PLEASE HELP

Linda,

As a test, please first restart your computer. Then, after it finishes restarting, launch Hallmark Card Studio 2012 once more. This time, once you get to the main screen of the program, do not click on anything and wait for a minute or so. When you do this, does the program still display a "Loading" message? If so, leave the program alone for a few more minutes. Does that "Loading" message ever go away?

No I left it going for 10 minutes and still never opened.

Linda,

For my clarification, did the "Loading" message appear when you launched the program, got to the main screen and did not click on anything?

yes the loading screen pops up and stays on loading. I have had 4 other hallmark card studio in this computer and never had any problems. I reinstalled the 2012 version and I installed updates but still won't open to any projects. The event planner will open immediatly, that works fine.

Linda,

If that is the case, then there is something wrong with one of the Microsoft components that the program requires in order to run properly. Please see the "Loading on main screen" section of the following FAQ:

http://www.softcity.com/support/faq?publicId=QO1ADMwATN

Linda,

I do not know what "extracted files" you are referring to. The link I provided you was to view the FAQ, not to download it.

Linda,

None of the prior versions of the program require the Microsoft SQL Server Compact. This is a new requirement for the 2012 version of the program. It will also probably be a continuing requirement for any future version of the program.

As to the message you are receiving, I have never had to download this myself, as the Hallmark program automatically installed everything it needed correctly. I looked at the Microsoft page. Did you read the Instructions section that were on the Microsoft page where you download the file? They explain step-by-step what you need to do to install this component.

I put my 2010 program back in and I will return the 2012 program. I guess I will not buy any more Hallmark Card programs because I should not have to download any extra programs to make it work. It is not stated on the box and I don't like to clutter up my computer with more crap. I am very disappointed with the new product because the other ones you just download and you are ready to go.

Linda,

For clarification, all versions of Hallmark Card Studio starting with 2005 required additional Microsoft components in order to run correctly. This is not a new thing with the program. The program will install those components if they are not found on the computer. This is done silently in the background during the program's installation. So, you may not have been aware of it occurring. However, it is something that has happened with all of those versions, including your 2010 version.

Well then why have I installed the 2010,2009,2008 and the 2005 programs and have never had this problem. I can uninstall and reinstall all these programs on this computer and they run right away and will open immediately. Could there be something wrong with the disc i purchased for the 2012 version?

Linda,

Those programs used other Microsoft components. For each one it is different. However, almost all of them required a certain version of Microsoft .NET Framework and a certain version of MSXML. These are components that are used by many different programs. So, there is a fair chance that one or more of them were already installed on your computer by some other program at some point. Once the Microsoft components are installed, they remain on your system unless you manually uninstall them. However, if they were not already on there, then Hallmark Card Studio would have installed them when it was installing itself. Hallmark Card Studio 2012 is no different except that this is the first version to also use the Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition component.

There is a possibility that there is something wrong with the disc. I do not think that is likely, though. If that were the case, I would have expected you to receive an error message when installing Hallmark. You did not mention an error message, so I am assuming that did not occur.

Either way, you should be able to resolve your issue with Hallmark Card Studio 2012 by installing the Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition from that link. At least one other person was experiencing a similar problem and was able to correct it by installing from that link. So, I expect your issue to be corrected by installing the component that way.

I have downloaded the Microsoft SQL server and reinstalled the 2012 card studio and all I get is the loading message when I try to choose a project. The event planner will open but cannot open any projects. Then if I close the program and try to open it again, the loading message is still there.

Linda,

Did you install the Microsoft SQL Server after you downloaded it? Please go to your Add/Remove Programs and locate the Microsoft SQL Server found in that list. What is the full title name that it is showing in there?

Linda,

You said that the title is "Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 enu". The link in the FAQ has you download and install "Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 ENU". Is your installation of Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 the SP2 version? If it is missing the SP2 in the title, then it sounds like you installed the wrong one.

Also, I believe the installation order mentioned in the FAQ was important. So, having it installed before uninstalling Hallmark Card Studio 2012 may be an additional complication. If you do have the SP2 version installed, what I would suggest that you do is the following at this point:

1 - Uninstall both Hallmark Card Studio 2012 and the Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 ENU
2 - Restart the computer
3 - Reinstall the Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 ENU from the link in the FAQ
4 - Restart the computer after it finishes installing
5 - After the computer finishes restarting, reinstall Hallmark Card Studio 2012

I took everything out and reinstalled as you said, and I am very happy to say my program is now working. Thank you so much

Linda,

I am glad to hear that helped resolve your issue. Thank you for letting us know the issue has been resolved.