OmniPage Pro 16

When I try to open this program, it crashes. On clicking the link to Omniprage Pro 16 on the desktop, the splash screen appears for 4-5 seconds, and then returns back to the desktop, program does not start.


This is an upgrade. I first uninstalled Omnipage Pro 15, cleaned the registry manually plus used several cleanup tools. Have also used the uninstall program available on ScanSoft site, but no matter how clean my system is before installing the problem remains. Something is causing a conflict, but what?

Have installed on another machine and all is normal, so my installation files are OK.

Any help appreciated.

Hi and welcome to the WTT forums,

I see you have posted similar questions on other forums but presumably without a successful resolution.

This product is expensive to purchase and is generally considered to be a quality item.The vendors Nuance, formerly Scan soft provide telephone support at NIL cost for the first incident and the following link should get you on the right track. Nuance would not I feel deliberately ignore your request for help (provided it was made in the correct manner) so it is probably best to use the free incident support facility that they provide
.
http://support.nuance.com/phone/default.as...oducts=omnipage

Was it essential for you to uninstall the previous version and then manually "clean" the Registry?

It is an unusual set of installation instructions that requires an end user to do this, and the use of automated Registry "cleaners" can be problematical.

If you made a back up of your Registry (which you should always do) before you started to edit it, then it might be sensible for you to consider restoring the Registry to its previous condition (automated Registry Cleaning Tools also usually have a backup/restore facility built in.

Failing which, a "Sytstem Restore" back to the time when everything was working well might prove beneficial.
Regards
paws

I just installed OmniPage 16 and PDF Converter v.5, both from CDs. I've used earlier versions of both for a long time. I used Converter 5 for the first time Saturday and all heck broke loose. My HP took 20 minutes to boot up and TaskMan showed that the process NuanceWDS.exe was using 98% of the CPU. I Googled it and found three entries (all from PREVX) that suggested that there's a malware version that recently appeared in Europe. I renamed the process and booted up again and everything seemed OK.
I called Nuance first thing Monday and told the tech support gal that they seemed to have some malware on their distribution disk. She assured me that they did NOT. Completely clueless about identifying malware. There went my one free call. Next call $20.
Now trouble is starting up again with PDFPro5Hook.exe gobbling up cycles. Also on the malware list (PREVX and SpyWare Data). I'm in the middle of running Norton 360 scans to see if there's anything else.
Anyway, don't count on any help from Nuance.

Dan L

Hi Ok,
But when you called Nuance the idea was to get them to talk you through getting your expensive software working......if they sidetracked you into a discussion on whether or not they had issued software with a virus in it, then you will need to get back to them and if necessary register an official complaint with the Chief Operating Officer/Chief Executive of Nuance.
There would be little chance of a tech help desk person being allowed to say anything but "NO we don't issue viruses with our software"
so there is little point in pursuing that angle.

If you need your machine checked for malware then you can go here and follow the directions carefully

http://forums.whatthetech.com/Welcome_New_...ers_t34502.html

If you do this then once you have recorded your HJT log please don't make any system changes until you have received a response from an expert malware fighter. The experts over on malware removal are in high demand and often the folks seeking detailed advice and instructions exceeds the number of volunteers available so if you can (and I know its tough) try to be as patient as you can. We don't analyse HJT logs here on this subforum so please don't post your log here.

When your machine looks clean of malware please feel free to post back here in this subforum if you are still having issues with your machine and we will do our best to help.
Regards
paws


This post has been edited by paws: Mar 19 2008, 04:28 AM

Aw, the Nuance software worked like a champ. It was all the other software that blew up. Nuance's attitude was "It's their fault. Call them."

I now have found two other questionable files in the Nuance distribution disk: PDFDirect.exe and PDFProHook.exe (plus NuanceWDS.exe). All three are very recent European appearances. I can tell you that if I were on the Nuance tech support desk, I'd want to know that someone had rolled a grenade under my tent flap.

Anyway, I've had to completely redo my MS Outlook installation and now have it working again (after hogging 99% of the CPU ad infinitum). There are still a couple of text-to-speech programs that quit, but I'm able to function pretty well. The MS help desk was excellent dealing with the Outlook issue, by the way. I'm gonna get back on the horn with Nuance later and see if I can talk with a grownup.

Dan

Solution to Omnipage 16 crash on startup

You need to use the patch KernelAPI.dll from ScanSoft to make Omnipage 16 work.

Don't waste your time, as I did, reinstalling, etc. Only the patch works.

I attempted to add it as an attachment, but it is too big. To save everyone trouble and pain getting through to OmniSoft help, I am posting the patch at http://www.topspotters.com/KernelAPI.zip.

Here are the instructions:

Please follow the steps provided below.


1. Download the KernelAPI.zip file attached and save it to the Desktop.
2. Browse to C:\Program Files\ScanSoft\OmniPage 16 .
3. Rename KernelAPI.dll to KernelAPI.old .
4. Extract the file KernelAPI.dll from the downloaded file KernelAPI.zip .
5. Copy and paste the extracted KernelAPI.dll file into C:\Program Files\ScanSoft\OmniPage 16 .
6. OmniPage 16 should now launch properly.

Larry411,
Please set my mind at ease. Did you get this patch from Nuance/Scansoft? If so, did they offer any reason for its existence?
Thanks

Yes, from Nuance.

As far as I know, the reason for its existence is to fix the issue of it crashing on startup.

There are many users that apparently don't have this problem. I wonder if you or Nuance has identified why Omnipage 16 doesn't play well with some systems.
By the way, thanks for the quick reply and the link.

This post has been edited by presrc: Apr 9 2008, 01:07 PM

I don't know. Perhaps it may have been because another Nuance app install changed the dll file.

Just to add a little more on this subject...I DON'T Have OmniPage, but I DO have Nuance's PDF Converter Professional 5 Enterprise. Weird thing is that it's been running fine for over a week (just installed last week), but suddenly today, I had the same problem mentioned above with the NuanceWDS.exe process hogging the CPU. Actually it wouldn't go above 50%, but there we're 2 of them to start. After killing both processes, one of them kept returning after a few seconds.

Searching the Nuance KB is a bit of a joke...so little information there. For better or worse, I renamed the file in C:\Program Files\Nuance\PDF Professional 5 called NuanceWDS.exe to NuanceWDS_orig.exe. That seems to have solved the problem (I normally don't go around renaming executables, but there seemed no other simple answer...and I knew it wasn't the main program exe). PDF Pro still works, but we'll see.

Hope this helps...

It appears that Nuance has updated a page in their KB that explains what NuanceWDS is (latest update as I type this was May 1, 2008--it still doesn't show up in a Google search). See http://knowledgebase.nuance.com/view.asp?6...FEJ&5d7r4B= for more info.

After getting past my initial problems as mentioned above, I installed Vista SP1, then renamed the NuanceWDS.exe file back to its original name and all seems good.

Hope this helps. --Mike