MiKTeX and proTeXt ⇒ MikTex 2.9 error with pdflatex - no output produced

[marian]

I have just installed MikTeX 2.9 to replace my old MikTex 2.6 distribution. However, latex doesn't compile under 2.9. I get the following error message:

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415296-1.40.11 (MiKTeX 2.9).
pdflatex.exe: Invalid control sequence.

LaTeX-Result: 0 Error(s), 0 Warning(s), 0 Bad Box(es), 0 Page(s)

So, no output is produced. Any help on why this error occurs and what I might do to remedy it would be much appreciated!
- Marian

[josephwright]

You'll have to post some kind of example file: MiKTeX 2.9 works fine in general terms.

[marian]

I've just run the simplest tex-file thinkable

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
Hello!
\end{document}

It does produce a PDF-file under MikTex 2.6, but not under 2.9. I've checked the output profile definition paths several times, but that all seems fine. The executables pdflatex.exe, latex.exe and pdftex.exe all seem to be correctly addressed. I've tried running it with Texniccenter, as well as directly from the command prompt, producing the same error. Any ideas on where the problem might be located?

[frabjous]

Could you show us exactly what you're typing on the command line?

[marian]

Thank you for your replies. This is what I typed into the command line:

C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin>pdflatex "P:\My Documents\TeX\test.tex"

And this is the result:
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-1.40.11 (MiKTeX 2.9)
pdflatex: Invalid control sequence.

[frabjous]

Do you get the same results if you do:

Code: Select all

cd "P:\My Documents\Tex\"

And then with the prompt:

Code: Select all

P:\My Documents\Tex> 

Type in:

Code: Select all

"C:\Program Files\MikTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\pdflatex" test.tex

(I think you probably will get the same error; I just wanted to check.)

Overall, it seems that there is something seriously wrong with your pdflatex installation, however, and I'm not really sure what it could be.

[marian]

Dear frabjous,

Thanks for your suggestions. However, indeed I do get the same error if I type it in as you suggest... I was afraid already that something was wrong with the pdflatex.exe installation. We installed MikTex several times, also trying the base version and the complete version, but everytime the same error. During installation nothing strange happened, and we did manage before to install MikTex 2.6 on the same computer.
I've also read somewhere that changing things in the MikTex 2.9 > Settings > Formats tab may help. However, everything I try with pdflatex there (change or build) gives a similar error: a MikTex Problem Report stating "invalid control sequence". Maybe that's a related error?

Many thanks, Marian

[marian]

Hi all,

For those of you experiencing similar problems, I think I found the solution. The trick was in the fact that (appearantly) several format files had to be 'built'.
Here's what I did:
- In the start menu, go to Programs > MikTex 2.9 > Maintenance (Admin) > Settings
- in the Formats-tab, select tex, pdftex, pdflateX and latex (I'm not sure whether all are needed, but it worked this way), and press Build
- in the General-tab, press 'refresh NMBD', and also 'Update Formats'. You will see that the Format files are being built.

If you don't have Administrator priviliges on your PC (like me), than this won't work because Maintenance (Admin) doesn't work. To overcome that, we reinstalled MikTeX 2.9, this time only for the current user (me). Now there is only one Maintenance path (no longer for Admin), and I can do the things described above myself.

Thanks for thinking along!
Best, Marian

[localghost]

[…] I think I found the solution. […]

Then please mark the topic (not the last post) accordingly as written in Section 3 of the Board Rules (to be read before posting).


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten

[subrat_kar]

Yes, Marian's solution (<Build format> files, then <update formats> + <Update FNDB> in MikTex 2.9 as Administrator) works. That solution should be marked as a email to read before posting anything else.