Software Bisque Knowledge Base Article – 93

LAUNCHING APP. YIELDS “ERROR STARTING PROGRAM”

ISSUE

After successfully installing TheSky (or other Software Bisque product), then attempting to launch it, error message displayed:
“Error starting program – (.EXE filename) file is linked to missing export (.DLL filename): …”
or similar. A second message reads:
“A device attached to the system is not functioning.”

ACCUGNT5.DLL, _IMG_delete_bitmap@4, AP32.DLL, SS32.DLL ACCUGNT5.DLL, _IMG_delete_bitmap@4, AP32.DLL, SS32.DLL

RESOLUTION

The system has a non-compatible copy of the referenced .DLL file. Check for all occurrences of this file.

FIND THE DLL FILE
Check the location of the indicated .DLL file on the system. Here’s how:
1. Right-click on the Start button and choose Find.
2. Enter the name of the indicated .DLL file into the Named field.
3. Set the Look In location to be your C: drive (or Local Hard Drives, if available).
4. Be sure the Include Subfolders option is checked.
5. Click the Find Now button.
The location(s) of the file will be displayed in the lower portion of the Find window. The shared and common files for Software Bisque’s 32-bit applications are placed in the C:/Program Files/Common Files/System folder (for Windows 95/98/NT). If more than one occurrence of the file is found, then it is likely that an incorrect one is interfering with the application’s operation. In this case, copies of the file found in locations other than the just-named folder should either be renamed, deleted to the recycle bin, or replaced with the copy found in the above folder. When this is done, the application should be able to start.

If the file is on the system, then Windows is not including its location in its search when the application requests it. This can be solved in one of three ways:

1. Uninstall the affected application and re-install it. (May not work for Windows NT 4.)
-or-
2. (Windows NT users only) Add the location found in the above “FIND THE DLL FILE” procedure to the Path system variable. To do so, choose Start / Settings / Control Panel / System and edit the “Path” system variable found in the Environment tab sheet. A semi-colon (“;”) should be placed between multiple definitions (e.g. “C:/Windows;C:/Program Files/Common Files/System”).
-or-
3. Add the location found in the above “FIND THE DLL FILE” procedure to the application’s Path setting in the Registry. Follow the “EDITING THE APPLICATION’S PATH SETTING” procedure below.

EDITING THE APPLICATION’S PATH SETTING
1. If running, close the affected application (e.g. TheSky).
2. Open the Registry Editor (Start / Run, type REGEDIT, then select OK).
3. Switch to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE window (listed under Window menu).
4. Open the key list (in the left-hand side of the Registry window) to Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/App Paths.
5. Select the affected application’s key (e.g. Sky.exe) from the key list.
6. Look in the value list (in the right-hand side of the Registry window) for a value named “(Default)”. If it isn’t present, add a string value (Edit, New, String Value) and change its name to “(Default)” – without the quotes.
7. Select the “(Default)” value from the value list, and set its data (Edit, Modify) to the location of the related executable file (e.g. Sky.exe). For TheSky, if the default location was used during installation, this should be:
“C:/Program Files/Software Bisque/TheSky”
8. Look in the value list for a value named “Path”. If it isn’t present, add a string value (Edit, New, String Value) and change its name to “Path” – without the quotes.
9. Select the “Path” value from the value list, and set its data (Edit, Modify) to the same location given in Step 7 above, plus that of the indicated .DLL file. For TheSky, if the default location was used during installation, this should be:
“C:/Program Files/Software Bisque/TheSky;C:/Program Files/Common Files/System”
10. Exit the Registry Editor (Registry, Exit) and your changes will automatically be saved.

You should now be able to start the application successfully.

As a LAST-DITCH EFFORT only, the application’s .DLL files could be copied directly into that application’s folder, however this is not recommended, as it may wreak havoc on future upgrades.

APPLIES TO

Installation

KEYWORDS

ACCUGNT5.DLL, _IMG_delete_bitmap@4, AP32.DLL, SS32.DLL

Last Reviewed: 11/24/2004