MAX 14.0 broken and database corrupt after installing LV2014 and latest device drivers

Question

I have LV2012 and 2013 (both 32-bit) installed on my Win8.1 64-bit system and have used them without problem.  I recently went through the agony of installing LV2014 32-bit from Dev Suite 2014 DS2 and the latest device drivers from the August 2014 DVD, and now MAX (v14.0) does not work.  Firstly, it is slow to populate the System information display, secondly when I try to expand a tree I get a MAX Database Connection Error (see attached), and there is no software listed at all.  Thirdly, devices are not listed properly even though appearing in Device Manager (eg. a CAN interface no longer lists CAN0 but does show the device but no configuration, same for USB DAQ devices I(see attached), and I do have CAN 14.0 installed), and there is nothing under Data Neighborhood. 
Initial attempts to install LV2014 were prevented by the NI mDNS Responder and related services not stopping when required by the installer.  This also affected attempts to repair MAX.
All 3 versions of LabVIEW run OK, but projects no longer include remote or RIO/FPGA hardware - possibly due to uninstalled support software - but without the software list in MAX I cannot tell what is and isn't installed.
I have performed a Reset Configuration Data, repaired MAX several times, uninstalled it (any all dependencies), turned of the firewall and virus software, and completely reinstalled LV2012, LV2013, LV2014, and device drivers, but with no change to the problem.  I have now lost 2 whole days and I am getting desperate for a fix.  Surely this cannot be the only case of this in the whole world.
Mike
CLD & Alliance Member, UK
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Attachments:
MAX problems.jpg ‏218 KB
NI mDNS errors.jpg ‏102 KB
MAX Devices.jpg ‏83 KB

Answer 1

Hi Dr.M
In order to workaround and repair your MAX problems , please see the following article (the Knowledge based article mentionned in the error):
I know you have been through a couple of these steps , but there may be some related links that could help as well.
http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/B9107A7F281​F9B408625720B0078E5A8?OpenDocument
As for your installation errors:
This error happens when a service gets hung up in a "stopping" state that does not allow the installer or uninstaller to remove it.  This can happen with a number of different services, but it has appeared to happen mostly with the Lookout Citadel Server (lkcitadel server) and National Instruments Time Synchronization (lkTimeSync).
-To resolve the issue, open up the Services application by going to Start»Run and typing "services.msc" without the quotes.  In the window that opens, find the service that the error message references.  It will usually have a status of "Stopping." 
-Double-click on the service to open the service's properties window as seen below.
-Try clicking Stop to stop the service.  If this does not stop the service, set the service's type to Manualand restart the computer.  It is safe to set the service to Manual because it will be started manually if it needs to run.  After the restart, the service will not start automatically and you will be able to install or uninstall your software as necessary.
As for the devices not being visible have you downloaded the NI DAQmx drivers correctly(after installing LabVIEW).
Regards,
Mark 
Applications Engineer Intern
National Instruments UK and Ireland