Ableton Forum

Hello,
I am writing the forum for the first time and need a bit of experienced help.
Out of the blue and after 4 months of using my purchased program flawlessly, I suddenly get this message when I try to open Ableton:

'A serious progam error has occured. You should try to save your work under a new name using the Save As command from the File menu and restart the application'

But I can't do that since the program hasn't even opened yet.
I think it's a glitch. Have tried uninstalling and re-installing several times to only receive the same message. I am using a Dell PC

Any suggestions?

delete, or rather rename the "preferences.cfg" file located in c:/Documents and Settings/yourname/Application Data/Ableton/Livex.x/Preferences

this should solve the prob

Yah, that did it. Wow. I would never have guessed that one. Thanks! I guess this has happened to you before. Is this a common error? A P.C. only thing?
If you have any spare time, I'd love to know what you think may have caused this problem. Thanks again. You rock.

this has got something to do with the default live set that's opened when you launch Live.
it must contain a VST that's buggy, or something. by the way, it would be interesting to know what your default set is.

The project i last tried to open before this problem occurred did have a cracked version of Massive on it. Since then I've deleted it off my computer. I'd been using this copy of Massive for about a month though, and had no problems.
To be honest, it's not the only cracked copy of a VST plug in I have. I guess one of them or more could be 'buggy' or cause this in Live.

You asked about my 'default set' and what it was. What specifically would you like to know about my default set? How many plugins are included? etc?

It's probably massive; I started getting the same message after I bought Massive, though every time it's happened it's been down to Arturia's Analog Factory being in the same set, interestingly enough.

The way I usually fix it is to open a blank set or different set, then delete tracks with the suspicious vsts from the browser. Deleting Analog Factory usually works.

J

peeddrroo wrote:delete, or rather rename the "preferences.cfg" file located in c:/Documents and Settings/yourname/Application Data/Ableton/Livex.x/Preferences

this should solve the prob

i'm having the same problem opening live...and i'm on a dell too!
not sure if i understand how to fix it......from exploer when i go to Documents and Setting/my name ....i see no Application Data folder....there is a User Data folder though but no Ableton folder to be found in the User Data folder??? what might i be doing wrong???????

stinks cause i been using live 5.0 flawlessly for almost a year and then poof this error message....and i gotta a show in a few days....yuck!

thank for any help in advance!

brian

I loaded a few VST's this morning, and activated the scan VST function, then the program crashed, and I rebooted, and have the same problem you are having. I also have a Dell, and do not have a "preferences.cfg" in an "Application Data" folder.

Have you heard any feedback yet?

eugenelhymn wrote:I loaded a few VST's this morning, and activated the scan VST function, then the program crashed, and I rebooted, and have the same problem you are having. I also have a Dell, and do not have a "preferences.cfg" in an "Application Data" folder.

Have you heard any feedback yet?

Hi,

do the following:

- remove the VSTs from the vst folder
- Launch Explorer.
- Select Tools/Folder Options/View.
- Check "Show hidden files and folders."

Then you'll find the Ableton folder where the Preferences.cfg is, delete it. Restart Live.

Regards,
Amaury

I got this same message when i tried to use my own .tif file for the splash screen. When I returned the original, Live would load again.