IDLE will not open (2.6.1 on WinXP pro)

[Yo]

BPO	4685
Nosy	@terryjreedy, @kbkaiser, @amauryfa, @devdanzin

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2010-12-31.02:09:38.023>
created_at = <Date 2008-12-17.19:57:48.126>
labels = ['expert-IDLE', 'type-bug']
title = 'IDLE will not open (2.6.1 on WinXP pro)'
updated_at = <Date 2010-12-31.02:09:38.021>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/Yo'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2010-12-31.02:09:38.021>
actor = 'terry.reedy'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2010-12-31.02:09:38.023>
closer = 'terry.reedy'
components = ['IDLE']
creation = <Date 2008-12-17.19:57:48.126>
creator = 'Yo'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 4685
keywords = []
message_count = 8.0
messages = ['77982', '78022', '78031', '78436', '86619', '86690', '87100', '124947']
nosy_count = 6.0
nosy_names = ['terry.reedy', 'kbk', 'amaury.forgeotdarc', 'ajaksu2', 'gpolo', 'Yo']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'out of date'
stage = 'test needed'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue4685'
versions = ['Python 2.6']

[Yo]

Hello,

I am new to programming... I installed Python a couple days ago with no
problems. I used it quite a bit since I'm going through loads of tutorials.
All of a sudden, it shut off, closed and will no longer open. This
problem seems to be common, but none of the suggestions work.

I uninstalled it and re-installed it to no avail. The command line works
however.
Suggestions?

[amauryfa]

Can you start it from a command prompt (cmd.exe):

cd c:\python26
python Lib\idlelib\idle.py

The console may display interesting error messages.

[Yo]

It didn't work.

"cd c:\python26" successfully prompted "C:\Python26>",

But then entering "python Lib\idlelib\idle.py" did not work, the message
is too long to enter in this reply but here are some of the lines in the
body:

"Unhandled server exception!
Thread: SockThread"
[...]
"ImportError: cannot import name Random
*** Unrecoverable, server existing!"
[...]
"EOFError"

I hope this helps, I have no clue what to do...

[amauryfa]

I would like to see the complete list of messages.
Looks like a broken python installation...

[devdanzin]

Ilan: any news on this?

[Yo]

I basically have been running IDLE without the subprocess.

(In C:\Python24\Lib\idlelib\PyShell.py and at line 1272 change

use_subprocess = True

to

use_subprocess = False

Save PyShell.py, restart IDLE, and you will see a message in the shell
window that IDLE is now running without the subprocess.)

It has been running fine since.

[kbkaiser]

Couple of comments. First, your messages seem to indicate that
you have both Python24 and Python26 installed. Although that
shouldn't cause problems, it might in your case. If you are no
longer using Python24, please uninstall it.

First, open your Windows task manager and kill off any stale
python processes. If IDLE won't start with the subprocess, that's
usually the problem.

Set IDLE to work with the subprocess, and try to reproduce your
error. If it's still there, kill off any resulting stale python
processes.

Then, I'd really like to see the full error message if possible.

Open a Windows Command shell, and run this:

set >> test.log

c:\Python26\python -m idlelib.idle >> test.log 2>&1

Then reproduce the error, exit, and upload test.log to this
tracker.

IDLE works much better if you use the subprocess!

[terryjreedy]

2.6 is now security fix only.