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I just switched to a new laptop, installed Miktex and Texmaker, and cannot get pdflatex to work. When started from inside Texmaker, the program runs for a few seconds, then spits out nothing. No error messages (or messages of any kind) in the log, no PDF, nothing. When run from the command line (using 'C:\Users\Name> pdflatex "D:\test.tex" ), I get a message that pdflatex is starting:

"Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Charlie Beer>pdflatex "D:\test.tex"
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.16 (MiKTeX 2.9 64-bit)
entering extended mode
(D:/test.tex
LaTeX2e <2015/10/01> patch level 2
Babel <3.9n> and hyphenation patterns for 69 languages loaded.

C:\Users\Charlie Beer> "

then it runs for a few seconds and I get an error that the program pdflatex has stopped responding and must be closed. The test file I'm using is a pretty basic document which builds just fine on both of the other computers to which I have access. Any help on getting this to run properly would be appreciated. Thanks.

UPDATE: When I simplify my file to use only basic packages, it builds:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}  
\usepackage{amsmath}  
\usepackage{amsfonts}  

\title{A Stochastic Control Model for Energy Markets}  
\author{Charles Beer}  
\date{\today}  
\begin{document}  
\maketitle  
\section{Abstract}  
PLAIN TEXT  
\end{document}

However, if I try to use extra packages, it seems that Miktex's package manager hangs and causes a crash:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}  
\usepackage{amsmath}  
\usepackage{amsfonts}  
\usepackage{color,soul}  
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}  

\title{A Stochastic Control Model for Energy Markets}  
\author{Charles Beer}  
\date{\today}  
\begin{document}  
\maketitle  
\section{Abstract}  
PLAIN TEXT  
\end{document}
samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz
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Charles Beer
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  • This sounds very odd. Would you mind to share your text.tex with us? Maybe the culprit is in there. – Henri Menke Feb 02 '16 at 21:54
  • Sorry, I'm not that familiar with posting here. I'm looking up how to post in a readable format and will get back to you. – Charles Beer Feb 02 '16 at 22:05
  • Actually, you gave me the idea to simplify it even further (I had just pulled a page from an earlier document). If I use only basic packages, it does build. So, it appears that Miktex's package manager is not launching correctly to install new packages on the fly. Strange that I get no dialog box or error message, though. – Charles Beer Feb 02 '16 at 22:10
  • Sorry about the continual updates. Every time I try to copy my test file, it shows up with no line breaks. If I post it in a new question, it appears fine. But, in comments here, it all squishes together. – Charles Beer Feb 02 '16 at 22:16
  • check at first if your system is up-to-date. http://tex.stackexchange.com/a/108490/2388. If the problem persists make a bug report. – Ulrike Fischer Feb 02 '16 at 22:24
  • @HenriMenke - I've put the .tex file(s) above. – Charles Beer Feb 02 '16 at 22:33
  • @UlrikeFischer - Miktex Update says that there are no updates available. I'm not seeing where to send a bug report. Sorry for the basic questions; I've never had any trouble before, so I've never delved very far into Miktex. – Charles Beer Feb 02 '16 at 22:33
  • Did you synchronize the package managers and check if there are new packages? Did you check as admin and user? Can you install packages with the package manager? – Ulrike Fischer Feb 02 '16 at 22:43
  • @UrlikeFischer - I synchronized as both user and admin. The update manager says "There are currently no updates available." in both cases. I am able to install packages manually from the package manager as both user and admin. – Charles Beer Feb 03 '16 at 00:09
  • I often have the same problem: MiKTeX does not propose any on-the-fly installation of missing package and ends up in no .pdf produced. Actually I can know which packages are missing from launching compilation from the command line. This has happened since quite a few months now. – Bernard Feb 03 '16 at 00:27
  • @Bernard - How do you know which packages are missing from the command line? I get no messages at all after the Babel line in the original post, then pdflatex crashes. – Charles Beer Feb 03 '16 at 00:30
  • There's a message from the command line that tells me ‘such package missing’. It is always a loaded package which I do not have installed (usually I'm testing a solution to a problem). – Bernard Feb 03 '16 at 00:40
  • @Bernard - I don't get any messages like that. I just get an error from Windows that pdflatex has stopped responding. – Charles Beer Feb 03 '16 at 00:42
  • For everyone, I tried manually installing the "color" package and including it with a usepackage{color} line, and the build still fails without any messages the same as before it was installed. So, it seems something is failing in the way Miktex tries to handle packages. – Charles Beer Feb 03 '16 at 00:43
  • Not sure why this worked, but I have solved the problem by uninstalling the 64-bit installation of Miktex I originally had and replacing it with a 32-bit installation. If someone with the proper reputation level would like to close this question, I'd appreciate it. Thanks all. – Charles Beer Feb 03 '16 at 05:47

1 Answers1

2

I was hitting exactly the same problem, and solved it by uninstalling the x64 version of MiKTeX and installing the x32 version instead. I'm now prompted to download the missing packages.

Hopefully this answer doesn't come too late!

TULC
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