Magic failing to start up

[twilli003]

Magic is crashing on startup. The splash screen comes up and displays the message "Loading Magic...", then "Configuring audio...", then "Starting...", then it crashes.
It was previously working fine when I last used it a few weeks ago.
I tried downloading the latest version (2.3) and reinstalling the program to see if that might resolve the issue but the problem remains the same.

The following error appears in the Windows 10 Application event log.

Faulting application name: Magic.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5f847d4d
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000000000000
Faulting process id: 0x2594
Faulting application start time: 0x01d6cc39cfb49bed
Faulting application path: D:\Program Files\Magic\Magic.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: 4edea219-8f06-46b7-b7d2-fe0fe358c290
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

[Eric]

Look at viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1789&p=8221

[twilli003]

Deleting the MAGIC preferences folder as described in the post did not resolve the problem for me.

[Eric]

Ok then you might have to figure out what changed on your computer in the last few weeks. Perhaps a bad OpenGL driver was installed automatically, or something like that.

You may also want to try installing the Demo version of Magic and see if it has the same problem.

Or, try running Windows in safe mode to eliminate any issues from other programs: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-your-pc-in-safe-mode-in-windows-10-92c27cff-db89-8644-1ce4-b3e5e56fe234

Etc.

[twilli003]

The same problem occurs with the Demo version.

In safe mode, Magic also failed to start initially, but apparently for a different reason.
The failure occurred before getting to the starting... phase where the failure occurred in the normal mode.
The Application log indicated a failure to load the module ColorHSB.dll.

Faulting application name: Magic.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5f847d4d
Faulting module name: ColorHSB.dll_unloaded, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5f847be7
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00000000000064d8
Faulting process id: 0x568
Faulting application start time: 0x01d6ccc962acf265
Faulting application path: D:\Program Files\Magic\Magic.exe
Faulting module path: ColorHSB.dll
Report Id: cd6eeaed-dd3d-46e2-bf5b-86da3d603d36
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

I tried renaming the ColorHSB.dll file in the "Program Files\Magic\Modules\Color" folder to ColorHSB.dll.bak so it wouldn't attempt to load, but the problem then moved to the next dll, ColorRGB.dll.
I renamed this dll also and the problem then moved to another dll. I then renamed the Modules folder itself so that none of the module dlls would be loaded. After I did that, Magic launched successfully in safe mode.

So in safe mode I can get the program to start up if I rename the Modules folder.
However in normal mode it appears that the failure occurs at a later phase after the modules have been successfully loaded, so the program does not start even if I rename the Modules folder.

[Eric]

Ok, those really are not "normal" problems and I haven't seen anything like them in the 8 years Magic has been on sale. They could be due to anything.

I might recommend that you reinstall your operating system, or perhaps try partitioning your hard drive and installing a new version of your operating system there.

Or, perhaps run a very intensive virus/malware removal tool.

Or, do the opposite: disable any third-party anti-virus programs you installed.

For now, that's all I can suggest unfortunately... but I will try to think of other things.

[twilli003]

There was a crash dump file created under AppData\Local\CrashDumps.
Would that be of help? Should I send it to you?

[twilli003]

Is there a way to transfer the license to a different machine?

[twilli003]

Well I managed to get it working again.
Recently Windows updated to version 1909 on my machine and apparently that's what lead to the problem.
For now I've uninstalled 1909 and am back on Windows version 1903 and Magic is working on that version.

Here's a bit more info on what I did to find the problem.

I ran Magic in WinDbg (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/window ... load-tools) and got the following message in the debugger:

.......
.......
ModLoad: 00007ffc`1d3d0000 00007ffc`1d4c0000 C:\Windows\System32\PROPSYS.dll
ModLoad: 00007ffc`1dcf0000 00007ffc`1dd21000 C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntmarta.dll
ModLoad: 00007ffb`a2150000 00007ffb`a306b000 C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\igdlh64.inf_amd64_bdd37d808cfdf045\ig9icd64.dll
ModLoad: 00007ffc`1cff0000 00007ffc`1d004000 C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\resourcepolicyclient.dll
onecore\windows\directx\database\helperlibrary\lib\directxdatabasequeryimpl.cpp(67)\dxgi.dll!00007FFC1D9F7C45: (caller: 00007FFC1D9F7F05) ReturnHr(1) tid(4358) 80004002 No such interface supported
onecore\windows\directx\database\helperlibrary\lib\directxdatabasequeryimpl.cpp(248)\dxgi.dll!00007FFC1D9F816F: (caller: 00007FFC1D9F7CEE) ReturnHr(2) tid(4358) 80004002 No such interface supported
onecore\windows\directx\database\helperlibrary\lib\directxdatabasequeryimpl.cpp(231)\dxgi.dll!00007FFC1D9F7D16: (caller: 00007FFC1D9A89C1) ReturnHr(3) tid(4358) 80004002 No such interface supported
onecore\windows\directx\database\helperlibrary\lib\directxdatabasehelper.cpp(736)\dxgi.dll!00007FFC1D9A8A34: (caller: 00007FFC1D9F764C) ReturnHr(4) tid(4358) 80004002 No such interface supported
onecore\windows\directx\database\helperlibrary\lib\directxdatabasehelper.cpp(887)\dxgi.dll!00007FFC1D9F76F0: (caller: 00007FFC1D990635) ReturnHr(5) tid(4358) 80004002 No such interface supported
onecore\windows\directx\database\helperlibrary\lib\directxdatabasehelper.cpp(536)\dxgi.dll!00007FFC1D9F7818: (caller: 00007FFC1D9A8268) ReturnHr(6) tid(4358) 80004002 No such interface supported
(d04.4358): Access violation - code c0000005 (first chance)
First chance exceptions are reported before any exception handling.
This exception may be expected and handled.
00000000`00000000 ?? ???

I then searched for "onecore\windows\directx\database\helperlibrary\lib\directxdatabasehelper.cpp" and found this post where someone mentioned encountering a similar error with Windows version 1909:
https://forum.qt.io/topic/119328/qt-app ... -supported

[Eric]

Very interesting, but those are older versions of Windows 10... you could try updating past 1909 instead of going back to 1903. My Windows 10 system is currently on 2004 and I think 2009 (or 20H2) is the latest.

I'm sure I had 1903 at some point though, and it never had any problems...

Is there a way to transfer the license to a different machine?

Yes of course, that is what the Help > Deactivate menu option is for.

[twilli003]

Yes, I'm planning to update at a later date.
I was thinking of transferring the license to another computer since I could not get the program to run. The Help > Deactivate option would not have been available for me in that case.

[Eric]

In that case there is also https://magicmusicvisuals.com/licenseDeactivation.

[twilli003]

Ok, I didn't know about that one. Thanks.