Topic: Removable drive(?) causing MC9 to expire (Read 4435 times)

Zoner · « **on:** March 03, 2003, 10:07:07 pm »

Does MC9 look at hard drive config when deciding whether it has been "moved"? For some reason, MC9 build 109 continually expires on my laptop, whereas my desktop has no problems at all. I have re-activated it on my laptop 3-4 times now, so something is seriously wrong. I don't even use it that often on my laptop, but I activated it on Saturday, and now I had to re-activate it again - good thing the restores last 2 weeks.

The only thing I can think of is that I have an IBM 1Gb Microdrive PC Card that I plug in (and unplug) all the time. Could the presence/absence of this be causing MC9 to believe it has moved to another PC? I tried running a test by running MC9 with the MD plugged in, then again with it unplugged, but couldn't make it happen, so maybe it's not the MD. If not, I have no idea what it could be, but this is a big problem for me - I'll be out of restores soon.

Anyone else running MC9 with a Microdrive? Anyone else seeing this same problem on their laptop?

Here is the system info (without Microdrive plugged in):

Media Center Registered 9.0.109 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 2386 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 752 MB, Free - 353 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)
Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929) / wnaspi32.dll: Internal ASPI Layer

Ripping / Drive D: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: Yes / Calc replay gain: Yes / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No

Burning / Drive D: TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R2312 Addr: 1:0:0 Speed:24 MaxSpeed:24 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: No
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None

michel · « **Reply #1 on:** March 04, 2003, 12:42:28 am »

Finally I am not alone having this problem !

I have two laptops, one has this problem, the other one no (and no problem also with my desktop). I am almost sure my licence could expire without removing any drive. As suggested by JimH, I uninstalled MC, I created a new user account (and then I deleted the previous one) and I reinstalled MC. MC continues to expire sometimes.

I am ready to do any test to help to debug the problem but I don't feel JRiver very concerned by this problem...

Obviously I stopped to use MC on this laptop.

JimH: I know you will reset restore counters with release but that will not solve the problem.

Zoner · « **Reply #2 on:** March 04, 2003, 01:55:41 am »

Now I updated to the latest build, to see if it has any effect, but I doubt it.

Here's a suggestion for JRiver - how about you add a feature to the MC9 beta, so that when it expires because it believes it has been moved from one PC to another, it writes some sort of encrypted file to the disk, to say why it thinks it was moved. That way we could email that encrypted file to you, and you could see what went wrong. Since the file is encrypted and only you get to see it, it wouldn't be a security risk, and you could remove this feature from the production build (or as soon as everyone here indicates that the problem has gone away).

Even better - you could do the same thing, but send the file directly to your server via TCP/IP. That way no-one gets to see the file at all, we could just post here with our TCP/IP address asking for help, and you could then look at our file and help us. How does this sound? I don't think you can ship a product that keeps on expiring every week with certain hardware configurations.

JimH · « **Reply #3 on:** March 04, 2003, 04:14:53 am »

Is there anything unusual about these laptops? Extra security, for example? Or automated registry cleaning?

Are they the same brand?

Zoner · « **Reply #4 on:** March 04, 2003, 04:21:58 am »

My laptop is a Compaq Presario 1525EA running a normal copy of Windows XP Professional installed from CD. When you mention security, I wonder if it could be Cisco VPN client I have installed? When the VPN is active, my IP address changes to be the IP address of the VPN - could that cause this problem? When the VPN is inactive, my IP address goes back "to normal" again.

michel · « **Reply #5 on:** March 04, 2003, 05:22:44 am »

Quote

Is there anything unusual about these laptops? Extra security, for example? Or automated registry cleaning?

Are they the same brand?

Mine is a Dell Latitude running Win2k. There are neither extra security neither automated registry cleaning. As I said, I uninstalled MC and I reinstalled it into a new user account (administrator).

My other laptop (which doesn't have expiration problem) is also a Dell Latitude running win2k.

michel · « **Reply #6 on:** March 04, 2003, 05:24:54 am »

I just can say that I use every day "hibernation mode" on this one which has the problem and not on the other one which has not the problem.

michel · « **Reply #7 on:** March 04, 2003, 05:57:09 am »

Another difference I can see:

on my desktop and laptop "without problem" I run ever the same user logging

on my laptop "with problem" sometimes I run under a different user logging (but I use ever MC from the same)

JohnT · « **Reply #8 on:** March 04, 2003, 11:59:29 am »

Are you getting any registration error message, or simply the dialog box with the text "Thanks for choosing Media Center" and the notice that your 30 day trial is up?
Does it always function for a few days and then expire? How many days?
Send me an email and I'll send you a registration control with some diagnostic messages.

Thanks,
John T.
JRiver, Inc.
johnt @ jriver.com

Zoner · « **Reply #9 on:** March 04, 2003, 12:08:16 pm »

You have mail.

michel · « **Reply #10 on:** March 06, 2003, 03:01:25 am »

Quote

Could the presence/absence of this be causing MC9 to believe it has moved to another PC?

No. A restore key is not hardware dependant as JRiver allows to re-use the same one for different PC during two weeks. So it would not make sense to check change in the hardware configuration against a key (IMHO).

JohnT · « **Reply #11 on:** March 06, 2003, 05:49:14 am »

Did you guys receive the email I sent with the attached debugging version of the registration control?

- John T.

michel · « **Reply #12 on:** March 06, 2003, 06:00:27 am »

Quote

Did you guys receive the email I sent with the attached debugging version of the registration control?

No. Do you sent it to jriver @ est-sur-le.net ?

zevele10 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 06, 2003, 10:03:49 am »

no , must be at 'zevele10@yahoo.com '
i give a look

JohnT · « **Reply #14 on:** March 06, 2003, 10:21:13 am »

Quote

No. Do you sent it to jriver @ est-sur-le.net ?

Yes, I sent it to that address. Maybe something is filtering out attachments. I'll send you one without any attachment and one with a zipped attachment.

Zevele, are you experiencing the same problem? If so, I can send it to you as well.

I also sent the email with attachment to Zoner.

zevele10 · « **Reply #15 on:** March 06, 2003, 10:30:00 am »

no, i do not have a laytop or external drive.
It is just that Michel had put one of my 'zevele' adress in his profile.

michel · « **Reply #16 on:** March 06, 2003, 11:42:41 am »

Quote

no, i do not have a laytop or external drive.
It is just that Michel had put one of my 'zevele' adress in his profile.

It is true !!! I don't remember why ? Probably one of these email manipulation I shown you

I just set the right email address.

Zoner · « **Reply #17 on:** March 06, 2003, 10:39:48 pm »

I have received the attachment and installed it. Will let you know how it goes.

michel · « **Reply #18 on:** March 07, 2003, 01:51:08 am »

Do you use NetSwitcher or an equivalent software to switch easily your network configuration (between home and work for example) ?

If so, check if the name of the computer is identical in both network configuration (same case also).

My problem came from I used two different names (same name in fact, but not indentical case).

Zoner · « **Reply #19 on:** March 07, 2003, 02:01:40 am »

Ah, this is interesting - I do indeed use NetSwitcher! I checked, though, and all of my locations have the exact same COMPUTERNAME (and same case).

michel · « **Reply #20 on:** March 07, 2003, 03:14:26 am »

No blank character at the end of the computer name ?

The problem is that, when it starts, MC does some checks and if they fail MC deletes the licence without any notification. It starts normally... and a few hours or days later, when you re-start it, it notifies you thet your trial period is almost finish. This way it is difficult to link a specific event on the laptop with the problem.

So after any operation you could suspect you have to start MC and check the registration info to verify if the licence exists still.

Anyway, I am very confident that John T. will find your problem as he found very quickly mine, through an instrumented dll.

Zoner · « **Reply #21 on:** March 07, 2003, 03:27:30 am »

No blanks before, after, or within.

michel · « **Reply #22 on:** March 07, 2003, 03:51:21 am »

Restore the licence. Switch your network configuration. Run MC and watch "Help/Registration Info" to check if you are registered still. Try with each NetSwitcher Location.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Removable drive(?) causing MC9 to expire (Read 4435 times)

zevele10

zevele10