TextAloud3 fails to find voices in Widows XP

[julianvb]

2014-12-23

I am now using the free version TextAloud3 in Windows XP on my MacBook Pro, which hosts Windows XP and Ubuntu 12.04. I see all the TA3704 files in the C\Program Files\TextAloud\ folder including Spchapi.exe and Microsoft-English-TTS-51. As a matter of fact, I successfully installed TextAloud and Microsft-English-TTS-51 from within this folder and also ran its Spchapi.exe file successfully. I even rebooted Windows XP before running TextAloud again. Even though I seem to have done everything right, I keep seeing the following error message:

TextAloud initialization failed for the following reason:
No voices were found.

My laptop has plenty of free space left, approximately 13.1 GB, and RAM. I am really puzzled by this error message.

Julianvb

[Jim Bretti]

Hi Julian

There is a slightly newer version, 3.0.74.4, at http://www.nextup.com/files/ta3.exe Try installing that and see if there is any difference.

If the newer version doesn't help, it may help if you try the FixRegistry utility we have available. See the post at http://nextup.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6075, there are instructions near the bottom of the page.

If you can't get things to work, can you let me know how you're running XP on your Mac? Are you using Fusion or some other virtualization tool?

[julianvb]

There is a slightly newer version, 3.0.74.4, at http://www.nextup.com/files/ta3.exe Try installing that and see if there is any difference.

If the newer version doesn't help, it may help if you try the FixRegistry utility we have available. See the post at http://nextup.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6075, there are instructions near the bottom of the page.

If you can't get things to work, can you let me know how you're running XP on your Mac? Are you using Fusion or some other virtualization tool?

Jim,

I've tried FixRegistry and re-installed TextAloud to no avail. I am using Windows XP Home edition on an old MacBook Pro without the original OSX. Actually the laptop hosts both Windows XP and Ubuntu 12.04. I'm not using any virtualization tool. I've also sent you a private e-mail just before Christmas. I thought it would be much simpler for me to learn TextAloud in a true Windows environment instead of Linux.

Even though the TextAloud folder in Program Files contains all the DLL files and needed voice files, TextAloud still indicates that no voices are found.

Julian Loui

[Jim Bretti]

So when you run FixRegistry, and click the 'Check Registry' button, it doesn't find any errors?

Here is something else to try. Try installing the Sapi5 for English package by downloading the installer at http://www.webaloud.com/files/Microsoft ... TTS-51.msi, and running it. This should place the free Microsoft Sapi5 voices Mary Mike and Sam on your system, and there's a chance it will clear the problems as well.

Note this installer should only be used on Windows XP, it will not work on systems running Vista and later.

[julianvb]

Jim,

I re-did everything twice just a few minutes ago in the sequence indicated below.

(1) When I ran FixRegistry, I saw the following screen error:
SP5 does not appear to be installed correctly. Please contact support@nextup.com.

(2) So I ran Microsoft-English-TTS-51.msi , which I downloaded a few days ago, and saw the following positive screen message:
Microsoft-English-TTS51 has been successfully installed.

(3) I ran FixRegistry again and saw the error below.
A non-repairable error was detected in Check Sap5NL Registered ESevereException: Sapi5 DLL not found.
Sap5 doe snot appear to be installed correctly. Please contact support@nextup.com.

(4) I next ran Microssft-English-TTS-51.msi to remove Microsoft-English-TTS-5.1 and saw the following message.
Welcome .....
The installer will guide you through the steps required to install Microsoft-Ebglish-TTS-5.1 on your computer.
Microsoft-English-TTS-5.1 has been successfully installed.

(5) This time I ran FixRegistry from within the TextAloud folder but still encountered the same error as mentioned above. So I am going around in a circle. I hope you can find some hints in the above data. Thanks very much again.

Julian Loui

[Jim Bretti]

I don't know of many other options to try if these don't work ... its odd that we're not able to find the sapi5 dll. Do you have a Windows XP install CD? If you have your CD there is one other thing to try, you can basically reinstall SAPI5 from the install cd using these instructions.

***** THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR WINDOWS XP ONLY *****

First, if you’re not logged in with administrator privileges, log out, and log on as a user with administrator privileges. From Windows Explorer, go to the directory c:\windows\inf. The inf folder is hidden by default, so you may need to display hidden folders. In Windows explorer, select Tools -> Folder Options, click the View tab, and select “Show hidden files and folders”.

Then, in the directory c:\windows\inf, find the file sapi5.inf. Right click the file, and from the popup menu, click “Install”. You’ll be prompted for your Windows XP install CD, and sapi5 will reinstall. When this is done, reboot your computer, and see if this fixes the problems.

If you don't have an install cd or if this reinstall does not work I really don't know what else to try.

[julianvb]

Jim,

Thank you very much. I finally arrived at the promised land. After I installed Sapi5.dll from my WinXP SP3 CD ( luckily
I had created an WinXP SP3 CD early last year as I had bought my original WinXP in 2004 or even earlier) and rebooted, I was able to hear TextAloud read aloud text I typed on the screen. Thank you very much for your patience. My next job will be learning to transpose this work to Linux.

Julian Loui