wow thats really intresting that it still gave you a rendering complete and mayaRenderLog.txt. i think your right though, my last option comes down to reinstalling maya. if it doesnt work again, well it looks like ill be retiring from maya then"sniff sniff". ultimate goal:make movies , cant batch render:cant make movies no matter how awsome maya is. but great tks for your help haynesy, i really appreciate the time u took to help me out. -peace