Warning: Chessbase crashes Winows 7 64bit OS

[Hagen]

This is a fair warning to anyone who has a fresh install of Windows 7 64 bit with Chessbase products. I have suffered 3 lockups using Chessbase 9 in Windows 7 64 bit OS which I purchased 2 weeks ago. The lesson has been hard learned and I'm passing this on to anyone who's experienced the same problem. If you've suffered this issue...let this thread be the official discussion on the issue.

My recommendation: Do *not* use Chessbase to read PGN files. Nor should you use Chessbase for opening games and exporting them to Fritz for playing or analysis. This also caused a lockup on my system.

My conclusion: until Chessbase wakes up and offers a true 64 bit version of it's entire product line...do *not* pass Go to collect 200 dollars or jump to Park Avenue. Save the money and use either Shredder 4 Classic (which has *not* crashed once since installing) or and install and use SCID to convert your PGN files to Si4 format. The only time I recommend using Chessbase is if you download TWIC games and you're forced to convert CBH files over to PGN. But that's the extent of it...but even there be very careful.

[tano-urayoan]

Well I have not have a crash ever using any chess software.

[bhandelman]

Look, I know Chessbase 9 still works fine and dandy, but it's hard to believe you can expect it to work perfectly on an operating system that came out more than 5 years later, and a processor platform that didn't even exist back then. Please preface the fact that you are talking about Chessbase 9. I could easily claim Chessbase 3 won't run on Windows 7, but it's common sense. Not all Chessbase programs crash on Windows 7 x64, Chessbase 11 works fantastic and I have had zero crashes. I've used it with plenty of the trainers, and Fritz 12 with zero issues.

If you want to use Chessbase 9 on Windows 7, I recommend installing Windows XP Mode. It's free for Windows 7, Microsoft provided and supported, fully legal, and very easy to install. Virtual PC with a Windows XP virtual machine will be installed, and when you install apps in it they will run transparent for you in Windows 7. You can find it below:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtua ... nload.aspx

Again, don't blame the software provider when you try to run their software in an environment it was not designed for.

[Hagen]

Unfortunately I "forgot" to mention I *only* was able to get my new laptop system with Windows 7 Home Premium. This means Windows XP mode is *NOT* available to me. This is reserved to people who pony up the money to get Windows 7 Professional Edition. Poor me for not realizing this important fact. I simply will amend my warning to anybody using Chessbase 9 with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

[Jeremy Bernstein]

I am also seeing some annoying crashes on W7-x64 in Fritz 12 (didn't see them in CB11 yet, but I'm sure they're there), making it more or less unusable (it crashes when trying to open an open or save dialog on the 2nd or 3rd try, pretty consistently).

Luckily, there's a workaround: turn on XP Compatibility Mode. It seems to work perfectly now.

jb

[AlPearson]

I'm using Chessbase 11 and can't find how to activate/deactivate XP Compatibility.

[Jeremy Bernstein]

I'm using Chessbase 11 and can't find how to activate/deactivate XP Compatibility.

In the meantime, I'm not seeing those crashes anymore (so am not using Compatibility Mode), but if you just get the Properties of the application, there's a Compatibility tab where you can set this.

jb