Error 53 - file not found

[stockley]

AAAAHHHHH
I keep getting this error 53 - File not found followed by 'the following path is invalid - C:\Program Files\Programming Editor\picprog\picaxe08 (or whichever picaxe device / file is being used)

And YES I have checked the forum for this error and YES I have checked the filename / path (I'm sure capital letters don't matter - the above path is copied and pasted from my laptop!!)
It seems intermittent - a blank file will download, then a program will not (even a 1 liner) then the blank file won't even download. I reload the picaxe program and the blank file now downloads.
I reinstall the software (4.1.11) and it all seems to work, UNTIL I close the program, reload it and now a blank program works and now it doesn't.

This is driving me nuts as I look pretty silly when demonstrating this to my Year 11's after getting the program to work in the morning and then an hour later it says ERROR 53 - AAAAAHHHH.

I'm running XP SP2 on a Dell Latitude. It used to work fine on 2000.

PLEASE PLEASE help me sort this out - I'm not the only one with this problem.

 

[Kman]

I recently purchased the PicAXE-08 protoboard and downloaded the latest version of the software. I am having a similar issue. Whenever I go to run (F5 or click the menu, or click the run arrow), I get the "Can't run 16-bit Windows program" and the associated errors. I can check the firmware of the chip (Firmware 4.3 PICAXE-08 Firmware version 3) just fine. I can download from the chip ok. I have checked my autoexec.nt. I have manually edited my path statements. I am running Windows XP Pro SP2. I have uninstalled and re-installed, rebooted. And at a loss... Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Keith

 

[vk5zw]

I too have the same Error:53 File not found on my WinXP SP2 but NOT with a friends PC with almost exactly the same configuation. I can read the chip etc but not program it. Any ideas???


 

 

[Kman]

I fixed my machine!!! I uninstalled the program, then instead of installing to the default folder in the program files, I installed it to c:\proged. And it now works! Hope it works for the rest of you.
Keith

 

[Technical]

This problem is caused by the Windows operating sytsem not giving the software read/write access to the temporary folder. On school networks this can be resolved by editing the path in the file network.ini

On private macines it is normally caused by an irregular security setting e.g. write protecting folders that aree not normally write protected.

 

[Kman]

I actually think that the problem is due to the translation of the "program files" folder by the program. It relies on the 8.3 naming convention. So, when I installed it to the "proged" folder, it worked. Keith

 

[hippy]

I can understand that suspician, but the Programming Editor is a Win32 Application which does understand long file names and long directory names.

I've had no trouble at all with it on XP Pro ( vanilla, SP1 and SP2 ), but it's a single user PC, with me being automatically logged in with Administrator rights. I believe the problem is access rights, or one of the other reasons previosuly identified.

 

[ylp88]

I must say this this indeed seems to be a very common problem but I've never personally come across it.

I've tried:
- Laptop - WinXP Pro
- "Older" PC - (Win98)
- "Newer" PC - WinXP SP1
- New PC - WinXP SP2

It makes it a pain when tring to help people when I can't even reproduce the bug!

ylp88

 

[fgnash]

I boot Win2k, SP4, single user PC, with me being automatically
logged in with Administrator rights. Start the Programming
Editor, open a basic file, check syntax: successful; run: 45 second
delay, error 53. Sometimes. Somtimes I check/run the same
file several times before an instant error 53. etc. Many variations
of the error 53, all of which require a reboot to clear.

 

[ylp88]

I was just wondering how Programming Editor accesses these files which are "missing".

I gather that Programmng Editor is made in VB (or very similar development environmen), and thus, may be declared using the "App.Path" statement. This should work in 99.95% of cases as far as I can think.

I do recall having some problems using Windows environmental variables before as they sometimes refused to "stick" in memory within a session. However, checking my environmental variables (cmd, set), I am unable to find any newly declared variables. Perhaps Programming Editor is using one of these. If a program were to redefine any of those which Programming Editor uses, then Programming Editor would be "lost", however, a reboot would reinitialise these variables thus solving the problem.

I don't know - just some random rants...

ylp88

 

[hippy]

Take a particular look at %TMP% and/or %TEMP% environment variables and check they point to a directory which exists and has read and write access. I recall I had problems under Win98SE when I got my temporary directory path all mangled up.

 

[ylp88]

Just for the sake of comparison because I can't reproduce the bug myself, my TMP and TEMP environmental variables are:

TEMP=C:\DOCUME~1\Yang-Lit\LOCALS~1\Temp
TMP=C:\DOCUME~1\Yang-Lit\LOCALS~1\Temp

(From Command Prompt, "SET&quot

What do people who can reproduce the error have?

ylp88

 

[fgnash]

SET shows:
TEMP=C:\DOCUME~1\BUCKRO~\LOCALS~1\Temp
TMP=C:\DOCUME~1\BUCKRO~\LOCALS~1\Temp

The error message after clicking OK on the Error 53:

The following path is invalid...
h:\picaxepe\picprog\picaxe28x_1.exe

where h: is a partition on the only hard drive and
the remaining path exists and is in fact valid. No
networks involved.

There is no reproducible pattern to cause the error.
Seems like an "unitialized variable" problem,
dependent on a chance value.

 

[hippy]

Could the problem be related to the fact that the PE isn't installed in the default "C:\Program Files" directory, or it and that the temp directory are on different partitions ?

Also, whats the "SaveTempPath=" set to in the NETWORK.INI file installed in the PE home directory ?

Are there any issues with disk capacity being exceeded, or are there any disk space allocation limits or file access limitations in place ( I'm not an XP whiz so don't know if such policy options exist ) ? Running out of disk space could create all sorts of problems, as can trying to create files in a write-protected location.

One thing I have noticed is that Error 53 doesn't necessarily mean that PE can't find the file or that the path is invalid, and that message can in my experience be a red herring which obscures what the underlying and real problem is.

Interstingly, under PE 4.1.11, I renamed my temp directory and PE spotted that, although the instruction to fix it isn't reflected in the options available for use.

 

[fgnash]

The original post in this topic describes an Error 53
while using the default directories.

SaveTempPath= was null. Setting it to
TempSavePath=H:\PICAXEPE resulted in a hard
failure. Same error messages as the random failure
but both Check and Run fail every time. Again, no
network is involved.

Each partition on the hard drive has a least 1G free.

Perhaps instructive to note that Win2k causes no
failures on any other program, including 5 other
functionally identical IDEs.

 

[hippy]

It does look that this is a particular XP problem. Apart from messing up my own Temp path I've had no problems at all, Win98 and XP. Without any failure and being unable to reproduce the problem it's a bit hard to do anything but guess at the problem and solution.

I do have one idea, which I'll get back with shortly.

 

[hippy]

Back as promised. Try this ...

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/the.happy.hippy/picaxe/axecheck.exe

When the Programming Editor is failing with Error 53, run it and post back where it gets to and if it prints any ERROR: lines.

It may well hang and need a reboot or killing off in task manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) so save all documents first ( although it shouldn't interfere with other apps ). Note that just clicking [X] if hung will leave stuff in memory, it won't have actually closed, just disappeared off screen !

It works okay on 98SE and XP Pro SP2 here, and on XP my TMP/TEMP is similar to those already reported. My PC is dual-boot and I tried under XP without running the BAS805 install ( ie running the ProgEdit.exe as installed under 98 in C:\Program Files ) and it did hang. After installing on XP it runs fine, even after uninstalling BAS805 from XP and using the 98 install.

 

[ylp88]

In terms of not installing to the default drive - mine is not in the default drive:

"D:\Electronics\Prg\Programming Editor"

With local system drice "C:\".

(Your program works fine on my system, Hippy, but my system has never had any "missing" files...)

<b><i>ylp88 </b> </i>

Edited by - ylp88 on 11/8/2005 7:56:06 AM

 

[fgnash]

Hippy,

Of course it won't fail at all now. Ran axecheck.exe
without the Error 53 and the messages were:

Finding Programming Editor ...

C:\WINNT\RegisteredPackages\{89820200-ECBD-11CF-8B85-00AA005B4383}

Run Time Error 52:
Bad file name or number

which has a corresponding entry in the registry:
...ExceptionComponents\{89820200-ECBD-11CF-8B85-00AA005B4383}]
&quot;ExceptionCatalogName&quot;=&quot;C:\\WINNT\\RegisteredPackages\\{89...

 

[hippy]

Hmmm. I guess that {...} Class ID could make it one of those weird 'don't really exist' type directories, which causes an error when I try and read the directory. All I'm doing at that point is recursively scanning the directories looking for ProgEdit.exe.

If you run axecheck.exe from teh command line you should be able to put the directory that the PE was installed in and run it that way, eg ...

axecheck c:\Program Files\Programming Editor

I'm intrigued though; C:\WINNT ? On an XP machine ?

 

[ylp88]

&quot;fgnash&quot; is running Win2k, SP4 - previous page, thus &quot;WINNT&quot;.

<b><i>ylp88 </b> </i>

Edited by - ylp88 on 11/8/2005 7:55:43 AM

 

[ylp88]

Hippy, if it is a package (I'm not all too familiar with their workings), perhaps your program picked up a temporary file created during the installation of Programming Editor.

<b><i>ylp88 </b> </i>

 

[jpohl]

Hi all,

another possibility for error 53 is a problem with the serial port.

First, I had never problems with the ProgEditor yet (Win2K).
Some days ago I booted the PC with connected PICAXE circuit on serial port. During the hardware recognition the circuit was detected as serial Microsoft mouse and a driver was installd (in addition to the normal PS/2 driver). The hardware detection may have caused the programming sequence of the PICAXE and the protocol must be missinterpreted as serial mouse device by Win2K.

But the COMport was locked (and some other curious effects occured, first I thought I catched a virus or trojaner). One of such things was the error 53 (after some seconds delay) reclaming a wrong path to picprog08a.exe in the ProgEd.
After detecting the cause and removing the serial mouse driver, the software worked like before.

I think that problems with serial devices on some PC can cause the this (wrong) error message 53 (wrong path).

Joerg


 

 

[hippy]

Re Win2K : Thanks ylp88, I thought fgnash was the original poster using XP, but that was my mistake.

It's taken me ages to try and guess why my code failed as it uses code wrapped in error trapping routines. I think I've found it, and every VB6 app I've written has the same potential bug.

 

[BarryP]

Hi
I Have Noticed This Problem As Well.
Previously , I would shutdown &amp; Restart.
Recently I've Noticed That When It Happens, wowexec.exe (part of the 16bit subsystem) is still running.
If I End That process , The Program Operates Correctly again without a restart.