Picaxe Editor stopped running on my Windows 10 computer

PhilHornby

PhilHornby

Senior Member
HughM said:
Under NET 3.5 when I used Task Manager to force stop PE6, the program would show up at the top of the screen under "Apps". After forcing the use of NET 4.8 I find that PE6 shows up further down the screen under "Background Processes"
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I don't think it's significant - it's probably just a consequences of the changes in the different versions of .NET. (I'd not noticed, because I don't use that tab in Task Manager - I use "Details" (where you can sort the columns to better effect).

OK - a couple more thoughts. Do the "Logicator for PICAXE 6" shortcuts work any better? (They both invoke Picaxe Editor, but with different command line options - sending it through different code paths...)

Also, how about trying Picaxe Editor in "Safe Mode". (Revert to .NET Framework v3.5, so we're not making too many changes at once).

Quickest way to "Safe Mode" I know is via 'run' MSCONFIG.EXE, then choose "Safe Boot" on the 'Boot' tab. (In my case, it persisted across a reboot and I had to run msconfig again afterwards, to undo "Safe Mode" - despite not setting the "Make all boot settings permanent"!

(Shutdown /o /r can take you to Safe Mode as well, via the startup menu - I think the old days of pressing F8 during boot are long gone...)
 
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bodoaction

New member
I have the same issue on 2 separate laptops, and it seems the mentioned Windows Update is to blame. One is running windows 10, the other windows 11. I only get the splash screen, and nothing else. Though I see it does something in task manager, but nothing happens.
 
PhilHornby

PhilHornby

Senior Member
FWIW - I installed Windows 10 x64 Home 21H2 (19044.1165) into a new Hyper-V Virtual Machine.
  • I enabled MS .NET Framework 3.5 and installed Picaxe Editor v6.1.0.0
  • Picaxe Editor ran without any obvious issues.
  • I then patched Windows 10 to the latest version 22H2 (19045.2604) and re-tested.
No issues found...
 
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PhilHornby

PhilHornby

Senior Member
I can reproduce this hang during launch... o_O​

I'm not asserting that this is the only explanation - but it is reproducible at will.

Avast anti-virus has been mentioned in this thread, so I thought I'd try a quick test.

I installed the free version into an existing Hyper-v Virtual Machine. Unlike the one mentioned above, this one is running Windows 10 Pro and contains many of my preferred customisations and other software.

Before installing Avast, I did a quick bench-mark of Picaxe Editor starting; the result was approx. eight seconds.

With Avast installed, I never saw Picaxe Editor successfully launch - just the splash screen, announcing itself.

Interestingly, disabling Avast (through its own interface) made no difference. Likewise, rebooting in Safe Mode made no difference (even though I could see that the huge collection of Avast processes were no longer running). Adding an exception for the "Revolution Education" directory tree, equally had no effect.

Uninstalling Avast fixed the problem - even before the 'PC' was rebooted.

Note: Using Sysinternals Process Explorer, I could see that Picaxe Editor (when stuck) was consuming about 12% CPU and was within the module MSCORWKS.DLL (presumably part of .Net Framework).
 
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HughM

Member
Hi Phil,

Not sure how a bloke in Canada can buy a bloke in the UK a beverage or 10 of his choice but I would if I could. After reading your latest post I uninstalled my antivirus program (AVG, which I didn't realize was Avast) and the problem immediately disappeared. When I re-installed AVG the problem returned. I will try fiddling with AVG tomorrow to see what might be causing the issue. Failing success with that I will replace AVG with another antivirus. It appears that the problem is not NET or Windows related but something caused by the antivirus. Thank you so much for your persistance with this. Cheers, Hugh
 
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HughM

Member
As a follow up to my previous post, this morning I removed AVG from my computer and replaced it with Bitdefender. I have had no issues with PE6 since. I'm not endorsing or denigrating either anti-virus program but reporting my experiences in the event it is helpful to others using PE6.
 
hippy

hippy

Ex-Staff (retired)
Many thanks to PhilHornby for identifying the issue with Avast/AVG and also thanks to HughM, here and JackBurns in the other thread, for confirming it also appears to be the reason for the hanging at start-up and inability to access Open and Save dialogues they were experiencing.

It is bizarre that nothing short of removing Avast/AVG allowed PE6 to get past the initial splash screen but anti-viruses seem to get their hooks in everywhere. At least removing it cleared the problem, and it didn't leave something stubbornly refusing to go and the problem persisting as has been seen to be the case sometimes.

I presume some recent update to that caused it to pull the rug out from under PE6's feet, possibly baulking on something within Windows which PE6 relies on rather than an explicit part of PE6 itself.

That MSCORWKS.DLL does seem to be a part of .Net so perhaps a .Net issue isn't entirely incorrect, though not necessarily .Net nor Windows fault.
 
PhilHornby

PhilHornby

Senior Member
hippy said:
for confirming it also appears to be the reason for the hanging at start-up and inability to access Open and Save dialogues they were experiencing.
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It is pretty odd that there were two different symptoms.
It is bizarre that nothing short of removing Avast/AVG allowed PE6 to get past the initial splash screen but anti-viruses seem to get their hooks in everywhere
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That is very concerning - Windows "Safe Mode" doesn't help at all. I have a suspicion (still investigating!), that it's using some kind of root-kit technology - or directly patching Windows DLLs :eek:
 
hippy

hippy

Ex-Staff (retired)
PhilHornby said:
I have a suspicion (still investigating!), that it's using some kind of root-kit technology - or directly patching Windows DLLs :eek:
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Anti-virus has seemed to me to be "root-kit" for a long while now. It perhaps doesn't have much choice but to dig in deep when developers of OS's , Browsers and whatnot are trying to keep them out for their own competitive advantage, to sling ads, deliver telemetry or whatever, or because they want control, or really are just trying to protect their users. It's not hard to be sympathetic to arguments that "anti-virus is the real danger" as we have just experienced.
 
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bodoaction

New member
PhilHornby said:
Are you able to use "System Restore" or to remove individual updates to prove this?
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Unfortunately no. That particular update is not possible to roll back, at least not as I can find any way to do. One of the laptops is in daily use, but the other has just sat there for a few weeks, and not been uses as such. They both have the same symptoms, only showing splash screen and nothing else. Only common demoniminator is the windows update, as far as I can see.
 
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bodoaction

New member
bodoaction said:
Unfortunately no. That particular update is not possible to roll back, at least not as I can find any way to do. One of the laptops is in daily use, but the other has just sat there for a few weeks, and not been uses as such. They both have the same symptoms, only showing splash screen and nothing else. Only common demoniminator is the windows update, as far as I can see.
Click to expand...
Welll, I stand corrected - just uninstalled Avast as mentioned above (which I read after replying), and then it works!
 
V

vernon

New Member
This is wierd. I have just returned from hospital after 5 days and was looking to use the old win7 laptop, but went onto my win10 laptop to see if PE6 was working,which it appeared not to.
I therefore tried the patch but nothing happened so I removed both NET 3.5 and NET 4.8. I then rebooted as required and in doing so it did update KB5022834. I then reinstated NET3.5 and hey presto PE6 now works again. No idea what changed.
 
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vernon

New Member
Are you able to remove those updates or do a "System Restore" to prove it?

It's very odd that it's not affecting everyone. I've tried to reproduce the problem on five seven different PCs now - to no avail.

Sticking with the theory that it's .NET related, I've revised my instructions on how to get Picaxe Editor to use a later version of .NET Framework. I was trying to force it to use V4.8.0 (which is probably already installed), but couldn't - so opted for v4.8.1 instead. I'm not convinced v4.8.1 is a good choice (it's not recommended by Microsoft), so I revisited the v4.8.0 scenario. It turns out, that you simply have to specify v4.8, not v4.8.0 :rolleyes:

So:

Force use of v4.8.0 by creating the file:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Revolution Education\PICAXE Editor\PicaxeEditor.exe.config (assuming the default installation location).

Cut and paste the following, into the file (not the "XML:" bit!) :-

XML:

<?xml version ="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.8"/>
</startup>
</configuration>

Assuming it's already installed, Picaxe Editor should just silently start to use it. You can prove it is, by removing v3.5.


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