After Effects 6.5 Pro Won't Open

[Watchman_KW]

In 2004 I bought and installed Adobe Video Collection Professional Version 2.5 on my Windows computer.  Since then I have used all of the programs except the After Effects.  Last week, for the first time, I went to open AE.  When I clicked on the icon on my desktop, the AE window opens, and the program goes through the motions of loading whatever it loads to start up the software.  When it was done the window closed, and I found myself staring at the desktop.

I have removed the AE software and reloaded it from the disk.  I thought that perhaps since 2004 there might have been a file that might have been deleted by mistake.  I get the same results.  I have searched this and other forums for an answer and have not found one that works.  Someone, please help... I was hoping to complete the editing of my daughter's wedding before Christmas the end of the year.

P.S. - I am not a computer geek, so please offer any advice with simple instructions.  I do appreciate those of you that are.

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

Remove the OpenGL plug-in! Assuming you are talking about Windows XP, that would be C:\Program Files\Adobe\After Effects 6.5\Plug-Ins\Extensions\AE_OpenGL.aex. Other than that you could have a bad font or something. Also clean out the prefs in your user home directory.

Mylenium

[Watchman_KW]

I removed the plug-in as you suggested, and AE opened as it was designed to do.  Thank you so much.  I did not clean out the prefs... not sure where the user home directory would be found.  By the way, what is the purpose of the OpenGL plug-in?  Why would it be included as part of the program if it won't let the program open?

Have a Merry Christmas!  Mine is already sweeter.

Watchman KW

[Todd_Kopriva]

The OpenGL plug-in is made to render some things faster, but it is not reliable on all computer systems, so it is oftena good idea to disable it. The results are not high-quality, anyway (since it's just a preview renderer), so you're not missing anything important.