# PTB program freezes in the middle of an experiment

**URL:** https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/ptb-program-freezes-in-the-middle-of-an-experiment/35
**Category:** Uncategorized
**Created:** [March 7, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/ptb-program-freezes-in-the-middle-of-an-experiment/35 "2019-03-07T23:49:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Allen\_Ingling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Allen\_Ingling](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/u/Allen_Ingling)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/ptb-program-freezes-in-the-middle-of-an-experiment/35/1 "2019-03-07T23:49:16Z")

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I have been running this experiment with PTB on the same setup for a while now. Today, on 2 separate instances, the program froze during the experiment and I had to exit out using the esc key. It was running fine yesterday, and I haven't changed anything with the hardware or the software. I'm running PTB 3.0.14 - Flavor: beta - Corresponds to SVN Revision 8715, on a Windows 10 PC. Again, I have been using the exact same setup for months now, and I don't know what has changed.&nbsp;

I tried running a shorter version of the task and it was fine. The messages printed out to the command window were not different from the run that froze.&nbsp;

Given the above information, I do not think this is a PTB problem, but I'm also at a loss as to where the problem is coming from. If there are any thoughts or suggestions on how to debug this issue, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks!

Xin

University of Delaware

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### Author: ![fillyglory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ebca7d/32.png) [@fillyglory](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/u/fillyglory)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://psychtoolbox.discourse.group/t/ptb-program-freezes-in-the-middle-of-an-experiment/35/2 "2019-03-08T03:04:11Z")

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Thanks for the suggestion. I have disabled updates for this exact concern months ago. I did check update history today and everything looks fine. It is connected to the internet because of our institution's MATLAB license. I realized that the internet could have been glitchy today (from separate observations) and may have caused MATLAB to stop working temporarily. My PI has agreed to purchase a standalone license so hopefully this will get to the bottom of the problem.&nbsp;