# Experiment: stuck on 'initialising' and syntax errors

**URL:** <https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-on-initialising-and-syntax-errors/19251>\
**Category:** Online experiments\
**Tags:** pavlovia\
**Created:** [December 28, 2020, 11:11am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-on-initialising-and-syntax-errors/19251 "2020-12-28T11:11:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![blarosa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/blarosa/32/10302_2.png) [@blarosa](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/blarosa)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 11:11am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-on-initialising-and-syntax-errors/19251/1 "2020-12-28T11:11:59Z")

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**URL of experiment:** [https://run.pavlovia.org/blr/ewmt\_public/?\_\_pilotToken=6512bd43d9caa6e02c990b0a82652dca&\_\_oauthToken=af8a57b1c738bdfbb7a6bc54deb02c55fd852a3db4c1cef30e59d53bb11fe4b4](https://run.pavlovia.org/blr/ewmt_public/? __pilotToken=6512bd43d9caa6e02c990b0a82652dca&__ oauthToken=af8a57b1c738bdfbb7a6bc54deb02c55fd852a3db4c1cef30e59d53bb11fe4b4)

**Description of the problem:** I have created an experiment through the builder interface of Psychopy, and it runs smoothly there. As soon as I move it to Pavlovia, I can’t get it to even start, as it’s stuck on ‘initialising the experiment’. I have been working for some days on trying to solve the issue, looking through the forum but mostly being unable to find a solution or interpret the ones that I found (I am completely new to Python and JS and how all these interact with each other). I see there is a syntax error - that I report below - and I think I should fix it in a certain way, but being new to all the tools I’m using (including the web developer tools that I downloaded and give me the same syntax error) I have no idea how to solve these issues. I’d love for you to help me with this error, but most of all I would need some help in understanding where these errors can be edited and how to sync the changes. I have tried changing it in gitlab, but it doesn’t seem to work.  
Would someone spend some minutes in explaining (ELI5-style) the steps from Psychopy to Pavlovia, and how to intervene at those levels? I am lost and can’t get any improvements.  
Thank you in advance!

**Syntax error:**

 ![Screenshot 2020-12-28 at 12.07.41](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/psychopy/original/3X/6/d/6d64ea6663dd6b6d72b7a8efb3cdfff7b8187402.png)

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**Author:** ![dvbridges](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/dvbridges/32/1918_2.png) [@dvbridges](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/dvbridges)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 11:26am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-on-initialising-and-syntax-errors/19251/2 "2020-12-28T11:26:46Z")

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Hi @blarosa, which version of PsychoPy are you using? This bug may be fixed in recent versions

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**Author:** ![blarosa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/blarosa/32/10302_2.png) [@blarosa](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/blarosa)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-on-initialising-and-syntax-errors/19251/3 "2020-12-28T11:49:50Z")

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2020.2.3

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**Author:** ![dvbridges](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/dvbridges/32/1918_2.png) [@dvbridges](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/dvbridges)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 12:13pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-on-initialising-and-syntax-errors/19251/4 "2020-12-28T12:13:01Z")

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Well you could try exporting the html using the latest version of PsychoPy. You can actually do this from Experiment Settings by setting the PsychoPy version you want, and resyncing your task with Pavlovia. After this, best to refresh your browser cache to ensure you are running the newest version of your task from your browser. Give that a try and let me know.

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**Author:** ![blarosa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/blarosa/32/10302_2.png) [@blarosa](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/blarosa)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-on-initialising-and-syntax-errors/19251/5 "2020-12-28T15:14:08Z")

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It did work indeed, thank you!  
Unfortunately it seems that JS does not recognise ‘cm’ as measure, so it crashed right after asking for participant number 😕

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**Author:** ![wakecarter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/wakecarter/32/5753_2.png) [@wakecarter](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/wakecarter)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 11:42pm UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-on-initialising-and-syntax-errors/19251/6 "2020-12-28T23:42:14Z")

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You can’t use cm as online units because PsychoPy doesn’t know the size of the participant’s monitor.

I have a resize credit card experiment that could help.

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**Author:** ![blarosa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/blarosa/32/10302_2.png) [@blarosa](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/blarosa)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 10:20am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-on-initialising-and-syntax-errors/19251/7 "2020-12-31T10:20:22Z")

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Sure, but I have no idea what that means 😅

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**Author:** ![wakecarter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.psychopy.org/wakecarter/32/5753_2.png) [@wakecarter](https://discourse.psychopy.org/u/wakecarter)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 10:42am UTC](https://discourse.psychopy.org/t/experiment-stuck-on-initialising-and-syntax-errors/19251/8 "2020-12-31T10:42:07Z")

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Why are you using cm as your unit of measurement instead of norm, height or pix?