope it helps anyone who might experience the same issue in the future.

BetterRed · 04-05-2018, 02:14 AM

@1616jlg - FYI - from the calibre user manual FAQ section:

Quote:

You are using a Wacom branded USB mouse/tablet. There is an incompatibility between Wacom drivers and the graphics toolkit calibre uses. Try using a non-Wacom mouse.

See ==>> calibre freezes/crashes occasionally?

BR

1616jlg · 04-05-2018, 06:32 AM

Hi BR

I didn't see that in the FAQ before. It was odd because I don't have a Wacom branded mouse or drawing device, the service just came pre-installed with my HP EliteBook (must be for the touch screen, although touchscreen still works fine with the service off).

Anyway, thanks for pointing it out

03-17-2018, 07:04 AM	#1
1616jlg Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Device: none	After Installing, Calibre won't Open Hi All Hoping somebody can help me... I recently swapped out my old Windows 10 laptop for another and tried to reinstall Calibre however after installation I can't actually launch it... I have tried installing Calibre 64 & 32 bit, even tried launching the portable Calibre and all refuse to launch at all. (I also don't see a new process in Task Manager either). Compatibility mode and running as Admin doesn't help either. However, if I boot into safe mode, I can launch without issues with any of the versions (64/32 bit or portable). I know this means there is something on my machine causing issues, but I have no idea what it could be. I disabled (then uninstalled to be sure) my antivirus and have nothing abnormal in my startup services / applications. I have ran the calibre-debug command, but I don't get much back. I'll paste what I get at the end of the message. Any suggestions on how I can narrow down the cause? C:\Program Files (x86)\Calibre2>calibre-debug -g calibre 3.19 embedded-python: True is64bit: False Windows-10-10.0.16299-SP0 Windows ('32bit', 'WindowsPE') 32bit process running on 64bit windows ('Windows', '10', '10.0.16299') Python 2.7.12+ Windows: ('10', '10.0.16299', 'SP0', u'Multiprocessor Free') Interface language: None Turning on automatic hidpi scaling

04-05-2018, 12:03 AM	#13
1616jlg Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Device: none	Found It! Hi All I experienced the issue again where Calibre won't open. After knocking off services one by one, I found the culprit. There is a Wacom ISD Service on HP touch screen laptops that causes this issue (side note, it also stops VLC from loading). Anyway hope it helps anyone who might experience the same issue in the future.

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03-17-2018, 08:03 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,853 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	There's no easy way to knwo what program is causing the issues. THe tedious way is to get a list of all running programs in safe mode and not in safe mode using the process explorer, then try eliminating them one by one starting with ones that are likely to interfere with other programs such as antivirus/firewall/shell extensions etc.

03-17-2018, 07:15 PM	#3
1616jlg Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Device: none	Hi kovidgoyal Thanks for the reply. Ouch, that will take a while. Is there a verbose debugging mode for Calibre which would highlight where the program got to before it terminates?

03-17-2018, 07:36 PM	#4
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,957 Karma: 128903250 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Boot in safe mod and if Calibre runs, it should be an easy job to find which program to delete forever.

03-17-2018, 07:50 PM	#5
1616jlg Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Device: none	Hi JSWolf It works in safe mode, but the only applications that load on startup in normal boot mode are Microsoft products (Skype, OneDrive, etc...) I've disabled them from starting upon boot, but still no luck. Years ago I used to work in IT support and I have never seen a freshly installed application not starting up unless the antivirus was involved (which as I said in my post, is disabled at the moment).. Hence why I'm at a bit of a loss

03-17-2018, 08:31 PM	#6
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,567 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Could be a shell extension or device driver. Piriform's CCleaner provides a fuller picture of what's running than Task Manager provides, via its Scheduled Tasks and Context Menu Items tabs. Which AV/Firewall some of the 3rd party products don't go away fully when they're disabled, the only way to be sure is to uninstall. When you tried Safe mode, was that with or without the network. If without, try Safe mode with network, that might help narrow it down. BR

03-17-2018, 11:01 PM	#7
1616jlg Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Device: none	I have tried Safe Mode with & without network and Calibre will open with no issues. I uninstalled my Antivirus & disabled Windows Defender. I ran CCleaner and disabled everything in all three of the tabs you suggested, still no luck. Starting to sound like a driver, but what drivers are likely causes? Video or network?

03-17-2018, 11:53 PM	#9
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,853 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	No I'm afraid there is no more verbose debug mode in calibre. You can try using process monitor to see what system calls calibre does just before terminating that might give you some ideas.

03-18-2018, 01:00 AM	#10
1616jlg Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Device: none	Hi All I followed DNSB's suggestions and Calibre will now load. The only problem, I can't work out what resolved the issue as I have now turned back on all services I disabled and the issue doesn't present again. I also booted with low resolution but have rebooted into normal mode again (still can't replicate my previous issue). So... thanks everyone and apologies for not being able to point to exactly what was wrong. If the issue comes back, I'll perform the same troubleshooting steps and provide more detail with exactly what caused the issue.

04-05-2018, 06:32 AM	#15
1616jlg Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2018 Device: none	Hi BR I didn't see that in the FAQ before. It was odd because I don't have a Wacom branded mouse or drawing device, the service just came pre-installed with my HP EliteBook (must be for the touch screen, although touchscreen still works fine with the service off). Anyway, thanks for pointing it out