Software Not Running on Win 7 x64

Hi,

If I run 0.4.4 joulescope.exe from the command line, this is what I get.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Joulescope>joulescope


  • Joulescope User Interface *
  • UI Version = 0.4.4 *
  • Driver Version = 0.4.4 *

info = {
“joulescope”: {
“ui_version”: “0.4.4”,
“driver_version”: “0.4.4”
},
“platform”: {
“name”: “win32”,
“python_version”: “3.7.3 (v3.7.3:ef4ec6ed12, Mar 25 2019, 22:22:05) [MSC v.1
916 64 bit (AMD64)]”,
“executable”: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Joulescope\joulescope.exe”,
“frozen”: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Joulescope”,
“app_path”: “C:\Users\Lowell Bohn\AppData\Local\joulescope”,
“log_path”: “C:\Users\Lowell Bohn\AppData\Local\joulescope\log”
}
}

=====

If I run it by the Desktop Icon, the command line appears for just a second then closes.

Is this useful information?

Cheers,
Buzz

I guess it’s a start, but unfortunately, that doesn’t give me much more to go on as no errors or warnings are logged after the “=====”. Let’s try increasing the log level. Can you try:

>"C:\Program Files (x86)\Joulescope\joulescope.exe" --console_log_level DEBUG

If you see more information, please post it.

Okay, we have a little more information.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Joulescope>joulescope.exe --console_log_level DEBUG


  • Joulescope User Interface *
  • UI Version = 0.4.4 *
  • Driver Version = 0.4.4 *

info = {
“joulescope”: {
“ui_version”: “0.4.4”,
“driver_version”: “0.4.4”
},
“platform”: {
“name”: “win32”,
“python_version”: “3.7.3 (v3.7.3:ef4ec6ed12, Mar 25 2019, 22:22:05) [MSC v.1
916 64 bit (AMD64)]”,
“executable”: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Joulescope\joulescope.exe”,
“frozen”: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Joulescope”,
“app_path”: “C:\Users\Lowell Bohn\AppData\Local\joulescope”,
“log_path”: “C:\Users\Lowell Bohn\AppData\Local\joulescope\log”
}
}

=====
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,020:logging_util.py:139:root:logging configuration: str
eam_level=10, file_level=20
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,020:driver.py:1136:joulescope.driver:Find all Joulescop
e bootloaders and run the application
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,022:main.py:1052:joulescope_ui.main:configure high DPI
scaling
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,022:main.py:1061:joulescope_ui.main:Start Qt
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,290:main.py:665:joulescope_ui.main:_device_change add d
isable
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,348:settings_widget.py:48:joulescope_ui.oscilloscope.se
ttings_widget:on_signalsAvailable([‘current’], [‘current’])
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,359:settings_widget.py:48:joulescope_ui.oscilloscope.se
ttings_widget:on_signalsAvailable([‘current’, ‘voltage’], [‘current’, ‘voltage’]
)
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,361:settings_widget.py:48:joulescope_ui.oscilloscope.se
ttings_widget:on_signalsAvailable([‘current’, ‘voltage’, ‘power’], [‘current’, ’
voltage’])
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,362:oscilloscope.py:338:joulescope_ui.oscilloscope.osci
lloscope:on_scrollbarRegionChange(25.0, 30.0, 1)
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,364:main.py:424:joulescope_ui.main:on_multimeterMenu(Tr
ue)
INFO:2019-06-28 16:18:43,373:main.py:624:joulescope_ui.main:_developer_cfg_apply

C:\Program Files (x86)\Joulescope>

Thanks for your help.
Cheers,
Buzz

1 Like

Thanks @Buzz! It really is crashing in _developer_cfg_apply without any extra information. I will investigate.

Thanks for your help.
Cheers,
Buzz

I took a closer look at the code, and it appears to be crashing on Qt show(). Ugh. A crash in Qt show() could be a huge range of things that would be very difficult to debug without the Qt debug DLLs and full debugging tools on your machine. I have not been able to replicate this behavior, and I have no other reports of this same issue yet.

I have a few quick things for you to try before resorting to more thorough debugging.

Test 1: Prevent DLL confusion (which shouldn’t happen, but just in case)

Open a command window
set path=
C:\Program Files (x86)\Joulescope>joulescope.exe --console_log_level DEBUG

If this works, stop & let me know. Otherwise…

Test 2: Ensure that the packaged Joulescope distribution is not behaving strangely on your PC

We are going to try running from the joulescope-ui pypi package. Don’t worry, it’s pretty easy.

Download latest Python 3.7.3 (direct download link)
Run to install Python, customize as desired, but add to path
Open command window

pip3 install joulescope-ui

You can now try running the Joulescope user interface:

python3 -m joulescope_ui --console_log_level DEBUG

Note that you may need to use pip and python rather than pip3 and python3.

Does this behave any differently than Test 1?

Hi,
Just for grins. I clicked on the Joulescope Icon this morning and it worked.
I had not re-booted my machine or made any changes. Strange.
For now I appear to be up and running.
Thank you for your help.
Cheers,
Buzz

Well, good to hear you are up and running @Buzz ! I get nervous when things just start working (or not working) for no apparent reason, so please post again if things change!

I too am having difficulty on a Windows 7 x64 system. The software installed fine, but it does not see Joulescope . When Joulescope was connected, it went through the automated driver installation, but did not show up in the device manager as Joulescope . It did show up as an anonymous USB device.

I think the problem is that there are multiple versions of WinUsb in the wild, and Joulescope might not work with all of them. I have seen this with the low-end logic analyzers from Saleae. Saleae 8 channel analyzer works with V6.0.6000.16388 but not V6.1.7600.16385 Part of the problem with tracking something like this down on Windows, is that it installs the driver separately for each physical port.
I installed the software on another W7 x64 system and initially Joulescope didn’t work there either. I then tried other USB ports, and on the third try, the software recognized Joulescope and the software worked, so I know the Joulescope hardware is ok (except maybe the way it reports its USB information? to the system which might effect how drivers are loaded???).

There is a program called Zadig that supposedly lets you change which driver is applied for a given device. I am not sure if this helps, or muddies the water more, as you can only choose from its list of built-in USB drivers, which include V6.1.7600.16385 but not V6.0.6000.16388.

Anyway, I feel I can do more research, and in particular, try and characterize the full information from the device manager for both working and non-working scenarios.

Hi @Philip,

Thanks for backing Joulescope and welcome to the forum!

Depending upon which updates and software your Windows 7 system has applied, it may or may not support automatic WCID Device driver installation. Your report of trying multiple times only to have it work later is odd. On failures, was Joulescope showing up in device manager under “Other devices” with the yellow exclamation point (I assume that this is what you mean by “anonymous USB device”)?

I put together an INF that forces Win 7 to recognize your Joulescope. Here are the steps:

  1. Download the device INF and the bootloader INF to a {path}. Make sure that your browser saves these as “.inf” and not “.inf.txt” with a hidden extension.
  2. Connect Joulescope to the host PC
  3. Start Device Manager: Start, type “Device Manager”, press Enter
  4. Right click on Joulescope, which should be listed under “Other devices”
  5. Click “Update Driver Software…”
  6. Click “Browse my computer for driver software”
  7. Enter your {path}, click Next
  8. Click “Install this driver software anyway”
  9. Should see “Windows has successfully updated your driver software”
  10. Click Close

Does this fix your issue?

If you attempt a firmware upgrade, you will need to follow similar steps to install the INF for the joulescope bootloader.

Hi Matt,
Short answer is the .inf file and some screwing around now has Joulescope working on my main computer.

Longer answer:
First with regard to my multiple attempts, all attempts on my main computer failed. It succeeded on a second W7 x64 system (my file server) but not on the first 2 USB ports that I tried.

By anonymous, here’s the picture:

If I then open the properties panel for this “WinUsb Device”, on the Details tab, Hardware Ids entry, it shows Joulescope’s VID/PID.

Hardware_IDs

This happened regardless of USB port on my main computer, and I could not attach to Joulescope.

Following your instructions, here’s what happened:
2) ok
3) Windows shows that it is getting a driver from Microsoft Update Service (I think)
and when it succeeds, the anonymous entry appears.
4) ok
5) Joulescope is not displayed, anonymous entry per first pic is shown
6) ok
7) ok
8) ok , complains that the driver is not signed
9) ok
10 yes
11) ok

Problem appears to be fixed. I note that the serial/version number of the driver
your .inf installs is 6.1.7601.23403 which would suggest that it is more recent
than the versions that my system was installing without the inf file.

Thanks for the quick resolution to this issue. I hope my detailed description
might help others.

Hi @Philip,

Great to hear that this worked for you! It looks like some driver installation on your Win 7 PC (perhaps that STLink dongle) installed the WCID Device discovery for WinUSB, but not enough to populate all the information from the USB descriptors provided by Joulescope. This condition is one that I have not yet encountered with Win 7, so thank you for taking the time to provide the detailed description!

OK here’s what worked for me; on Windows 7 Ultimate:

  • initial plug-in installed driver “HP Printer (BIDI)” – meaning “bidirectional” maybe I assume
  • Device Manager / Update Driver / Browse (to my C:…\Joulescope folder) / did not change
  • Device Manager / Uninstall / unplug / replug / just got same driver again
  • Device Manager / Uninstall with [x] Delete the driver / unplug / replug / started “Searching Windows Update”
  • I interrupted (STOPPED) the WindowsUpdate step, and now suddenly I have “WinUSB Device” and readings appearing.

I just received the Jooulescope and I tried to install it on Win7 x64, but I get the yellow band and no driver found. I downloaded your inf file and I can see the USB ID in device manager matches your inf file so I don’t understand why it would still say it can’t find a driver for it. I also disabled testsign on, but some reason it thinks your driver file doesn’t apply to it.

Capture

Hi @Gary and welcome to the Joulescope forum! Would you mind right clicking on Joulescope, click Properties, and then post what you see. You can use the “Snipping Tool”. Hopefully the “Device status” has some indication of why your computer is not happy. Here is what I see on Win10 x64:

Hi Matt, Thanks for the quick response. Actually I found the issue. It was silly. I thought the file downloaded it as a .inf file. Actually it was downloaded as joulescope.inf.txt and I had file extension hidden by default. So I assumed it was a .inf file. After correcting extension, it installed and it’s working now. Thanks though for the help!

1 Like

Hello All, Searched and can’t find a more recent topic, but I am running Win7 x86, and following downloading and installing joulescope_setup_0_9_3.exe
When Opening joulescope.exe, I first get popup “System Error” - “The program can’t start because api-ms-win-core-path-i1-1-0.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling to fix this problem.”
I click OK then NEXT am hit with
“Fatal Error Detected” popup, which indicates:
"Error loading Python DLL ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Joulescope\python39.dll’. LoadLibrary: The Specified module could not be found.

#Cheeky: Thankfully, the driver problem was resolved by manually downloading and installing the 2 .INF files posted by mliberty in Jun '19. After finding this forum, I can verify the hardware is recognized as a WinUSB device.
Now, if only the Sys dll and Python errors would go away. #WhySoHard

Hi @Mark and welcome to the Joulescope forum!

Did you really mean Win7 x86 (32-bit)? The Joulescope UI distribution is only for 64-bit.

Although we no longer support Win7 or 32-bit, it may still work if you want to run directly from python and compile locally. Check out this old post for some completely untested and possibly incorrect hints.

Hi mliberty, it is 64-bit Win7 with all last updates. Is a machine with >4GB main memory (requiring 64); and is used for running python scripting environment for data acquisition and instrument control over USB.

Have you seen this error before:
“System Error” - “The program can’t start because api-ms-win-core-path-i1-1-0.dll is missing”??

Hi @Mark

Ok, Win7 x64 (64-bit) has a much better chance of working. However, we no longer support it, and neither does Microsoft.

I have not heard of this error before. I know that people ran the Joulescope UI on Windows 7 x64, at least a while back. We have not been testing on Windows 7 x64 for the past year.

I did some research, and Python 3.9 dropped support for Windows 7 (see this). The latest Joulescope UI 0.9.3 build uses Python 3.9. You could try Joulescope UI 0.9.2 (download). Not sure if this is the issue, but its something.

Google also indicates that this is a common problem. Perhaps one of those solutions helps?