BLACK SCREEN WITH NEW RELEASE Version 1.8.6.1473

[francesco]

After removing the old  Version 1.8.6.1457 I downloaded and installed the new one  1.8.6.1473.
The screen is completely black and the modules are not loaded .
I reinstalled the old one and it works perfectly.
I repeated the downloading process and installation of the new version 3 times with the same result.
So far I decided to stay with old one which works.
Do you have an idea about the possible causes and how to remove them?
I would like to have the new version working.
I am using Windows 7 on 64bit PC

Thanks for support
 

Francesco

[Juan Conejero]

Hi Francesco,

This is a machine-specific issue that we cannot reproduce. This does not happen under normal working conditions. It is probably being caused by wrong or outdated graphics drivers, damaged or wrong system components, or conflicting third-party applications.

Please note that Windows 7 and 8.1 are no longer supported by current 1.8.6 versions of PixInsight. We strongly recommend you upgrade your computer to Windows 10.

[steve banbury]

Hi--I would also like to report the same experience of a black screen  under the new release version 1.8.6.1473 on my Windows 7 64 bit ASUS computer.  If I click in the typical areas where the drop down menus are located, the drop down menus display. When I attempt to restart the program, I get the attached error message.  I will try to revert to the previous release.

[Juan Conejero]

This problem has nothing to do with PixInsight, besides the obvious fact that it prevents PixInsight from working normally. Your Windows installation lacks a required system file, as the error message clearly says.

That error message is not being generated by PixInsight, but by your operating system. Reinstalling the application, as the message wrongly suggests, won't help because we cannot distribute the file in question, which should be provided by your Windows system. So blame Microsoft for their inconsistent maintenance.

The following Microsoft support article may help you:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/missing-api-ms-win-core-dlls/d99d1368-0f92-43db-bbdb-7d080f1f96e9

However, the only real solution for these problems is a clean installation of Windows 10.

[steve banbury]

Thank you for your response.  I'm not into blame--just recovering functionality.  Will look into acquiring and installing Win 10 on my laptop.  Alternatively can you suggest how to reinstall an older version of PixInsight which retains full compatibility with Win 7?

Cheers

[Juan Conejero]

Alternatively can you suggest how to reinstall an older version of PixInsight which retains full compatibility with Win 7?

The old 1.8.5 version of PixInsight, as well as all updates released for it on all platforms, is still available on our software distribution server. Since it is based on older development tools, 1.8.5 has better support for Windows 7 and 8.1 than current 1.8.6 versions.

[steve banbury]

Thank you Juan--I reinstalled  Ver 1.8.5, and can once again use Pixinsight on my laptop!   I had been installing all updates on my laptop and my Win 10 desktop, but only checking to see that the splash screen initialized.  The laptop only gets used when I am in the field at a remote dark site, and this past winter didn't afford any such excursions.   Thank you again for your support!

Very best--
Steve

[francesco]

I did the same

thanks for reply

[KeithBC]

Thanks for this useful thread.  Same problem: black screen with v1.8.6 on Win7. 

The nag-box on 1.8.5 that's been telling me for six months to upgrade really ought to have mentioned to NOT DO IT in a Win7 machine.

I reinstalled 1.8.5, and all is well.  Phew!

[Juan Conejero]

Despite the fact that we no longer support Windows 7 and 8.1, many users run PixInsight 1.8.6 on Windows 7 machines without problems. The issues you are getting are being caused, with high probability, by a wrong OpenGL implementation in your graphics drivers.