MATLAB stuck 'initializing', but opens fine in Safe Mode

Hi,

I'm running MATLAB 2009a and I can't get it to start; it just keeps "initializing". But when I restart Windows in safe mode (with networking) it opens normally. I tried the following:

1. Ran sfc /scannow; no system file issues.

2. Ran chkdsk; no bad sectors.

3. Uninstalled and reinstalled MATLAB; did not solve the issue.

4. Did Windows system restore to a point prior to the time when the issue started; did not solve the issue.

5. Ran antivirus full system scan; no detections.

6. Ran Malwarebytes system scan; no detections.

Any ideas how to fix this would be greatly appreciated.

[Star Strider]

What version of Windows do you have?

Do you have the latest updates to it?

Did you install any other software since MATLAB last worked?

Are any other applications affected?

[Umberto]

I'm running Windows 7 (64bit). I have the latest updates (always keep autoupdate on). I have not installed anything since MATLAB was last working fine.

With regards to the last question: It's been a weird sequence of events so I'm going to try to include everything, seemingly relevant or not. There was an innocuous Word file (scanned it, no viruses) that was on an internal email that I tried to open but couldn't, and Word got stuck. Then I had trouble opening some other Word files on my harddisk, but only a couple. All other Word files opened fine. Then I couldn't get Foxit (the pdf reader) to work at all, but Acrobat worked fine. Then a few pdf files got corrupted suddenly. Then I tried to uninstall Foxit and the uninstaller got stuck on 1% (or one sliver of green bar, or whatever) and never recovered. When I went into safe mode I was able to uninstall Foxit, and also MATLAB worked fine. When I restarted Windows again in, uh, regular mode, MATLAB was still getting stuck initializing.

Then I did all the checks I mentioned in my original post, but got nothing. Also, just in case you're wondering, I never mess with the registry, neither have I ever used registry so-called-cleaners.

This is odd, right? I can't even begin to think what the problem is.

[Star Strider]

I’ve had luck with ‘CCleaner’ in the past (Win 8 then, 8.1 now) to troubleshoot a game that was having problems. It didn’t do any harm, and seemed to improve things.

Since you can run MATLAB in Safe Mode, there must be something loading in the full mode that’s corrupting several of your applications. I’d also let your corporate IT people know the exact problem you had with the dodgy Word file and your subsequent problems. They might have seen it before and could have a fix for it.

Before you use CCleaner, see the link in Image Analyst’s recently-posted Answer. TMW may be able to suggest a fix.

[Umberto]

Hi Star Strider,

I need to thank you for your input. When you said that MATLAB opening in safe mode but not in regular mode meant something starting in regular mode must be the reason, I thought, "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" (the reason of course is that I'm a bit of an idiot as you may have gathered). Anyway, I opened Task Manager and started killing processes one by one to see whether that was indeed the case, and sure enough, the cause was spoolsv.exe (which seemingly started acting up after I opened that Word attachment), which not only handicapped MATLAB, but also pdfs and Word. When I killed that process, MATLAB went into "Ready", install/uninstall was back to normal, etc etc. But of course printing is now a problem. But at least I've diagnosed the issue and can now proceed from here, and it's all thanks to you. Much appreciated.

[Star Strider]

My pleasure!

I don’t know how to get you a new install of ‘spoolsv.exe’. I don’t know if TMW could help with that, but you could ask. Win 7 machines are still in production and I believe Win 7 is still available at Newegg and some others if you wanted to do a complete reinstall. (Save all your Gadgets, since they’re no longer available online. I miss them.) I doubt if Micro$oft will be any help at all.

Now I wish I’d put this as an Answer!

And no, you’re not an idiot. We’ve all had our share of ‘why didn’t I think of that’ moments.

(I’m now going to be sure I have a full set of Emergency Rescue Disks for my machines.)

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

The Mathworks will fix it and help you for free. See the FAQ: http://matlab.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#After_installation.2C_MATLAB_crashes_or_gives_an_error_message_when_I_try_to_run_MATLAB.

Answer 2

[Jan]

Some Word files cannot be opened anymore. Some PDF files got corrupted. Foxit could not be uninstalled correctly. Matlab does not start fluently.

Your system is corrupted. You can try to repair it for some days or weeks. Or you can spend some hours for a fresh setup from scratch. When it runs again, create a disk image and care for a regular backup of the data. Then such troubles will not by frightening anymore in the future, because the restoring needs 20 minutes only.

Sorry for the pessimistic view. But it seems like you have invested more time already than a fresh install will take.

[Archana Ratnaparkhi]

great solution.Closing spoons.exe helped matlab cone out of intializing mode.Extremely thankful!