File Cannot be Opened Error

[Fenring]

I'm sure you get this all the time but I'm not converting from a CD drive. The file is on my secondary hard drive and it will not convert.

Here's the error: The file 'D:\WinMX\xxxxxx.wav' could not be opened. I had no trouble with the other 450 files I converted on the same drive and in the very same folder. Any ideas what could be causing this?

Oh, the files DO play properly in Windows Media Player. This is the first time I've ever had any problems as well....

[xoas]

Re: File Cannot be Opened Error

I would wonder whether the file was actually a wav file (Windows Media Player seems to be bit more flexible in handling mis-tagged files) or if it is in some funky format (in which case it might convert on its own but maybe not at the same time as 450 different wav files). Or perhaps it is just a random glitch. My final idea would be that this file might have some type of copy protection (though I have not heard of encrypted wav files before).

With this in mind, place your mouse over the track file and see if the file shows on popup info as a wav file. Check the settings for bits, frequency and channels. If these are other than 16, 44.1 khz, and 2. Stereo (respectively) please let us know. Then try to convert just this one track. If it will not convert, please let us know the exact error message you are getting.

Good luck and best wishes,
Bill Mikkelsen

[Fenring]

Re: File Cannot be Opened Error

Hmm, I don't see any information like that.

Also, I have 20 WAV files doing the same thing so it's not a random glitch.

AH, something new this time:
The CODEC required to decompress 'D:\WinMX\xxxxxx.ogg' could not be opened.

I tried different extensions and that came up. Something tells me it's not a WAV file or an OGG file. Well this sucks.... <_<

[xoas]

Re: File Cannot be Opened Error

You originally had this problem with one file. You now have it with about 20 files and it is affecting other file types. Your files appear to be downloaded through a peer to peer network.

My suspicion is that you have downloaded a malignant file. Perhaps it is only corrupt in some way but it is also possible that it contains a virus or worm. Here is what I would do:
Stop using the computer for anything else and do a complete virus scan of your computer. Take care of any viruses/worms etc. that may turn up.
After that, I would ditch the original "bad" file even if the virus scan does not show the file to be corrupt.
After that, I would uninstall all dBpowerAMP programs (in XP you do this through the add or remove programs from the Control Panel). This includes any codecs. Next I would go to the registry editior (in XP Start>Run, type in regedit). Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER>Software. Find the Illustrate folder. Select this folder, go to the Edit menu and select Delete. Close regedit. Restart the computer. Reinstall your dBpowerAMP software. (You may not need to do this but it is more than possible that the corrupt file has messed with the dBpowerAMP registry).
I cannot be sure this is your problem but that is certainly what it looks like to me.

Good luck and best wishes,
Bill Mikkelsen

[Fenring]

Re: File Cannot be Opened Error

All the files are WAV files and it has not affected any other file type (that I know of).

The files are clean, as in they contain no malicious code. WMP wouldn't play them properly if there was something off about them. If the files were viruses, Norton woulc catch it as soon as the virus tried to do its thing.

Oh yeah, it was 20 BEFORE I made my first post. New ones didn't just quit converting overnight. It's the same 20 that's be plaguing me since I got them. I guess that's the price you pay for using P2P networks. <_<

[xoas]

Re: File Cannot be Opened Error

Well I'm very glad its nothing worse.
The question then would be, you can play them, why can't you convert them?
I would recommend looking at the characteristics of these files. Could they be other than 16 bit, 44.1 khz, 2 channel (stereo or joint stereo) files? If that is the case, then try to convert them first to 16 bit, 44.1 khz, 2 channel stereo wav files and then try further conversions from there.
With the .ogg thing, how did that arise and do you have the .ogg codec installed (see codec central if you have not)?
Keep us posted and good luck,
Bill Mikkelsen

[ChristinaS]

Re: File Cannot be Opened Error

Well I'm very glad its nothing worse.
The question then would be, you can play them, why can't you convert them?
I would recommend looking at the characteristics of these files. Could they be other than 16 bit, 44.1 khz, 2 channel (stereo or joint stereo) files? If that is the case, then try to convert them first to 16 bit, 44.1 khz, 2 channel stereo wav files and then try further conversions from there.
With the .ogg thing, how did that arise and do you have the .ogg codec installed (see codec central if you have not)?
Keep us posted and good luck,
Bill Mikkelsen

These most probably are not wav files. Not if they were downloaded from anywhere, they'd be much too big for downloads. They must be in some other compressed format and have been misnamed with a wav extension. Well, I suppose they could be "compressed wav", but you can establish that through elimination.

If WMP can play them, then they are probably in one of the compressed formats that WMP can understand: mp3, wma, asf or any one of the others.

I would try to establish first what actual format you are dealing with.

WMP sometimes displays a running banner at the bottom of the screen saying what bit rate it's playing, for compressed files like mp3 and wma.

If it is an instrumental peiece, the file could even be a midi file that has been renamed to wav. WMP will play it without even mentioning anything, but you cannot convert that with dMC, you need to capture it to an actual audio file using dMC Auxiliary Input.

[Fenring]

Re: File Cannot be Opened Error

The question then would be, you can play them, why can't you convert them?
I would recommend looking at the characteristics of these files. Could they be other than 16 bit, 44.1 khz, 2 channel (stereo or joint stereo) files? If that is the case, then try to convert them first to 16 bit, 44.1 khz, 2 channel stereo wav files and then try further conversions from there.

If I had that information, I'd have attached it by now. I've come to the conclusion that they're not WAV files. They seem to be some off the wall format, maybe a MIDI like Christina mentioned but they're much too big to be MIDI files.

With the .ogg thing, how did that arise and do you have the .ogg codec installed (see codec central if you have not)?

I was just trying various formats and I got a different error. Upon further inspection, it isn't in the OGG format.

If WMP can play them, then they are probably in one of the compressed formats that WMP can understand: mp3, wma, asf or any one of the others.

Tried that. I've been through: WAV, MP3, ASF, WMA, OGG. If they're any other format than WAV, they do not play. I've not tried MIDI though.

[Fenring]

Re: File Cannot be Opened Error

Seems they were MIDI files after all...

Now my question is how do I use the Auxiliary Input? Well, more appropriately, how do I tell it to find my files?

[ChristinaS]

Re: File Cannot be Opened Error

Seems they were MIDI files after all...

Now my question is how do I use the Auxiliary Input? Well, more appropriately, how do I tell it to find my files?

dMC Auxliliary Input does not find files. It captures the sound that comes through your soundcard as you play the file through a player that supports it.

Please check the FAQ on how to record through dMC Auxiliary Input at http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=5362 . I there is a reference to another post specifialyy for midi files - though it's really the same procedure.