I've used litestep for years now (never joined the community until recently though). I have never had a problem like this before...
When I run the litestep installer under XP, I make sure all the registry values are ok...here's what happens...immediately after logging in, the "Loading user settings" screen shrinks...mouse still works, I can control alt delete..when I do ctrl-alt-del my default background color replaces the loading user settings. I try to run Litestep and it immediately goes away. Nothing loads. No error messages, just stops. Nothing in event viewer. Winlogin is there still...not sure if that has anything to do with it though. Anyone have any idea? I even installed with the installer then installed the latest indiestep...no luck.
Help!
DLake
(thanks in advance for anyone who wants to help :)
I don't know the solution to your problem but I've seen 3 or 4 posts for this same problem in this forum. Try doing a search to see what solution they found.
DrWorm,
I searched and searched and came up with nothing...any clue how I can narrow my search?
Maybe I thought I had seen so many because you double posted :) I just did a search for XP and browsed through the first couple of pages of results and found this one
http://www.litestep.net/index.php?section=4&action=view&catId=1&id=989&hl=XP
Sorry :) didn't mean to double post, I posted there first and realized it should have been posted here instead. I'll take a look at that link. Thanks :) I'll let you know how it turns out.
DLake
Ok found another one that has a similar problem and I have more specific information on my problem if anyone can help...the login screen resizes to fit the taskbar for simplicity....then that goes away when I hit control alt delete...when I open any program it will not go below that...yet litestep.exe is not open...????WTF is going on! No one else is having these problems...why won't litestep stay open???
Are you sure LS isn't open? It won't be listed under "Applications" but will be listed under "Processes" in Task Manager. Does pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 do anything? If so try selecting Utilities > Litestep Control Panel and load the simplicity theme.
Also try running explorer and look in the step.rc file for LS (not the theme) and make sure it is correct.
I'm only guessing at what the cause could be.
Ok found out that litestep works after a period of time...however it is theme dependant and its unstable as hell...a theme that was running a minute ago no long works when I selected a different theme...simplicity doesn't work, and only the themes that work with my box will keep litestep open...when it closes there are no error messages. And I only use the process window, I completely ignore applications window...I can right click if I want to close something that way :)
Does anyone have any clue what I can do? This is killing me. There is very glitchy functionality...is there some kind of settings I can change to get everything to be recognized? If I install it as administrator will that give me more functionality than as a normal user with super user privelages?
first of all, you always have to be admin if you install litestep, cause this will change some reg entrys:
open your reg editor and look at these lines if they are right:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\system.ini\boot
the entry in here has to be:
USR:Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
ne next key is also very imprtant:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\BrowseNewProcess
here you have to have a entry calles
BrowseNewProcess
with parameters
YES
If you coulnd't find this entry, rightklick -> New -> Key and name it
next key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Here has to be the entry
DesktopProcess
and the value has to be
1
If also not exists, rightclick -> New -> DWORD and name it
The shell entry is set, because it already runs, but if you want to be sure:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
here is the shell set
all of that was correct and still problems...I'm going to uninstall and reinstall as admin and see if that does the trick...I'm using omar's installer and its getting the right keys every time...thanks for the info, made me double check everything :) If you have any other ideas PLEASE feel free to let me know.
hmmm, damn, the last thing I know for now is, that if you use spaces in your foldername (d:\programs\own folder\litestep\), it also would not work, because LS could not identify spaces, so the best would be to install it into c:\litestep\
but I'll keep on thinking about the problem :)
Make sure that DesktopProcess is actually a DWORD and not a string... though this shouldn't have any effect on LS but on explorer. Also make sure you use the classic logon screen.
I'm using the classic...and I have it installed into c:\litestep\. I can use certain themes at this point although I'm wary to change the one I am currently on because it will most likely fail...I don't know why...litestep.exe just won't stay open with the others...and its weird some of them will load the modules for a split second on the screen with the graphics for them but then they all just disappear as litestep.exe does. And the DesktopProcess is set as a dword
Ok I uninstalled and installed as admin, same problem. Nothing has changed. I can only use certain themes still. Even simplicity doesn't work. I don't know how the hell this could be happening. And the weird thing is, a certain theme that worked before no longer works, causes Litestep to turn off like the rest. I have found a stable theme that works, but shouldn't simplicity be the most stable theme and work? Wait...idea just hit...could a startup program be killing it? Maybe another process or some kind of startup prog? If anyone knows of processes that can kill litestep let me know...in the meantime I'll check out my startup progs and disable all of them...that might do the trick.
nope...not the problem either. ::sigh:: Well I'm all out of ideas. Other than yelling for help. BTW ls-universe you think of anything yet?
I had a bit similiar problem some time ago, and stil is although now it is very rare. Taking the network connection icon from systray helped a lot of crashing LS after boot and when recycling, but didn't take it of though. I still have that volume icon in as I need it and it might be a rest of the problem... not sure though.. all I can do is to guess, and my best guess is that it might have something to do with alphablending in those icons... but perhaps someone would know better..
Sorry if there is some typos in, it's quite annoying to write foreign language when you have just woke up =P
Bluekkis, don't worry, at least you know a foriegn language... There's some people that have problems mastering one.
I took off my network connection icon from the systray and that didn't do anything for me. Thanks though, I appreciate the try. If you think of anything else feel free to let me know. Thanks :)
General Debugging tip: Remove everything and start from scratch.
In other words, comment out all LoadModule lines. If Litestep still 'disapears' from the process list, then something indeed is odd. If it doesn't, then the problem is a module. Add one module at a time back into the mix until you find the offending one. Remember you have the CTRL+ALT+F1 menu to access things if litestep is loaded.
Since you've ran Litestep for years, I assume you know how to build a configuration from scratch. Do that instead of using a premade theme or the installer.
Good luck.
You might try this if all else fails:
Move your litestep folder from c:\litestep to c:\litestep2 (or whatever... a different folder), and grab the latest installer. Start from scratch and see if simplicity comes up.
You can then start testing your themes.
jugg I can definately create one from scratch, but I do not have the time or patience to do that at this point. Plus alot of the themers out there have come up with some pretty cool sh** that I like. However, I just thought today that it was probably a single module causing the propblem since it only crashes on certain themes. I'll definately give that a try. Senine if debugging the jugg method doesn't pay off I'll certainly try that. Thanks for the responses guys (or gals thanks to the anonymous nature of the internet).
Ok so far what I've figured out is the label module is what causes it to crash. However, I'm having problems with it still. I can comment loadmodule label.dll out and everything else will load, litestep will not crash, but I do not get full functionality of simplicity without it I'm guessing. I'll have to read the docs of it, just wanted to make a quick update for anyone who cares.
i have same problem
perhaps because some process NOT XP block litestep process like battery information for specific hardware
CLOSURE! Finally. Omar was awesome enough to help me with the problem via e-mail, so I'll share what I learned with everyone. If anyone has LiteStep crashing randomly with only certain themes, including simplicity, comment out all modules like jugg said. What ended up happening is as follows:
label.dll was causing problems when it loaded because of the cpu meter function. It was as I understand an old NT4.0 prob. Should not have even affected me in the first place since I'm on XP.
Under Omar's suggestion I upgraded to the latest version of said module, opened base.rc and changed CPULabelText: "CPU [cpu]" to CPULabelText: "CPU N/A"... that did the trick and everything worked. For some reason the [cpu] with the brackets was screwing it up. I can enter any other text without the brackets and its fine.
So to keep from rambling as I so often do, thanks to all who helped, I appreciate it alot. Took a week, but we got the situation under control and I can have happy 'Stepping.
Peace out all, I'll probably be seen again :)
DLake