www.neuron.yale.edu

Hello,

I am having trouble running files downloaded from ModelDB. I am using NEURON 7.4 for windows and am pretty new to this. If I click on the "autolaunch" button on the website, the programs run just fine. However, when I try to download them manually they do not. I am thinking it is an issue with the mknrndll because I get a strange message after compiling the files that looks like this, though it says the dll was built successfully:

"C:/nrn/mingw/bin/sh C:/nrn/lib/mknrndll.sh /C/nrn
ls: *.[mM][oO][dD]: No such file or directory
x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -DDLL_EXPORT -DPIC -I/C/nrn/src/scopmath -I/C/nrn/src/nrnoc -I/C/nrn/src/oc -I/C/nrn/lib -I/C/nrn/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gccinc -I/C/nrn/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc3inc -L/C/nrn/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcclib -c mod_func.c
x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -I/C/nrn/lib -I/C/nrn/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gccinc -I/C/nrn/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc3inc -L/C/nrn/x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcclib -shared -o nrnmech.dll mod_func.o \
-L/C/nrn/bin -lnrniv -lpthread
#rebase -b 0x64000000 -v nrnmech.dll

nrnmech.dll was built successfully.
Press Return key to exit"

After doing this, I move the nrnmech.dll file to the folder of the original download and open the mosinit file. It opens but then will not run. This has happened with several different files I've tried, and I tried uninstalling and reinstalling NEURON as well, but that did not seem to help. I don't know if I'm saving the nrnmech.dll in the wrong directory since it says "no such file or directory" but I am saving them in the nrn folder and don't know where else I would put them.

I appreciate any advice!
Thanks!

pauline wrote:when I try to download them manually they do not.

Please describe exactly what you are downloading, and what you do when you have downloaded it. Be as complete as possible in your description.

Please describe exactly what you are downloading, and what you do when you have downloaded it. Be as complete as possible in your description.

Hi Ted,

I am downloading models of neurons. I download the zip folder containing the contents of the model from ModelDB and move it to my desktop. I open the zip file with mknrndll by dragging the folder to mknrndll. Then it opens and and there is a button to "choose directory." I choose the nrn dropdown and press make nrnmech.dll. This is when I get that message I pasted into the original post.

Thanks for your help!

pauline wrote:I download the zip folder containing the contents of the model from ModelDB and move it to my desktop. I open the zip file with mknrndll by dragging the folder to mknrndll. Then it opens and and there is a button to "choose directory." I choose the nrn dropdown and press make nrnmech.dll.

You just told mknrndll that c:/nrn (the root of NEURON's installation tree) is where you wanted it to look for mod files, and where it should write the dll that it generates by compiling them--that's why the top of mknrndll's directory browser contains this prompt
"Choose director (containing .mod files) for creating nrnmech.dll"

Of course, there aren't any mod files in that directory--that's what this message meant:
ls: *.[mM][oO][dD]: No such file or directory

Of course, it's a bad idea to write any files into a program's installation tree. There are many reasons why, but here are the top two. First, it's dangerous to write into any program's installation tree, because that could accidentally break the program and require a reinstall. Second, updating NEURON requires uninstalling the previously installed version, and that involves removing the entire c:/nrn directory tree.

Suggest instead that you put your model source code into a directory that you yourself created. Make sure that the path to that directory contains no space characters. Then double click on mknrndll's own icon (in the NEURON Program Group in your Start menu, or in the NEURON folder that is placed on your desktop during installation). Use mknrndll's directory browser to drill down to the folder that contains the mod files, then click on its "Choose directory" button.

This would be a good time to read Help for the total beginner
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=177
and Suggestions for how to develop models
http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/node/46

This makes sense, thank you so much!!

You're quite welcome. Thank you for using NEURON in your research.