Annoying beep when I navigate the menus in 2.5.193 and .191

[prr]

I installed the latest version, and unfortunately I deleted the installation files for the old version (which was working fine). Now, when I navigate the menus, I get an annoying beep until I make a selection. I found 2.5.191, uninstalled .193, but still had this same problem. I am using WIndows XP. Is there a fix for this? I've never had any pdf viewer do this before.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Prr,

Where exactly is this beep coming from - is it the system speaker or the normal speakers on your system.
Also what kind of selection are you trying to make - a text selection or e.g. selecting a tool from the menu other than the hand tool?

Cheers,
Stefan

[prr]

Its a system beep--a bit like an error message, although it is not XPs generic error message.

It is not when I'm navigating a toolbar, but only the text menus themselves. As soon as I make a selection the beep is gone. The noise starts as soon as I click on one of the menu names, such as File, View, Edit, etc.

[prr]

I just plugged in another mouse (I switched a couple of weeks ago) and this same beeping is occuring with my old mouse, so I know its not a particular setting for one of my mice.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hi prr,

That's really strange as, as far as I'm aware, our Viewer shouldn't try to produce any sounds at all
Have you recently installed some accessibility software, and do you hear those sounds only when browsing our Viewer's menus, or with other software as well?

Best,
Stefan

[prr]

No, it doesn't happen with any other program--not MS Word or browsers, for that matter.

I don't think I have installed anything else recently--by accessibility, you mean programs for visually/hearing impaired, something like that? No I've never used any of those programs.

I looked for x.190 online, but couldn't find any files. I know I've had x.190 on my system for a while, and it was working quite smoothly. If I could get back to that I'd be more than happy.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

HI prr,

this is definitely strange. We definitely do not call any sounds when navigating menus on any of our applications. Are you comfortable using Event Viewer? I would look through your logs to see if there are any notifications that match the times you do this. It does seem like this may be a Windows System Error beep.

We prefer not to distribute old builds of the viewer, our model being rather to fix issues as they become apparent. This way the latest version will have all known fixes and also the latest features. If you email me at paul@tracker-software.com I will see if I can dig up 2.5.190 for you but my concern is that this will now also 'beep.

hth

[prr]

OK I managed to install .190 two times (once after using PDFXChange uninstaller from teh start menu, to get rid of .193, the second time, using Windows' Add-Remove programs menu to get rid of .190), and after installing .190 twice, it gave me that irritating noise for both installations.

So I guess that blows my theory that this was a bug in a recent update, out of the water.

I do have one more ray of hope. Is there a file somewhere that keeps your settings, even after an uninstall? I always thought that after uninstalling PDFXChange, it would be a vanilla installation, but after uninstalling/re-installing, I still have my Recent Files menu available, replete with my pinned docs and doc history. I am pretty sure that after a recent uninstall, I have had to re-insert my preferences and import my settings from a .dat file. Is there a settings file I can delete (in the Program Files directory?), and then uninstall and see if this annoying noise continues in a vanilla installation?

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Hi prr,

I discussed this with the development team leader and we are very sure it is not actually PDF-XCFhange making the beeps. Our suggestion is that you use the built in Problem Reporting feature of the Viewer Help--> Report a Problem. That will send in an email some system information where we can check what loaded modules.

Our menus are not system menus but ones built by us and it is our thought that something like what Stefan mentioned is getting confused when you navigate them. When you send the email please cross reference this thread and be sure all 4 zip files it offers are attached.

[prr]

Sorry I tried this twice, but nothing happened. I went to the Report a Problem, and all the options at the bottom were checked. I hit the Next button, but nothing happened. There was no way to attach any zip files at all. After hitting next, the window closed and nothing else happened. Oh well.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

what email client are you using?

[prr]

what email client are you using?

None at all. I don't have any set up. I use Gmail (web-based) mail.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello prr,

That's strange, as our Viewer tries to call the default Simple MAPI client, which in case when you do not have a dedicated mail client installed is Outlook Express. Can you please try to see if it has been set up on your machine, and try to send the report again after that?

Thanks,
Stefan

[prr]

I went ahead and set up OE as my email client, and still nothing happened.

Just reminded me of the joys of web-based email!

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

hi prr,

can you tell me if your Operating System (XP, Vista, Win7?) and architecture (32 or 64 bit)? If it is a 64 bit OS there can be incompatibilities. We can work this out though.

Let me know.

[prr]

XP, 32-bit.

At this point it might be easier to install Thunderbird I don't know. I'll do what I can to uninstall any of this crud after this troubleshooting is over, anyways.

[Paul - PDF-XChange]

Thunderbird works.... That's what I use here.

[prr]

Sorry set up T-bird as well and still nothing when I click on Next in the Report a Problem dialog.

I know you wanted to troubleshoot this but this is taking way too much time here, so I'm out of here.

I'll see how long I can go before this drives me crazy. At any rate I will get a new laptop next year so there's always hope for the long-term.

[Chris - PDF-XChange]

Hi prr,

I've sent you an email, with a possible solution.

Best,

Chris

[prr]

Chris, I do appreciate that--got the email--but x.190 had the same problem, so I don't think it was an update to one of the later versions (although I was suspecting this to be the case when I first created this thread).

Don't know what the problem was with the email clients---they were all able to send email (tried that), its just that the "report a problem" option within PDFXChange didn't call it up. Hitting next just eliminated the "report a problem" dialog, but didn't bring up any other options.

[Chris - PDF-XChange]

Hi prr,

You had stated that this did not occur in build 190 in an earlier post, so I would assume then that something in your system has changed since then to cause the beeps and that you are the only customer reporting such an issue which we have had no luck reproducing. You may want to try a system restore to a date prior to the issue happening, as XP would be responsible for the system beeps and not the Viewer.

I wish there was more to suggest but, in light of the circumstances there is nothing further we can do.

Best regards,

Chris

[prr]

Well for the last several days the sound has not been heard--and I'm still on v. 190. I didn't use System Restore, which I would have had the sound persisted. Rather strange. Not sure at all why it appeared, but at this point I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Thanks to all the posters for their time and suggestions.

[John - Tracker Supp]

Hope all goes well from here