My Studio 12 Plus will not open. When double-clicking, circle spins a few times then nothing! Obvious solution (after a few restarts) would be to re-install but it's not that easy. My disc is for Studio 9 that I purchased over 10 years ago! I purchased additional upgrades over the years that got me up to version 12-Plus. (I also downloaded a patch and a driver at some point.) I looked up my emails from Pinnacle and have several past key codes. Should I use install disc, then enter all the codes on the support site? Or can I just do a full one-time download from Pinnacle? If so, please walk me through the process? As for the reason it won't open... My hard drive became full and I was unable to do some important work, so I went through and deleted as many extraneous files as I could to enable me to complete the project. I found lots of Studio files that I thought were parts of past projects and NOT operational files. However, I MAY have deleted a few that in retrospect may be part of the program. Is there a way to inventory the files necessary to run the program, and where they should be located? (Side note: my computer has one user - me! Pinnacle seems to want to place files and folders in the Public User folder of my hard drive. Why???) Thanks for any replies!

Why not first go to the S12 program in the Windows control panel\ Programs and features and try a repair.

Even if you have to reinstall, the key codes should still be in the Pixie folder so will not need re-entering. 

The Control Panel Repair option did not work. After several minutes of installing / repairing it prompted me to load my Studio 12 Disc - which I don't have. I tried loading my Studio 9 disc but the files it was looking for could not be found. Should I uninstall Studio 12 and start over with my Studio 9 disc? How will I get the upgrades? I don't know what you mean by "Pixie Folder." Thanks. 

Support for Studio 12 stopped many years ago, so if you don't have a Studio 12 disc nor the upgrade files you downloaded at that time, you will not be able to ever install/repair your installation.

You should have burned the files to DVD after you downloaded them.

You might be able to install version 9 from the disc but you'll have to completely uninstall 12 first.   

Thanks for the reply. Did not want to hear that! I will try to reinstall my Studio 9 disc and re-enter all of my upgrade key codes to try to get back to where I was. My Studio 12 Plus worked fine and did everything I needed it to do. I have a bad feeling I will never get back to where I was and I'll be forced to purchase something a second time!!! BTW I still have LOTS Pinnacle of files and folders in my system. I moved them to my external XD in preparation for the uninstall. Maybe you can tell me how to figure out which ones will convert Studio 9 to Studio 12 Plus. They were located in my PROGRAM FILES, DOCUMENTS, PLUGINS, and PROGRAMS folders. They are 945MB total size. (I did see one labelled "Pixie.") You guys have been very helpful solving problems I've had over the years. This one is a doozie! ... Before I take the plunge... Is there ANYTHING else I can try to do? What would make a program unable to open???

ADDENDUM TO LAST POST: It occurred to me that while purging files to make HD space, I also moved some things around. Is it possible that I have everything I need for Studio to work but it just can't find something because it is in a different location than the last time I used Studio??? If so, how would I fix that? Just wondering...

I'm really confused as to what you have been doing. If you look at the C:\ drive in WE there is a list of folders of which some are hidden (for good reason). Installed programs generally go in the Program files and Program files (x86) folders. YOU SHOULD HAVE NO REASON TO GO TO THOSE FOLDERS.  The only folder of interest to you should be 'Users' from which there is access to the Public and other user accounts. Go to C:\ Users\ {you} for instance and there will be your My documents, My Videos etc. If you have been trying to make space then only user created files should have been purged (I prefer to say deleted).

There is perhaps one tiny glimmer of hope. All deleted files will have gone to the recycle bin provided the file size was not too large. If the recycle bin itself has not been emptied, you could try restoring all the files in the recycle bin.

I know it is a bit late to say this but some people backup important downloads and discs. They will also back up a hard drive as a disc and/ or file image in case of disasters such as this or a general disc failure. I know it means buying extra external drives but how much value do you place on the contents of your computer.

ADDED

If some files have been moved to another drive, the only hope is to move them back to their original locations. Even then, it still might not work without a repair and since you do not have the disc .....

David, Thanks for following up. My apologies, my posts in this thread have had too many questions. I should tackle one issue at a time.

First and foremost, Studio will not open. When I try, the cursor spins a few times then nothing happens (nothing going in task manager either.) I don't know why this suddenly stopped but I suspect I erred when deleting extraneous files to make room in my hard drive which was full. I deleted all past Studio Projects and Disc Images (they were in several locations.) I then emptied the recycle bin.  

I didn't touch anything in the PROGRAMS, PLUGINS, or PROGRAM FILES folders. But I did notice that Pinnacle had stuff in both users folders (Mine and Public.) I may have moved something from one to the other during the deletion frenzy. Maybe Studio can't find something it needs because it was moved. I don't know what files/folders SHOULD be in Public and which should be in Mine.

I tried the Control Panel / Repair option but was prompted to insert my Studio 12 disc, and I only have a Studio 9 disc. I tried it anyway but the repair failed. ( I still have past patches, drivers and all my upgrade key codes - I will follow up on the attempt to re-install after I try all my options to repair first.)

 So my question is: Is there a way to fix my damaged Studio 12 Plus?

 

Frankly, I think you are dead in the water but let's give it one more go. I have to say I do not have S12 so I might not be entirely accurate.

If the desktop S12 icon does not work, and you have not touched  C:\ Program Files (x86)\ Pinnacle\ Pinnacle 12\ Programs, continue the path to the file Studio.exe. Double click on the file to see if it opens the program. If it does, fine, close the program, go to the desktop and delete the existing icon link. Go back to Studio.exe, right click and select 'Send to' and 'Desktop (create shortcut)'. See if the new shortcut opens S12.

When a program is installed, links are established (registry settings) that enable the program to work with Windows and hence access other programs or hardware. Any corruption will cause the program to fail and the only remedy is a repair or reinstall.

Program Data (as its name implies) holds program related data for the installed programs. It is normally a hidden folder so if you cannot see it, you are unlikely to have interfered with it. I have at least 6 Pinnacle related folders. In 'Pinnacle' is the Pixie folder which you might want to copy elsewhere for safekeeping (it could save your life if there are problems re-registering). Another folder is 'Studio 15' which holds the Media and Render files for that program. I am guessing that S12 may use the same location although it can (and most people do) move the location elsewhere.

I am assuming that all the content of Titles, Menus, Transitions etc are in the C:\ Users\ Public\ Public Documents\ Pinnacle\ Content folder. Deletion of anything here should not stop the program but of course there would be missing content.

Your projects will be in a Pinnacle or Pinnacle Studio folder in C:\ Users\ [you]\ My Documents. The project files are very small and deleting these does not make any difference to disc space.

Thanks agin. I appreciate you staying with me on this. Your suggestion did not work. But on a hunch I tried opening Studio 12 in safe mode. It got 60% open then I got the "NO IRQ" message. After restarting to normal mode, I tried again to open Studio. It began to open, the gave the "No IRQ" message. After ignoring that, I continued to open all the way to 100% then immediately got the error message "Windows encountered an error and will close." The IRQ issue happened before, and my instructions for fixing it have a link for a driver that is no longer valid. It also explained where to place that driver and I see now that I definitely have moved folders from the PUBLIC folder to STEVE'S folder during my HD cleanup. Does anyone know where I can download the IRQ driver I need? AND can anyone give me a breakdown of which folders go to which users? (I may just copy paste all pinnacle folders into BOTH users folders!) Thanks to anyone who can help!!

I appreciate you have to try things but the more you change, the higher the probability that you will do something from which there is no return. You really do need to back up the drive as a disc image so that it is possible to go back to a 'restart' position to try other things by reinstalling the disc image.

After that, try restoring the computer to an earlier time, a Windows repair, and Microsoft 'FixIt' .

The 'No IRQ' error should be listed in the Event Viewer and may give a clue which IRQ and hardware it relates to. Similarly, what error did Windows encounter when it closed.

The only solution will be to purchase a new Studio12 disc so you can repair your program. I found a Studio 12 disc for under $20.00 dls on ebay. I don't know what version it may be, but if you are interested in buying it you may want to contact the seller first to see if he knows the version type (Ultimate, etc.).

NOTE: I have another active thread attempting to REPAIR Studio 12. Being that I may be unable to repair, I need to start preparing for a re-install. I purchased Studio 9 many years ago. Since then I have purchased several upgrades and features and it now lives in my PC as Studio 12 Plus (albeit damaged!). My concern is if I uninstall and try to re-install with an old disc I may lose the features I have purchased!  

 The features I NEED to keep are the ability to make audio-only MP3 files, to edit / burn HD (blu-ray) videos with the AVCHD file option, effects that allow pan/zoom of photos and rotation of video clips, and frame grabber that can create a JPEG. I have the following keycodes: DivX, MPEG 4 Codec, H.264, Dolby 2 Ch, MP3, Dream Glow, MPEG 2 Codec. Does anyone know if those features are part of those upgrades? I also have many Pinnacle & Studio files saved to an external HD. Maybe I can locate what I need among those?

P.S. After the uninstall, can I safely delete any remaining Pinnacle or Studio files left behind? (In my other post, you'll see I had some files inadvertently moved so they may not be found by the uninstall.) Thanks in advance!

All you can reinstall with the Studio 9 disc is Studio 9. Studio 12 is a different program and to install that requires the Studio 12 disc. An upgrade is not an upgrade in the software from one version to another, it only means that the price of S12 was discounted because you owned a previous version. In practical terms it means that the S9 serial number needs to be presented when installing S12 as a qualification for the upgrade.

If you know where your pixie file is at you can just copy it and save it in your external hard drive or USB drive. You may also want to make a copy of all your projects you have. If you don't need them anymore just skip this part.

Uninstall all Studio programs from your computer and also manually delete all files in your computer.

Install Studio 9 into your computer.

Install Studio 12 in your computer. (I sent you a link to buy Studio 12 if you don't have one available in your previous thread).

UPDATE: You have only 1 hr left for item to end today if you are interested in buying it.

Find the pixie file in your computer. Delete it and replace it with the one you copied and you should have all your purchased features.

or

If you can't find the pixie file, on the help tab click regenerate activation keys and you should have your new activation keys for your purchased features.

Thanks. Let me clarify. There is no Studio 12 disc. Only Studio 9. Purchasing the add-ons is how I got upgraded to Studio 12. I have the activation codes listed above. But they are greek to me and I need to know if one of those is the upgrade to v12. If I cannot successfully reinstall Studio 12 back to my computer, than I'm back to square one in my other post - trying to fix the damaged version. 

"I have the activation codes listed above. But they are greek"

If you have the activation key and it is in greek, I believe you have a pirated version of Studio 12. If you had the original disc your activation keys should have been in the english language (or whatever language you installed your program). You need to buy the original Studio 12 disc to install it into your computer. As I can remember, there were no add-ons that I can think of that you could purchase so you could have gotten S12. 

My bad for using a vague expression... The phrase "greek to me" is an expression that means I don't understand it. My material is all English, and legit! I have the above mentioned key codes, as well as en email from Pinnacle that has an activation code for Studio 12... but NO STUDIO 12 disc. I NEVER had one. I also have all my Pinnacle and Studio files saved to an external HD. I just need to know how to use those files, my Studio 9 disc AND all of those codes and files to either fix or reinstall my Studio 12 Plus. Thanks for staying with me!

If you never had a disc then S12 must have been a download.

BTW Ramon's (R-Vera) native language is Spanish (which is just as 'greek' to me as greek is to him )

Hello David,

I think steve had downloaded the Studio 12 from a peer to peer program because I have seen it before that the activation keys are only provided in a foreign language (Russian or Greek). The only way to find out is for steve to send a PM to glus or someone who has authorization to check if he had registered studio 12 before. (my opinion).

Hi Ramon, what Steve means is that the sequence of the letters in the serial keys he has are meaningless to him. In other words he does not know which key is which.

Steve, if any of those keys is the one for S12 then it is going to be 'Dream Glow'

My apologies to steve because I did not know that he already had posted a correction to his problem.

I am not quite sure but to send a PM to glus to see if he can help him out with Studio 12 download. I am not sure if there might be one available since it was a long time ago that it was released.

My Reply to Steve's PM to me:

Hi, Steve

I've moved on & Produce 3D Animation Films these days & seldom visit the Studio Forums, although I still use S12 & S16 for Post 3D Animation Program (iClone) Production Editing. 

I've had a brief look at both of your Threads that are repetitive & concur with the Replies in both Threads.

That being-said, your problem "might" be recoverable.

IMO, you need to decide which Thread you're going to continue with & get the other one closed, to avoid duplication. One of the Moderators can do that.

I'll have a go with questions & answers using Screenshots, by this week-end.

Cheers

Peter (Colour)

..

 

My Reply to Steve's PM to me:

ADDED - Forum doesn't allow duplicate Posts, albeit in different Threads.

OK - Post now accepted, since I've added to it.

Hi, Steve

I've moved on & Produce 3D Animation Films these days & seldom visit the Studio Forums, although I still use S12 & S16 for Post 3D Animation Program (iClone) Production Editing. 

I've had a brief look at both of your Threads that are repetitive & concur with the Replies in both Threads.

That being-said, your problem "might" be recoverable.

IMO, you need to decide which Thread you're going to continue with & get the other one closed, to avoid duplication. One of the Moderators can do that.

I'll have a go with questions & answers using Screenshots, by this week-end.

Cheers

Peter (Colour)

..

 

colour:

...IMO, you need to decide which Thread you're going to continue with & get the other one closed, to avoid duplication. One of the Moderators can do that.

...

I can also merge the two threads if you want.