Can't get Phex to launch

[DrWho]

Hello: I just downloaded and installed Phex. Went to launch it and no go. I then downloaded and re-installed Java 1.4.x.x . Tried to launch again, no go. I know it needs java installed but I have already done that without any success. Can anyone help?

Regards,

[RaaF]

Perhaps the right order is:
First install Java then install Phex ?

But to get better help you have to give more info about what OS you use in your Tardiss and what errors you eventually get.

[DrWho]

Hello RaaF: It's nice to know others out there know who the Doctor is. I did install Java first and then Phex. I even uninstalled Phex and all traces of it from my registry and then re-installed without any luck. My OS is Win XP Pro SP2 on an Athlon 64 system. As for errors, I don't get any. When I double click the short cut on the desk top, the actual file in Win-explorer or the short cut in the quick launch bar, the only thing that happens is that the cursor changes to the "wait" icon (galloping horse in my case) for about a second and then reverts back to the arrow. What else would someone need to know?

Regards

[DrWho]

RaaF:

I just thought I should let you know that I had Phex up and running on this machine before but due to a corrrupt registry I had to do a restore and that resulted in Phex not working. I also have it running succesfully on another Athlon 64 system (same mobo, processor and such) that belongs to my kid but I can't hog that system for my downloads. Originally I installed the Java 5.0 would that make a difference?

Regards.

[RaaF]

Hello DrWho,

I happen to have a Athlon 64 system as well, the 3000+
MSI K8 neo Mobo, 1024mb ram
Win2K and WinXP pro installed.
Java 2 Runtime Environment, SEv1.4.2_05
I do have issues with Phex on XP, It freezes after an hour or so.
I do have issues with XP anyway, My machine won't take the SP2 at all and I had to use systemrestore to get it back before SP2 but somehow XP got damaged after that.
So I think it is more a XP issue than a Phex issue .
But perhaps GregorK or Arne_bab can help.
I have no problems in Win2K same Java, same Phex 2.1.4.80

So, I can't give you much of detailled tech help.
But have you looked in your XP logs to get an idea of what goes wrong ?

More people seem to have problems with Athlon64 systems and XP.
At the moment I am thinking of reinstalling my XP completely and start from scratch.

[DrWho]

Hello RaaF:

Are you aware that Microsoft has implemented a new concept for SP2? In order to load SP2 you need to obtain 2 downloads from Microsoft that will test to see if your XP OS is legal (first download) and the second bit of software makes a registry entry that indicates to SP2 whether the OS is legit or not. That could be why you are having probelm with SP2 install. If your OS is legit (not to say it isn't) then you can get the SP2 CD for free from Microsoft and it is a full install package. I found that out through a microsoft support person. He said the best way is to "slip-stream" SP2 with the original OS and in doing so the installer will install the SP2 version directly skipping over the original version. Unfortunately I don't know anything about slip-streaming.

Thanks for your help and I will wait to see if anyone else has any suggestions.

Regards

[RaaF]

But Doctor !

You get me wrong, I downloaded and installed SP2 it was only then that things went wrong.
My point is that doing a system restore might not fix all your problems.
You had a problem, tried to fix it with a restore and after that Phex won't run anymore, so I my first suspect would be BillG rather than GregorK

[DrWho]

RaaF

I already know that doing a restore will prevent some programs from running properly as it loads an older registry and thus some necessary entries are missing. All of my uninstalls and re-installs were done after the restore. I did manage to get it to work though as it required that I totally uninstall Phex (including registry keys that are not removed automatically) and then uninstall the JRE completely. After doing that I re-installed the JRE and then Phex and voila it was working. The only thing that I had to change was the default IP address. Unlike many other programs Phex doesn't seem to be able to obtain the IP address of my gateway/router and uses a standard address of 127.0.0.1 which results in not being able to get connected to anyone. After I made the change all was OK. Thanks for all your help.

Regards

[GregorK]

Hi...

here is what I assume what could be causing the problem.
First of all it does not matter in which order you install Phex and Java VM.
When you start Phex by using the Phex.exe or the shortcut link, Phex tries to find your Java VM by using the registry. There are cases with multiple versions of Java VM installations or corrupt installations where this lookup fails.
You can use Phex_debug.exe to get some output that might help me find and solve the problem for you.
An alternative way to start Phex is by going through the command line to the Phex installation directory and use the command 'java -jar phex.jar'.

About the IP address issue. Knowing its IP address is not required to connect to anyone. In fact Phex does not even use its own IP for anything else then sharing its content.

After the first successful connection Phex auto detects its IP from its outside connection. The remote host is almost always the most reliable source to determine your correct IP to the outside.
The address is reported as 127.0.0.1 as long as Phex has not connected during the current session.

To be able to share and participate on the network it is much more important to allow incoming connections. Depending on your router and network setup it might be required to activate port forwarding to share efficiently.

Gregor