Trouble Shooting Common Problems

These are the recommended steps to take if you have problems after program installation. Try each step in sequence (although you may skip around steps if you want). If the problem persists after completing a step, proceed to the next step.

Downloading and Cache Issues

Any browser should be able to download our program installers (MSI files). However, some browsers save copies of recent downloads in their Cache. When the browser sees a copy in its cache, it may not download a fresh copy. This is only an issue when you are trying to download a new maintenance release and an older release was recently downloaded and is still in the cache. The simple fix is to Clear the browser cache and try to download again. Here are how-to instructions to Clear cache for most popular browsers. (we've noticed this issue with Firefox but not Internet Explorer).

To determine the Version.release of an installer MSI file, right click on the MSI file in Windows Explorer and see the Subject field on the Details tab.

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Common Errors Encountered

If the program fails to start after sucessfully installing it, see the separate Help section, Program Won't Start After Installation.

If you are getting a specific error message or symptom from our program, see the Common Errors page for recommended actions.

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Step 1: Verify that you are using the latest release

If you downloaded from our web site, you will have the latest release. But our software can be downloaded from various Web download services (ex. Download.com, et al) which may not yet have added our latest maintenance release. Please download and install the latest release to ensure you have the latest functional enhancements and fixes. The program Help -- About dialog lists your installed program level and the program Download page will list the latest available release.

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Step 2: Uninstall, then Re-Install

If you have installed a new release of the program without first uninstalling the previous release, this can often be the source of errors. To solve the issue, uninstall the program from the Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features. If two releases appear in the Control Panel, uninstall both. This will not delete any of your work files. Now install the latest release.

If you are not familiar with uninstalling Windows programs, see the Uninstall Instructions.

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Step 3: Check Program Pre-requisites

Check the program's Prerequisite Software listed on the program's product information Web page. If a pre-req is missing, install it.

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Step 4: Check Program Session Log

The program may write error messages to the log which can identify the problem. Each error message is time stamped so you can tell when error messages were written. If you can't determine the problem from an error message, you can email the error message to Support.

Instructions

Start the program and go to Help > Session Log.
OR, If the program will NOT start, you can view the Session log via either of the following methods:

Open the log file in your User AppData folder. It is a plain text file. It may be in the Local or Roaming profile depending on how you have Windows configured.
(ex. "C:\Users\MyWinId\AppData\Local\Breakthru Software\Video Mill\Video MillV2 Log.txt" )
Or download the Application Diagnostic Tool. Run the View Program Log action.

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Step 5: Start the program in Test Mode

If the program fails to start and you do not get an error message, you can try starting the program in Test Mode which in most cases will force an error message when a problem is encountered during the program initialization phase.

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Step 6: Repair the installation

The program stores configuration files for things like program options. If they become corrupted or back level, they may cause a program error. You can clean up corrupted configuration files with the Application Diagnostic Tool.

Warning

You will reset all program Options values back to factory settings. However, you will not lose any work files.

Instructions

Run the Repair action.
Now restart the program to see if the error has been fixed.

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