"_imaging C module is not installed" thrown in PIL

[somekid413]

I am using python portable on a thumb drive and on some computers my script works normally, on others it does not. I Checked the paths and it had the _imaging.pyc file and the path was set up for it correctly on all computers. Is this because 1 computer has imaging software and another does not? Is there a way to get this working without installing payed software or recompiling python? i am using Python 2.6 with pil 1.6? i think. I know PIL is included in the python portable setup

any experiance or help with this problem would be greatly appreciated

I am using fairly basic PIL functions like getpixel()

here is the traceback-
F:\PYTHON\PortablePython_1.1_py2.6.1\App>python.exe f:\Dice.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "f:\Dice.py", line 15, in <module>
import ImageFont
File "F:\PYTHON\PortablePython_1.1_py2.6.1\App\lib\site-packages\PIL\ImageFont
.py", line 115, in <module>
class FreeTypeFont:
File "F:\PYTHON\PortablePython_1.1_py2.6.1\App\lib\site-packages\PIL\ImageFont
.py", line 135, in FreeTypeFont
def getmask2(self, text, mode="", fill=Image.core.fill):
File "F:\PYTHON\PortablePython_1.1_py2.6.1\App\lib\site-packages\PIL\Image.py"
, line 36, in __getattr__
raise ImportError("The _imaging C module is not installed")
ImportError: The _imaging C module is not installed

thanks for any help!
** Update**

so as reccomended on the pil website I tride importing the imaging module itself. On the computer that this works fine, i get the correct responce. on the other I get - ImportError: DLL load failed: This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

I have reinstalled it on my thum drive and no change. Both computers are windows xp sp3 and I am running the python off my thumb drive so it should al lbe the same.

[vegaseat]

Judging from the traceback, there could be an font file you don't have.
Another potential reason could be that you are using Tkinter and PIL together and get the "Image" namespace conflict due to the way you import the modules.

[somekid413]

So the solution for this ended up just being using the 2.5 version of python.. a solution I guess. the easy one.

[vegaseat]

Just a note on your solution:

Python26 has given problems because the interpreter for the Windows binary is compiled with the 2008 version of MS C, rather than the customary 2003 version. It is the incompatibility between the two MS C versions that creates the problem.