[RESOLVED] Gameex Hanging on startup. Is there a way to repair it?

[m1rock]

Hey alll I am having problems with gameex after doing a virus scan and I really dont wont to start from scratch Its in my arcade cab and Ive literally spent years tuning it and getting everything to work right. But after removing a few malware programs and some pups (none of which seemed linked to gameex. Gameex refuses to start.It boots, goes to a black screen, and when I open task manager it says "Not Responding". It also seems to take out parts of explorer.exe after launching gameex, as I loose my desktop background, all icons on my desktop, and the icon for the start bar. (the start bar still functions) When I close explorer.exe after this it does not automatically come back and I got to relaunch it from a new task in task manager. Im freaked out because Ive put endless hours of work into this arcade project and not sure what to do. Attached is my log.txtlog.txt

Thanks for any help.

[Draco1962]

Sorry you are having troubles. I would recommend downloading version 13.20 (latest - you have 13.18) and installing that directly and see if it remedies your issue. If not, please post a new log after the update has been installed and you have attempted to run. Let us know if the issues is resolved.

You may also want to backup your gameex path and your emulators, ROMs, snaps, etc. in the event that you may have to reinstall your OS and restore your systems. Not necessarily what you may want to do, but it may come down to it if it turns out that the issue is a problem with the OS due to malware. Good luck!

[m1rock]

Thanks for the reply. Question though. I payed for a registered version of gameex. If I download a new version how do I let it know I am a registered user? Its been so long that I dont even remember how I activated it. And will I have to manually set everything up again? Do I got to uninstall my current install of gamex first? Man I can feel myself getting arthritis already...lol

[m1rock]

Installed gameex 13.20. It looks like I lost my registered features. log.txtThe nag screen counts down to one and then...same thing. Program freezes. Shit. Everything else on my computer works fine. The emulaters work fine. Just gameex refuses to work Uploaded is my new log file as requested.

[slavearm]

Only thing goofy I see (I am not a great expert, but I have been staring at these log files since thursday.) Is that it is failing to load your emulator group. Perhaps try disabling them in the configuration and see if that works?

[m1rock]

Ill take any ideas at this point. How do I do that? Also perhaps related but launching Gameex still makes my windows start menu icon disappear. Everything else with the OS runs as normal though, and even though its gone I can still access my start menu by clicking where its supposed to be.

[slavearm]

Run setup wizard, select custom, check off emulator groups, click the right arrow (next type deal), select emulator group 1 from the drop down, then select enabled : no, also do this for 15 since that seems to be the other one it is trying to load.

[m1rock]

I think I can figure out my emulator groups. I combined mame with a windows slot used to launch shortcuts for arcade games I dont have emulated on my pc because I use external hardware to run them but wanted to keep them in my arcade game list. I dont think thats the case though because ive had that group for weeks.

[m1rock]

IE a png file launches on certian arcade games explaining that they need to be launched externally. Thats all my emulator group is. A windows filler slot launching png's

[m1rock]

log.txtdisabled groups. Same deal. New log file attached Thanks again for looking into this for me. My cab is a big deal for me. I spend allot of countless hours working on it and have dumped thousands into it trying to make it the perfect retro gaming machine.

[Draco1962]

Installed gameex 13.20. It looks like I lost my registered features. log.txtThe nag screen counts down to one and then...same thing. Program freezes. Shit. Everything else on my computer works fine. The emulaters work fine. Just gameex refuses to work Uploaded is my new log file as requested.

Send an PM to Tom Speirs regarding your regkey not working on a downloaded install of 12.20 over previous version 12.18. Let him know whether or not this was a 1 year or lifetime registration.

Hopefully we will be able to help you get this sorted and save you from some joint pain!

[m1rock]

Thank you. I will get in contact with him. But first and foremost I need to find out why Gameex is hanging on startup. Im currently looking through my event viewer for clues.

[m1rock]

Well event viewer didnt give me any info but I found that if I launch gameex and after the nag screen counts down to 1 if I let it sit for 20-30 minuets gameex eventually launches with the nag screen running in the background. Unfortunately it appears all my hard work and customizations are gone as all my custom menus are gone and none of my emulators show up. Why it hangs for 30 minuets then launches I dont know. Found my old gameex key and installed it again but it didnt work. I hope I can salvage this. I cant even began to remember how to set up half the stuff I had set up.

[Adultery]

I'm not sure but are you running more than one install? Or did you install in a different location? Are you sure you ran the right reg key? Did you run it as administrator?

I think the problem is a location issue personally. Do a search for gameex.exe or gameex.ini and see if either pulls more than one result.

[m1rock]

Searched Gameex.exe and there was only one instance of it so It did install over my previous version, ditton for .ini I only have one reg key, but I think because I only subcribed for one year of updates thats why it isnt working. Is there a way I can roll back the install or something?

[m1rock]

_{well tom gave my my old version back and it did the trick. all my stuff was where it was supposed to be. Still Gameex takes 20 minuets to load. Very strange.}

[Adultery]

I imagine if you were to register it that problem will go away. :-)

[m1rock]

I imagine if you were to register it that problem will go away. :-)

I am running a registered version. I bought my full featured gameex last year. The reason I got the nag screen was the one guy had me install 13.20 as an attempt to fix it while my registration is only good through 13.18 So I reinstalled 13.18 and everything works except it still hangs at startup for about 20 minuets before it starts. Thats my problem.

[Adultery]

Oh okay, gotcha.

[m1rock]

Well Gameex stopped hanging now for no apparent reason. So thats cool...I guess. Later when someone browse the forums with the same problem my advice would be to just grab a beer and walk away until Gameex becomes self aware and fixes the problem on its own.

[GeorgeT]

kinda related. I have GameEX running in my cab, hadn't booted it for months, then tried it last night and it loaded the splash scrren and intro movie then went to a black screen a few times. I checked the log and didnt see anything odd. tried booting the GameEX lite exe and that worked, so re-tried and GameEX booted fine. not sure what the hang-up was but glad it's back to working

[Adultery]

You're probably behind on your updates too if you haven't used it for months. :-)

[Draco1962]

I am running a registered version. I bought my full featured gameex last year. The reason I got the nag screen was the one guy had me install 13.20 as an attempt to fix it while my registration is only good through 13.18 So I reinstalled 13.18 and everything works except it still hangs at startup for about 20 minuets before it starts. Thats my problem.

That is a usual request to upgrade to the latest version when troubleshooting an older version to ensure you have the latest bug fixes. As you noted in subsequent posts, you have a 1 year subscription which you suspected was expired. Reupping your 1 year subscription or going to a lifetime subscription may have resolved the issue with the current version. I still suspect you may encounter further issues if you were unable to catch all malware so will recommend that you backup everything in the event you need to reimage your machine and reinstall.