Reason won't load since update

[sonja]

I restarted computer, made sure Focusrite and Windows were updated. Orange logo pops up and disappears with no kind of error message or anything.

[jappe]

Hello, did you solve this yet?
In case you haven't yet tried this: Open Windows Task Manager, and kill any Reason process you see, and then try starting Reason again.
Give it some time, minutes, before you try the second time. Check in Task Manager if the first attempt started a Reason process.

[sonja]

I tried and no, task manager does not show Reason as attempted- so what do I do now? Thanks--

[Loque]

My first idea would also be a already running and hanging Reason instance from aprevious start.

You can check the logs if your dare:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7514631

Might also be a VST crashing pretty hard. This can happen if you just installed a new Reason version and it scans your VSTs for the first time. Might take a few tries until all buggy VSTs are skipped. You could try to temporary remove your VST folder from scanning., VST2 and VST3.

[sonja]

I haven't installed a new Reason version, just the update, so would removing VST folder be helpful? Are there any other options besides checking the logs- that looks really complicated!

[Loque]

I haven't installed a new Reason version, just the update, so would removing VST folder be helpful? Are there any other options besides checking the logs- that looks really complicated!

Maybe you installed the VST3 Reaason update and i speculate that this is rescanning your VST. Remove the VSt folders from scanning, just to ensure it is not related to any VST.

[boggg1]

My experience of Reason not starting is that the Reason folder is corrupted. Twice for me and quite a few others have thanked me for suggesting this, which was someone else's idea which I passed on. Here is one example.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7503595&p=357087#p357087
Suggest you try it, it costs nothing but a bit of time resetting your defaults which you will lose. Let us know how you get on.

[sonja]

I tried boggg1's idea and not helpful. Loque- how do I remove VST from scan? I'm unable to load Reason at all. Also, I contacted support and they have pretty much just said to check firewall/anti-virus which didn't help. They've not gotten back to me for several days which is very unusual- has this been happening to people or is this a rare thing to have trouble updating to 12.5d29?

[Loque]

I tried boggg1's idea and not helpful. Loque- how do I remove VST from scan? I'm unable to load Reason at all. Also, I contacted support and they have pretty much just said to check firewall/anti-virus which didn't help. They've not gotten back to me for several days which is very unusual- has this been happening to people or is this a rare thing to have trouble updating to 12.5d29?

Check the location of the configuration files here:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7514631

Than temporary rename the file "Reason Plugin Dirs.prf".

Alternatively you can temporary rename your VST folders. The location depends on if you are on Mac or Windows. Both are also mentioned in the link to the forum thread.

[sonja]

I tried renaming VST folders and didn't help- and then I tried reinstalling 12 and still won't load. Support hasn't responded in several days and I've repeatedly contacted them. I've been using Reason for over a decade and have never had this kind of situation.

[Loque]

I tried renaming VST folders and didn't help- and then I tried reinstalling 12 and still won't load. Support hasn't responded in several days and I've repeatedly contacted them. I've been using Reason for over a decade and have never had this kind of situation.

You can PM me your latest log and i will have a look if i can find something.

[crimsonwarlock]

My setup is very close to yours (win10, scarlett, i7 with 16 gigs). The only time Reason didn't start was when my external d-drive (with a lot of Reason related stuff on it) failed to auto-mount during system startup. It took me a little while before I realized the drive wasn't mounted.

I don't know if you have referenced directories (for Reason) on an external drive, but if so, then that's a thing to check.

[Pepin]

A couple ideas...

You might want to try using a different authorization method.
Like if you're using machine authorization, try deauthorizing the machine and using internet authorization. Or vice versa.

Also, if you have another DAW, it might be worth trying to load the rack plugin. If that works, then it points to VST3 support being the issue (since the rack plugin doesn't support VST).

[sonja]

The authorization page comes up when the internet is turned off but not when internet is on. However I'm able to log on with 11. 12 says it needs internet but when it has internet if can't start. It seems to be an authorization issue with 12 but not 11 Suite.

[jappe]

Some long shots:
- Do you have plenty free disk space?
- Remove everything from USB ports or any other port on your laptop, including any external audio interface & external monitor and try again.
- Can you try connecting your laptop through your phone's shared internet instead of your ordinary router?
- Note the time when you try starting Reason, then look in windows event log for any errors or warnings at that time.

In case you're not familiar with checking the event logs:

Open the Start menu and type "Event Viewer" into the search bar.
Click on the "Event Viewer" app that appears in the search results.
In the left-hand menu of the Event Viewer window, expand the "Windows Logs" folder.
Within the "Windows Logs" folder, click on the "Application" log to view the application event log.

[WOO]

The authorization page comes up when the internet is turned off but not when internet is on. However I'm able to log on with 11. 12 says it needs internet but when it has internet if can't start. It seems to be an authorization issue with 12 but not 11 Suite.

This is why I wait to download updates to reason. Sorry to hear about your problems with reason 12. I still mainly use 11 suite because of the occasional crashes with 12.2.

[sonja]

Thank you for the replies! Support finally responded (waited a week). I'm going to try these things first.

"I don't think re-installing Reason 12.5 helps in this case.

If it's the actual authorization that is void, Reason or CodeMeter should (typically) say so. What's worth checking is that if you use offline authorization, make sure you have the latest version of CodeMeter (7.51):
https://www.wibu.com/support/user/user- ... /9785.html

If using offline authorization and you still can't launch Reason, try uninstall CodeMeter, restart your computer nad see if you can launch Reason using online verification.

If you can't launch using online verification either, try delete the file that contains the silent login credentials, in case that's what's acting up.
Go to %appdata%\Propellerhead Software\Reason and delete the "_Reasondata.prf" file (which holds your login credentials).
Now, are you able to launch Reason, and are you asked to log back in?

If this didn't help ,we can download and install a logging version of Reason 12.5 on your computer and use the logs to try and pinpoint what goes wrong:

https://a.phcdn.se/update/Troubleshooti ... ks-Win.zip

This version will install to a different folder than your current Reason installation, and will leave your standard version unaffected.

Please run this, re-create the problem/crash ,then compress and send us the Logs folder and we'll get back to you once the logs have been analyzed. You'll find the logs in
Documents\Propellerhead Logs

After the troubleshooting is finished, download and install the non-logging version again (to revert to the non-logging version of the Reason Rack Plugin):

https://a.phcdn.se/update/Stable/Reason ... ks-Win.zip

If you want to keep using Reason 12.2.10 while we work this out, you can download it" (he gave me link)
-----------------------------------------------------

So- I retried the first couple of things to no avail. I have a thing I'm working on so I'm trying to install 12.2.10 to use while I work on fixing- it's taking hours to scan Plugins just to get 12.2.10 again- it has taken that long before- but is this normal??

[sonja]

I'm at 30 hours now for the scan for 12.2.10 and about half way.

[Loque]

I'm at 30 hours now for the scan for 12.2.10 and about half way.

What kind of HD do you have? An old magentic disc drive or a new SSD drive?

[sonja]

It's disc

[jam-s]

There might be a bad sector affecting a VST file. When (consumer) hdds encounter any of those they will try for many minutes to read it. This usually looks like the system/application froze. You could check the s.m.a.r.t. attributes using a tool like crystal disk info. If there are many relocated sectors or read errors then your hdd is about to die.

I hope you do have a rather up to date backup of all important data from this drive.

[Loque]

It's disc

I highly recommend to use a SSD, which can be more than 100 times faster. Something which takes 30h on a old HDD can be finished in 10 minutes.

I don't know how many files you have in your VST fosters and how old your HDD is, but this can be a problem. And as jam-s write, the disk might have damaged areas. Rule of thumb is, is it older than 4 years, it's time for a new one or you risk sudden crashes, lost data (including licenses) and lots of PITA.

Hope you get it sorted.

[sonja]

I'm seeing that maybe I need a new computer- mine is kind of dated. So, what do you think of this?

[fullforce]

I'm seeing that maybe I need a new computer- mine is kind of dated. So, what do you think of this?

You have an i7 with 16GB RAM. That shouldn't be the problem. The disk *might* be the problem.

[fullforce]

I highly recommend to use a SSD, which can be more than 100 times faster. Something which takes 30h on a old HDD can be finished in 10 minutes.

I'd say about 10 to 20 times faster.