Celestia Forums

I have downloaded the new version 1.4.1. on my windows 2000 computer. When I run the exe to install it, nothing happens and the file simply vanishes. I download it to a folder. I go to that folder, dbl click the file to execute it, and I can see the file simply disappear! I downloaded the version 1.4.1. from the Celestis download site. I downloaded the 1.4.1pre.exe from this forum from the author, and got the same result. I have to download it again. I made sure I got the full install file, aprox. 14 mgs. Anyone have any clues please? I've naver had a problem like this before while trying to install.

I've never heard of this kind of problem before.

Is there any chance you've run out of disk space?

Have you run an up-to-date anti-virus program to scan everything for hidden malware?

I have 64g space left on my hard drive. I use windows2000 sp4, on an athlon xp1800 system, with 524 ram memory. I use an antivirus program and run ad-aware every week. I'll run it again just to make sure. Thanks for looking and replying.

krwit wrote:I have 64g space left on my hard drive. I use windows2000 sp4, on an athlon xp1800 system, with 524 ram memory. I use an antivirus program and run ad-aware every week. I'll run it again just to make sure. Thanks for looking and replying.

What is 524 ram memory?

What sort of graphics card do you have? Does it have hardware support?

Bye Fridger

I have a 512 ram memory chip, which is almost 524 megabytes of memory. Hope this helps you understand. I use an asus video card with an invidia chip which also has 128 mb onboard memory. These things are not my problem. Does anyone else out there have any ideas? Thanks

You can check the quarrintine folders of your ad-aware and anti-virus software. Mabey it's getting flagged somehow. Also try rightclicking on the file and go to the properties tab to see if it's somehow getting a hidden file attribute. Or turn on hidden files to see if it's still there. This sounds very strange. Never heard of anything like it.

cartrite

I just ran ad-aware again, had 4 items that I deleted, and there are no other quarrentine folders. I always delete them. I downloaded the celetia intalltion file again, and made a backup copy to another folder. The properties are set to archivem which is normal. When I dbl clicked it to execute the install, the file again disappeared after about 5 secs. Nothing else happened and nothing was install. It simply deleted itself. BTW, as before, I downloaded the ver 1.4.1 from the Celestia website. Any other ideas?

Verify that you in fact have the current anti-virus signature file for whatever anti-virus software you're using. The anti-virus program should have an option to scan all of the disk. Be sure to use it after updating the signature file.

I recall someone contacting me to complain that one of the anti-virus programs thought Celestia was infected. It turned out to be a bug in the anti-virus signature file. When he updated to the most recent one, the problem went away.

Have you verified that the disk space occupied by the installation programs actually is being returned to the free list? In other words, I'm suggesting that you find out the exact amount of disk space that's in use before and after the files seem to vanish to see if they're being deleted or being moved to some other directory.

Have you run the search program (Find under W2K, I think) to look for them?

Where are you putting the installation files before they vanish? On the desktop? In \temp\ ? In a special directory where you keep only Celestia installation files? (I do this so I can reinstall from scratch without downloading it again.) If in \temp\, is there a program running that automatically cleans it out periodically?

Is there any chance your system is having disk errors? Are you running any kind of disk diagnostic program?

How about other types of system erorrs? Have you looked in the system logs? Have you run a memory test program?

Just so you know, computer memory is measured in multiples of 1024, not 1000.
512 MB is what you have.

Disk companies are the only ones who measure computer space in multiples of 1000. It irks everyone else, since it tends to mislead novices so they think they have more disk space than they actually have. Just to confuse the issue, Windows measures usage in both units.

Thanks for your replies. I did an update on my virus deff. files, and ran a scan. It found nothing. I saved the installation file into two diff folders, and always get the same result. I am beginning to think the download file is somehow corrupted and will try to email someone with the Celestia site about it.

I did not post to get into a techie debate, but as for the memory chip I have, it is a 512 ram chip, which happens to have aprox. 524,000 k bytes of memory on it. And you are right in that you divide the total bytes by 1024 to get the ram size. The actual physical byte size is still 524,000 k bytes plus or minus, divided by 1024 which gives you 512. You do the math.

Thanks again for everyone who posted a reply and tried to help.

This does sound like the file is getting flagged as a virus. You probally have your anti-virus software configured to delete viruses automaticlly. Mabey you can configure it to quarrintine instead. Then you can verify the cause. Did you try to install it with the anti-virus off?

cartrite

I just read on a website and found out that some viuses will cause the file to disappear when executed. This makes me think that it's possible the latest celestia installation file from their website has been courrupted with some kind of virus that the latest deff. files do not detect as of yet. I will keep checking all resources and reply back here with any new info.

This might not be the case at all with my particular issue, but I think it's better to take the coutious route when it might involve a new virus, and especially one hidden within a popular free software download site. If anyone else has any more information that might help, please reply.

Thanks

Sorry cartriite, I just now saw your post. I did try installing with my autodetect turned off. I still got the same result. I also do not have it set to auto delete, it is set to quarantine, when it is on.

I have also never seen an installation exe file do this before, so this is very puzzling to me.

I am an eternal optomist, and we will find out the answer, hopefully, with everyones help.

Thanks again.