Arduino IDE (1.6.9) won't start anymore

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

Hi all,

I'm having kind of a weird issue. I was able to create project and use the IDE for a few weeks, but when I tried again yesterday the IDE wouldn't open. Basically, I get the splash screen, and it gives a few messages, says starting, then nothing happens.

I've attached the hs_err log file, which seems to be implying an error with java. I also attached a launch log. Additionally, the issue has persisted through a few restarts/reinstalls, so that doesn't seem to be helping.

The only other thing I can offer is that one of my peers was trying to make the arduino work with labview, and so had to download a few files (as far as I know, they were all on the labview side of things though). However, she had no problems opening/closing the software while she was working on it on Friday.

Any tips? Thank you for any advice!

hs_err_pid6840.txt (22.8 KB)

launch4j.txt (8.42 KB)

2

A bunch of people have had IDE 1.6.x problems, including IDE crashes and bizarre compile errors, when they had a previous 1.5.x/1.6.x installation. At least some of those problems seem to be caused by out-of-date executables that the IDE saves outside the IDE installation directory. Perhaps that is what is causing your particular problem. In such cases it appears that the fix is to delete or rename the old "Arduino15" directory and re-install 1.6.x.

On Mac OS X:
/Users/(username)/Library/Arduino15

On Windows:
C:\Users(username)\AppData\Roaming\Arduino15

On Linux:
/home/(username)/.arduino15 (a.k.a. ~/.arduino15)

3

@ John.

There is also a second installation section/folder

C:\Users\AppData\Local\Arduino15 (windows)

4

Ballscrewbob:
@ John.
There is also a second installation section/folder
C:\Users\AppData\Local\Arduino15 (windows)

Are you sure? I did a Google search for "AppData\Local\Arduino15" and in every case it was preceded by a username. Could it be that you copied an Arduino15 folder up a level to get it out of your %USERPROFILE%?

5

Hi guys, thanks for the help. I did see that solution when I googled the issue but it didn't help me out, but I tried it again anyway. Still no fix.

I did not have an install prior to this either.

Is there an issue with using an older version of the IDE if it starts?

6

@ John

Oops sorry John yes forgot to add the user name but its in "Local" AND "Roaming" for sure here and no I didn't move it there. The only thing I moved was the sketches folder to another drive a long timer ago.

@ Mudbeard.

There is no problem using an earlier IDE if it supports what you need to do.

1.6.5 r5 has always been pretty stable and some earlier IDEs work well on XP too.
The only problem you may find is adding such as ESP boards or some of the newer ones like the MKR

Some libraries might also be an issue.
best way to run earlier IDE's is to just unzip it to its own folder and set up a shortcut to be able to run it independently. You may find it throws up library errors otherwise.

7

You might be encountering this issue: 1.6.8 Arduino closes instantly if GPS-receiver is connected to any COM (1.6.7 works) · Issue #4696 · arduino/Arduino · GitHub. There is a test build at Update liblistserial to 1.1.3 by facchinm · Pull Request #4971 · arduino/Arduino · GitHub you could try if you're feeling adventurous or you could try an Arduino IDE version 1.6.7 or previous(it looks like issue #4696 happens with 1.6.8 and 1.6.9).

8

This seems a very random problem. I encountered it today, in the middle of a coding session. Literally nothing had changed, no background updates (no internet connectivity). I just tried to compile for an optiboot/1284 and it crashed, leaving me unable to restart the ide. Thanks for the pointers on the fix :slight_smile: