Google Earth crashes on launch

[nonstop301]

Hello everyone,

I would just like to ask if anyone is familiar with problems encountered when the google earth program is started.

Recently, I always have some sort of error that disrupts everything else going on when I launch the program, and windows has to be restarted to recover.

I have tried both the DirectX and OpenGL mode but the same problems occur in either case and windows will just fail before the program has even finished its launch sequence.

Any comments and advice you wish to provide are gratefully appreciated.

Thanks again for all your help

[GrayFox]

Do you have the latest graphics card drivers installed ?.

[nonstop301]

Hi GrayFox,

Yes I have the latest version of the drivers for the graphics card I use. It's the Radeon 9550 so it's nothing too fancy but ATi still provides support for it.

The program was working quite well in the past although I did suffer from this error periodically. Now however, it has become a constant occurence and windows terminates and needs to be restarted.

[primesuspect]

I would uninstall it and delete the cache, perhaps the google earth cache has become corrupt somehow. In lieu of a "google earth cache database repair tool", which I'm reasonably sure doesn't exist, I would just delete it and start over. Databases are susceptible to corruption. Once everything has been deleted, download and install the latest version.

If you still have problems with a fresh install, it might be time to check your RAM.

[nonstop301]

Thanks for your suggestions primesuspect. I did what you said and it launches properly now and I have a chance to view the locations I select.

After having seeing it fail so much though, I still get the feeling it's likely to suddenly terminate and cause windows to require a restart :)

I have Kingston ValueRAM PC 3200 512 MB and according to the recommendations on the google earth site, it should be more than adequate for the program to run well.

Thanks again for your help and merry Christmas

[primesuspect]

The amount of ram is adequate, but perhaps your RAM is dying or defective. RAM goes bad more often than one would think... :-/

[nonstop301]

I'll keep that issue about the RAM in mind primesuspect. Would there be any other signs that are a result of defective RAM ?

I've been using this RAM stick for a year now and the rest of my programs perform well. It's only the google earth that kept failing so dramatically recently.