# Error while trying to run my experiment

**URL:** <https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680>\
**Category:** Builder\
**Created:** [December 4, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680 "2020-12-04T15:15:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/1 "2020-12-04T15:15:13Z")

</div>

ERROR - experiment does not run

**OS** (e.g. Win10): 10.10.5  
**PsychoPy version** (e.g. 1.84.x): On any version (have tried older versions and 2020.2.5

When I try to run any experiment on my mac a new psychopy window attempts to open but crashes and then I get this error: ############ Running: /Users/casasim/Documents/trial \_lastrun.py ############## 463357.0164 INFO /Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/MacOS/python -m psychopy.scripts.psyexpCompile /Users/casasim/Documents/trial .psyexp -o /Users/casasim/Documents/trial \_lastrun.py -v 2020.2.61.1809 WARNING We strongly recommend you activate the PTB sound engine in PsychoPy prefs as the preferred audio engine. Its timing is vastly superior. Your prefs are currently set to use [‘sounddevice’, ‘PTB’, ‘pyo’, ‘pygame’] (in that order).Traceback (most recent call last): File “/Users/casasim/Documents/trial \_lastrun.py”, line 18, in from psychopy import sound, gui, visual, core, data, event, logging, clock File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/gui/ **init**.py”, line 45, in from .qtgui import \* File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/gui/qtgui.py”, line 35, in from PyQt5 import QtWidgetsImportError: dlopen(/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so, 2): no suitable image found. Did find:/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so: code signature invalid for ‘/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so’ The app does not run my experiment and the gray screen only appears when I run the experiment from JS for local debug

##### Experiment ended.

However, when I try to run it on JS local debug the experiment starts but the only thing that shows is a grey screen.  
How can I fix this?

Thank you in advance for your help.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CCL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@CCL](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/CCL)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/2 "2020-12-04T15:37:50Z")

</div>

Can you upload your .psyexp file and your stimuli file? This would help.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/3 "2020-12-04T16:17:51Z")

</div>

I have attached the psyexpfile

[trial .psyexp](https://discourse.psychopy.org/uploads/short-url/d7M7rMgh7SJqPGe8UQZ4bOQ7PTg.psyexp) (5.5 KB)

I am unsure what stimuli file you are referring to.

Best Wishes,

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CCL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@CCL](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/CCL)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/4 "2020-12-04T17:24:57Z")

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Hi SimAmanda,

I’ve run your psyexp and have managed to replicate your issue. I even had to get the task master to shut down the grey window.  
However when I opened a new window of PsychoPy and replicated your experiment exactly I found no such issues.

The issue here is that you have fullsrc set to false, you can change this by going to File, Preferences and ticking the box that says Full\_screen.

Let me know if that fixes it 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 9:16am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/5 "2020-12-05T09:16:33Z")

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Hi CLL,

I am not sure if I have done it correctly but I have gone on experiment setting and now clicked the full screen window but nothing has changed sadly. I had actually unclicked that box whilst trying to fix the issue.

Whenever I try to run the experiment on psychopy a new window of the program tries to open but then crashes straight away and the other window now just says:  
############# Running: /Users/casasim/Documents/trial \_lastrun.py ##############  
101.2603 INFO /Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/MacOS/python -m psychopy.scripts.psyexpCompile /Users/casasim/Documents/trial .psyexp -o /Users/casasim/Documents/trial \_lastrun.py -v 2020.2.6  
1.1996 WARNING We strongly recommend you activate the PTB sound engine in PsychoPy prefs as the preferred audio engine. Its timing is vastly superior. Your prefs are currently set to use [‘sounddevice’, ‘PTB’, ‘pyo’, ‘pygame’] (in that order).  
Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/Users/casasim/Documents/trial \_lastrun.py”, line 18, in   
from psychopy import sound, gui, visual, core, data, event, logging, clock  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/gui/ **init**.py”, line 45, in   
from .qtgui import \*  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/gui/qtgui.py”, line 35, in   
from PyQt5 import QtWidgets  
ImportError: dlopen(/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so, 2): no suitable image found. Did find:  
/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so: code signature invalid for ‘/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so’

##### Experiment ended.

The only way that I can make it even show anything is by opening it on JS and this way it only shows me the grey screen.

I have now tried to open the app and close it again but the same crashing psychopy window happens.

Thank you in advance.  
Amanda

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CCL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@CCL](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/CCL)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 12:22pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/6 "2020-12-05T12:22:41Z")

</div>

A possible solution here would be to uninstall and re-install PsychoPy. Have you tried this?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 8:36am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/7 "2020-12-07T08:36:09Z")

</div>

Hi,

I have just tried to do this but it is still showing up with this error.

302.8745 INFO Loaded monitor calibration from [‘2020\_11\_14 09:22’]  
Generating PsychoPy script…

###### Running: /Users/casasim/Documents/trial for experiment\_lastrun.py

1.1641 WARNING We strongly recommend you activate the PTB sound engine in PsychoPy prefs as the preferred audio engine. Its timing is vastly superior. Your prefs are currently set to use [‘sounddevice’, ‘PTB’, ‘pyo’, ‘pygame’] (in that order).  
Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/Users/casasim/Documents/trial for experiment\_lastrun.py”, line 18, in   
from psychopy import sound, gui, visual, core, data, event, logging, clock  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/gui/ **init**.py”, line 45, in   
from .qtgui import \*  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/gui/qtgui.py”, line 35, in   
from PyQt5 import QtWidgets  
ImportError: dlopen(/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so, 2): no suitable image found. Did find:  
/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so: code signature invalid for ‘/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so’

##### Experiment ended.

Now it seems like a new window of the app is not even trying to open yet.

Thanks  
Amanda

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CCL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@CCL](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/CCL)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 9:01am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/8 "2020-12-07T09:01:47Z")

</div>

Does this happen even if you create a new file?  
[SimAmandaTest.psyexp](https://discourse.psychopy.org/uploads/short-url/Ahdh5RE8JPfho6JsHwLPah5Ie58.psyexp) (10.5 KB)  
Just as a test, Does this file Run properly?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 9:29am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/9 "2020-12-07T09:29:39Z")

</div>

Hi,

thank you for doing that for me. Unfortunately, yes it still does not work.

Psychopy experiment runners gives me this info:  
469.4637 INFO Loaded monitor calibration from [‘2020\_11\_14 09:22’]  
Generating PsychoPy script…

########## Running: /Users/casasim/Downloads/SimAmandaTest\_lastrun.py ##########  
1.2464 WARNING We strongly recommend you activate the PTB sound engine in PsychoPy prefs as the preferred audio engine. Its timing is vastly superior. Your prefs are currently set to use [‘sounddevice’, ‘PTB’, ‘pyo’, ‘pygame’] (in that order).  
Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/Users/casasim/Downloads/SimAmandaTest\_lastrun.py”, line 18, in   
from psychopy import sound, gui, visual, core, data, event, logging, clock  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/gui/ **init**.py”, line 45, in   
from .qtgui import \*  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/gui/qtgui.py”, line 35, in   
from PyQt5 import QtWidgets  
ImportError: dlopen(/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so, 2): no suitable image found. Did find:  
/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so: code signature invalid for ‘/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/lib-dynload/sip.so’

##### Experiment ended.

3488.3746 INFO Loaded monitor calibration from [‘2020\_11\_14 09:22’]

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Amanda

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CCL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@CCL](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/CCL)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 10:37am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/10 "2020-12-07T10:37:08Z")

</div>

Are you certain you are running PsychoPy 2020.2.8 ?  
I can’t replicate your issue anymore for some reason. Though When I open up the original file you supplied everything is running very slowly.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 10:58am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/11 "2020-12-07T10:58:22Z")

</div>

I am running 2020.2.10.  
I had a group call with someone that works for Pyschopy the other day and mentioned that it could be something to do with my computer settings? However, I am not sure how to solve that issue.

Thanks  
Amanda

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CCL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@CCL](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/CCL)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 11:20am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/12 "2020-12-07T11:20:20Z")

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Ah! Is it possible that during the installation you changed some kind of setting?  
Alternatively do you allow PsychoPy to make changes to your device? ( think this is a prompting window at some point)

Lastly you could try the old fix all method of Running it as Administrator.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2020, 8:46am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/13 "2020-12-08T08:46:38Z")

</div>

I have not changed any setting that I am aware of. I think i’ve allowed it to make changes to my laptop, how do I check? I don’t imagine I would’ve clicked no.

Can I run as an administrator on a mac?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 8:34am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/14 "2020-12-09T08:34:50Z")

</div>

Hi CCL I have just tried downloading the software on another laptop and now the experiment runs! However, the screen remains green and does not show the text? Is it maybe because I have not created an excel sheet for the text variable?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CCL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@CCL](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/CCL)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 2:36pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/15 "2020-12-09T14:36:25Z")

</div>

Have you manually entered what text should display or have you used "YourText" because the indicates to the Text that it is looking for a defined variable.

Also green is an odd colour for it to be. Did you set the background colour to be green?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:48am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/16 "2020-12-10T08:48:43Z")

</div>

Sorry I meant grey!

I’ve manually entered the text in the “text” box that appears when I create the text variable. But what I have written in that box does not show.  
Thank you  
Amanda

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CCL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@CCL](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/CCL)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 10:14am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/17 "2020-12-11T10:14:40Z")

</div>

Can you upload the new file?  
Also are you still using Mac OS on the other laptop?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 9:44am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/18 "2020-12-12T09:44:17Z")

</div>

[\_lastrun.py](https://discourse.psychopy.org/uploads/short-url/j1oxBiufY3epg09LC87GiaevsTR.py) (7.0 KB)

I am now on a newer MacBook. I’ve just tried to put a welcome screen with text and run it but it just shows a grey screen for 1 second, although this time it runs it. Just wondering why this is the case? all I have done is put information with what I want written int he text box when I edit the text variable, am I meant to do something else? thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SimAmanda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@SimAmanda](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/SimAmanda)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2020, 2:50pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/error-while-trying-to-run-my-experiment/18680/19 "2020-12-12T14:50:37Z")

</div>

Hi, I am not trying to add my excel file for the instructions to the experiment but it will not let me add it. I am unsure why as I am following the instructions from a workshop I had earlier in the month.

Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/app/builder/dialogs/ **init**.py”, line 1605, in onBrowseTrialsFile  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/data/utils.py”, line 338, in importConditions  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/psychopy/data/utils.py”, line 250, in \_attemptImport  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/pandas/io/excel/\_base.py”, line 304, in read\_excel  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/pandas/io/excel/\_base.py”, line 824, in **init**  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/pandas/io/excel/\_xlrd.py”, line 21, in **init**  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/pandas/io/excel/\_base.py”, line 353, in **init**  
File “/Applications/PsychoPy.app/Contents/Resources/lib/python3.6/pandas/io/excel/\_xlrd.py”, line 36, in load\_workbook  
File “xlrd/ **init**.pyc”, line 162, in open\_workbook  
File “xlrd/book.pyc”, line 87, in open\_workbook\_xls  
File “xlrd/book.pyc”, line 636, in biff2\_8\_load  
xlrd.biffh.XLRDError: Can’t find workbook in OLE2 compound document