Hey there,

Am I the only one with a non-functioning Mbox? I've had this thing for
a year and every time I try to get it to work, I spend a day and a half
trying everything, pulling my hair out and not doing the project I
wanted to, and then leave it for another 6 months.

I get constant 9129 and 9093 errors, despite having shut off every
extension, disconnecting my wireless, etc. I can't record reliably for
longer than one minute. I've looked all over the DUC and answer base.

I have a nice T41 laptop that I think is one of DIGI's recomended
computers.

Is it wrong to think that DIGI should provide a list of things to do to
absolutely make this thing work? I feel like I paid $350 something for
a kit.

The worst part is that all I need to do is record one or two tracks for
NPR type radio things. I'm wondering if I should put this thing on
EBay and get a USB soundcard that I can use with some stable audio
editor? I tried using Audacity, but the latency is annoying.

Any suggestions? I'm pulling my hair out right now.

Thanks
Paul

wrote:

Hey there,

Am I the only one with a non-functioning Mbox? [...]

I get constant 9129 and 9093 errors, despite having shut off every
extension, disconnecting my wireless, etc. I can't record reliably
for longer than one minute. I've looked all over the DUC and answer
base.

I have a nice T41 laptop that I think is one of DIGI's recomended
computers.


What's a T41? Have you checked the compatibility documents to *make
sure* it's not on the "disqualified" list? After a year of problems,
I'd want to be more sure than "I think..." Go to the following page to
see how you can find out:

http://digidesign.com/compato/xp/mypc/



I tried using Audacity, but the latency is annoying.

How did you record into Audacity? Through the Mbox?



Any suggestions? I'm pulling my hair out right now.


Well, you said you've tried the answerbase, so maybe you've already seen
this bit from the Digi FAQ:

[4833]
How can I avoid -9093 errors on my Pro Tools LE system?

On some Windows systems, the network device/driver can cause -9093
errors while using Pro Tools LE with small (128 or 256) H/W buffer
sizes. One workaround is obviously to raise the H/W buffer size to 512
or 1024, but this results in larger (and undesirable) input-to-output
latencies in Pro Tools. There are a few workarounds that allow H/W
buffers of 128 to work on most systems. (Both involve temporarily
disabling your network device.)

Option 1: Manually Disable the Network Device in your (default) Hardware
Profile. Go to the Windows Control Panel and open the "System" applet.
On the "Device Manager" tab, expand the "Network adapters" item, and
then double click on the icon for your network device. A properties
dialog will open. On the "General" tab you'll see a checkbox for
"Disable in this hardware profile." Check this box and close all the
dialogs. You shouldn't need to reboot -- your network device has now
been disabled and Pro Tools LE should perform better with small H/W
buffer sizes. To re-enable your Network Device, go back to the Device
Manager and uncheck the "Disable in this hardware profile" checkbox.

Option 2: Create a New Hardware Profile with your Network Device
Disabled. An alternative to manually enabling/disabling the Network
Device in the Device Manager (option 1 above) is to create a new
Hardware Profile and disable the Network Device in that profile. This
option is a bit cleaner/simpler, but does require you to reboot Windows
when switching between Profiles. To create a new profile, go to the
Windows Control Panel and open the "System" applet. On the "Hardware
Profiles" tab select the "Original Configuration" profile (or whatever
profile you typically use) and click the "Copy..." button. Name the new
Profile "Pro Tools LE" or something similar and press OK. Click OK to
close the System Control Applet, and then reboot Windows. Each time you
reboot, you'll be given the option to select which Hardware Profile
you'd like to use. Select the "Pro Tools LE" profile you just created,
and when Windows is fully booted follow the steps in Option 1 (above) to
disable the Network Device in your current profile. From now on,
whenever you boot Windows using the "Pro Tools LE" hardware profile the
Network Device will automatically be disabled. If you boot Windows using
the "Original Configuration" Profile, your Network Device will be
enabled.

Note: Some other devices (in addition to Network Devices) can cause
similar problems/conflicts with Pro Tools LE. If these devices are not
necessary while running Pro Tools (e.g., other sound devices, modem
devices, FireWire/1394 Controller devices, etc.) you can disable them as
well as your network card in the "Pro Tools LE" Hardware Profile.
If -9093, -9094, or -9128 errors are happening frequently, the methods
above can be used to identify which device is causing the problem. By
systematically disabling one device at a time (and then running Pro
Tools LE to check performance), you can see if the presence of a certain
device causes Pro Tools LE to throw errors during playback/record.

Systems using hard drives that do not have DMA enabled (see step 7) are
prone to -9093,-9094, and -9129 DAE errors. The procedure below will
update the driver provider for the Intel Hard Disk Controller from Intel
to Microsoft . It should only be attempted if you are having
persistent -9093,-9094 or -9129 errors that have not been remedied by
Option 1 and 2 above. If your motherboard has an Intel Chipset (See the
Dig i001 for Windows compatibility section at www.digidesign.com for
more information) the following steps will usually make the DMA
parameter available for your IDE Drive:

* Shut down your computer and reboot into "Safe" mode by holding down
the "F8" or "Ctrl" key at the Windows splash screen (Some PC's may use a
different key to enter "Safe" mode, consult with your PC manufacturer if
you cannot enter "Safe" mode).

* At the Desktop, choose Start Menu Control Panel Add Remove
Programs. Select the Intel ATA Storage Driver and remove.

* Insert the Windows 98 SE or ME CD Rom in the CD tray and restart your
computer.

* The Hardware Wizard will automatically update the driver. Restart.

* Right-Click on My Computer Choose Properties Device Manager Disk
Drives Generic IDE Drive (usually Type 47) Settings. Enable the DMA
Parameter.

* Enable DMA for other hard drives. Restart.


--
"It CAN'T be too loud... some of the red lights aren't even on yet!"
- Lorin David Schultz
in the control room
making even bad news sound good

(Remove spamblock to reply)

In article .com writes:

Am I the only one with a non-functioning Mbox? I've had this thing for
a year and every time I try to get it to work, I spend a day and a half
trying everything, pulling my hair out and not doing the project I
wanted to, and then leave it for another 6 months.

I find myself doing that more and more these days (though not with an
M-Box). The difference between you and me is that if I can't get
something to work in a couple of days, I don't set it aside for six
months and try again later, I return it so I'm not stuck having bought
something that I've never used and it's become too out-of-date to
resell.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Paul,
I am using Mbox with Windows XP. It has worked flawlessly. One day I
installed AIM (Aol instant messenger) and Mbox/protools crashed on
every use. I removed the software, and I'm back to flawless operation.

My laptop is a Compaq v2140US with Pentium M centrino and all stock
parts.
I also a P4 desktop that seemed to not like the Mbox. After
reinstalling the Windows XP system and pro tools, flawless.

A couple things I noticed. My Mbox needs to be installed on 1 USB port
and I need to use it on that port. If I started messing around with
plugging it into different USB ports and trying to reinstall on
multiple ports, inconsistent results occured.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

Mike

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hey there,

Paul

I down loadednot thinking ( that's me) the 2nd service patch for XP,
digi002/protools 6.3 went in a tail spin. Make sure you don't have _that_
2 nd service patch on your lap top.

--
Peace,
Ed Bridge
Brooklyn N.Y.
http://www.bridgeclassicalguitars.com/
please reply to

Ed,
Did you uninstall and reinstall pro tools after upgrading to Service
Pack 2?

Mike

"Edward Bridge" wrote:

I down loadednot thinking ( that's me) the 2nd service patch for
XP,digi002/protools 6.3 went in a tail spin. Make sure you don't
have _that_ 2 nd service patch on your lap top.


I've got SP2 on my Xp laptop and it works fine. I never tried it with
Pro Tools 6.3, but it worked with 6.4 and is now working with 6.7.

--
"It CAN'T be too loud... some of the red lights aren't even on yet!"
- Lorin David Schultz
in the control room
making even bad news sound good

(Remove spamblock to reply)

wrote in message
ups.com...
Ed,
Did you uninstall and reinstall pro tools after upgrading to Service
Pack 2?


Mike

No, (this was last summer) I belived I just uninstall service pack 2, I
can't be 100 precent, I am 100 precent that after upgrading to service pack
2 , protools did not work.

--
Peace,
Ed Bridge
Brooklyn N.Y.
http://www.bridgeclassicalguitars.com/
please reply to

On Sun, 12 Jun 2005 11:12:53 -0400, wrote
(in article .com):

Hey there,

Am I the only one with a non-functioning Mbox? I've had this thing for
a year and every time I try to get it to work, I spend a day and a half
trying everything, pulling my hair out and not doing the project I
wanted to, and then leave it for another 6 months.

I get constant 9129 and 9093 errors, despite having shut off every
extension, disconnecting my wireless, etc. I can't record reliably for
longer than one minute. I've looked all over the DUC and answer base.

I have a nice T41 laptop that I think is one of DIGI's recomended
computers.

Is it wrong to think that DIGI should provide a list of things to do to
absolutely make this thing work? I feel like I paid $350 something for
a kit.

The worst part is that all I need to do is record one or two tracks for
NPR type radio things. I'm wondering if I should put this thing on
EBay and get a USB soundcard that I can use with some stable audio
editor? I tried using Audacity, but the latency is annoying.

Any suggestions? I'm pulling my hair out right now.

Thanks
Paul


The digidesign DUC (digidesign users conference) is a very useful resource.
Go to their site and click on support, then the duc.

Ty Ford



-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com

Ty,

I've done everything on their website, twice. I can't say that they
are particularly helpful with any of this. More like they are
negligent. I think it would be reasonable to expect a clear listing of
things to do, but for the most part it's a bunch of hints and tips that
might work.

I've already reinstalled Windows, protools and everything else trying
to get this thing to work.

Paul

In article .com writes:

A couple things I noticed. My Mbox needs to be installed on 1 USB port
and I need to use it on that port. If I started messing around with
plugging it into different USB ports and trying to reinstall on
multiple ports, inconsistent results occured.

I've found that to be the case with many (maybe all) USB devices. I
have a scanner, flash card reader, Jukebox 3 and portable disk drive
that I plug in as needed. The scanner (the oldest one of the devices)
seems to be happy plugged into either port, but if I plug the other
devices into the "wrong" port, sometimes Windows tries to re-install
the device. This doesn't seem to do any harm, but life shouldn't be
like that.

It's enough to make a Unix user out of me (but I'm not sure I have
that long to live).



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

It does work with SP2. But as many of us learned the hard way... you
can't expect your current software to function properly after changing
your system. Some software may have to be completely reinstalled,
meaning, not only using the uninstall software, but manually finding
and removing all files related to the software.

Mike

In article . com writes:

I think it would be reasonable to expect a clear listing of
things to do, but for the most part it's a bunch of hints and tips that
might work.

This is the way things go when you're trying to support a program in
an environment that you can never be sure of. It's a series of
try-this-try-that, stop when you think you got it working, and then
see what else might be broken.

I've been telling some virus-related stories here lately and I just
discovered this morning that I can't run the update to Zone Alarm. It
just won't run at all. I'm beginning to suspect that something is
still messed up in Windows (though I haven't resorted to a re-install)
perhaps related to a temporary directory that can't be found. But the
lack of error messages makes troubleshooting difficult.

You do the best you can, and when you decide that you've wasted enough
time on it, you cut your losses and try something else. There's always
a market for your M-Box on eBay.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

I'm at work now, so not able to test this out, but from some
conversations on the DUC it seems like my problem might be using a USB
2.0 hard drive. I think (hope) that it might be interfering with the
MBOX. This would explain a lot.

Actually I would really prefer to just use my C drive to record on. I
know it is not ideal, but that would be a lot more portable and I have
minimal plug in and track count needs. If that worked and I could back
up and archive to the external drive I would be fine.

here's to hoping. I wish I hadn't installed SP2 last night in a fit of
desperation, but we shall see what happens.

I still think that support could be a lot better. I've had more
trouble with Digidesign stuff than anything else I've ever used.
Actually, it's the ONLY stuff that ever gives me any trouble, other
than an Epson scanner that I returned.


Thanks
Paul

"Lorin David Schultz" wrote in message
news:Ahbre.61425$tt5.52767@edtnps90...
I've got SP2 on my Xp laptop and it works fine. I never tried it with
Pro Tools 6.3, but it worked with 6.4 and is now working with 6.7.



Hi David and Mike.M

I should go back and check on things. . I remember windows did it's "up
date" thing last year, and bang, no working protools, I went to digidesign
web site and it said, that they were not ready yet for service patch 2. .I
guess they are now. :)

My PC setup is happy with out SP2, knock on wood.. he he

--
Peace,
Ed Bridge
Brooklyn N.Y.
http://www.bridgeclassicalguitars.com/
please reply to

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message...

I've been telling some virus-related stories here lately and I just
discovered this morning that I can't run the update to Zone Alarm. It
just won't run at all. I'm beginning to suspect that something is
still messed up in Windows (though I haven't resorted to a re-install)
perhaps related to a temporary directory that can't be found. But the
lack of error messages makes troubleshooting difficult.


Is this your Win98SE box ??

DM

"You do the best you can, and when you decide that you've wasted enough
time on it, you cut your losses and try something else. There's always
a market for your M-Box on eBay. "

You know, I thought I had figured it out tonight, and then I realize
that no, nothing is going to make this thing work. You are right. It
will be on Ebay by the end of the week. Good riddens. I don't want to
think about the amount of time I've wasted on this piece of garbaggio.

wrote in message...

You know, I thought I had figured it out tonight, and then I realize
that no, nothing is going to make this thing work.

For the life of me, I can't imagine why you've had this box for over
a year with no results and not returned it to your dealer or had the
product's customer support solve your problem long ago.

I don't want to think about the amount of time I've wasted on this
piece of garbaggio.

You should actually be thinking long and hard about why you are
just now posting about this and that you waited so long to do
anything that might actually get you some results.


--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http://www.m-a-m-s DOT com
Morgan Audio Media Service
Dallas, Texas (214) 662-9901
_______________________________________
http://www.artisan-recordingstudio.com

David,

Because I was pretty sure that I would get it to work, and then moved 4
times in the interim. It was the low end of my priority scale,
although I certainly wished I had figured it out earlier. It's not my
usual, but I really did want success with this thing and still can't
figure out how and why it won't work.

Anyway, I'm just glad I figured it out.

Paul

wrote in message...

Actually I would really prefer to just use my C drive to record on.

I recommend not using your system drive to record on. Throw a
partition on there and dedicate the new part to your recording.

here's to hoping. I wish I hadn't installed SP2 last night in a fit of
desperation, but we shall see what happens.

In a fit of desperation? After two people responded that SP 2
had caused them problems? Odd.

I still think that support could be a lot better. I've had more
trouble with Digidesign stuff than anything else I've ever used.

I've heard support is questionable.

Actually, it's the ONLY stuff that ever gives me any trouble, other
than an Epson scanner that I returned.

Then why didn't you return the M-Box a year ago when it didn't work?

DM

wrote in message oups.com...
David,

Because I was pretty sure that I would get it to work, and then moved 4
times in the interim. It was the low end of my priority scale,
although I certainly wished I had figured it out earlier. It's not my
usual, but I really did want success with this thing and still can't
figure out how and why it won't work.

Anyway, I'm just glad I figured it out.

Paul


Sorry to be such a pain, Paul... I guess you can tell that I'm the kind of
guy that would have pitched a helluva' bitch or got my money refunded
right away. g

Moving a lot is a bitch, I've been there... so is bum gear. I told the story
here, back in spring of 2004, about the line of people at the local guitar
center shortly after christmas, who were all returning M-Boxes. It was
a real fiasco back then. I would have hoped that more of the bugs could
have been worked out by now.

DM

In article nNore.12570$gL4.12061@trnddc07 writes:

related to a temporary directory that can't be found. But the
lack of error messages makes troubleshooting difficult.

Is this your Win98SE box ??

Nope, on the Win2000 day-to-day computer. I fixed the temporary
directory path problem today by changing the environment setting to
something else, then changing it back to what it should be.

I'm guessing that this got changed in the registry. I wonder what else
got changed, and how long it will take me to find it.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

In article 56qre.2589$yw4.2525@trnddc09 writes:

For the life of me, I can't imagine why you've had this box for over
a year with no results and not returned it to your dealer or had the
product's customer support solve your problem long ago.

It seems that this syndrome is all too common. I wonder about that,
too. I've been going back and forth with a guy on the Mackie forum
about not being able to get his HDR or d8b working with his brand new
Apogee Big Ben master word clock generator. He's had the d8b for
several years and it turns out that he's never been able to sync its
word clock input to anything. NOW he's talking to Mackie Tech Support
and they say he has a bad card.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:51:34 -0400, wrote
(in article .com):

I'm at work now, so not able to test this out, but from some
conversations on the DUC it seems like my problem might be using a USB
2.0 hard drive. I think (hope) that it might be interfering with the
MBOX. This would explain a lot.

Actually I would really prefer to just use my C drive to record on. I
know it is not ideal, but that would be a lot more portable and I have
minimal plug in and track count needs. If that worked and I could back
up and archive to the external drive I would be fine.

here's to hoping. I wish I hadn't installed SP2 last night in a fit of
desperation, but we shall see what happens.

I still think that support could be a lot better. I've had more
trouble with Digidesign stuff than anything else I've ever used.
Actually, it's the ONLY stuff that ever gives me any trouble, other
than an Epson scanner that I returned.


Thanks
Paul


Whoa!

I'm NOT a PC guy, but in Mac land, the deal is you put the program on your
system drive and the audio media (sessions) on another preferrably internal
5400 rpm minimum, (7200 rpm better) drive.

I don't know that digi supports USB 2. Anybody?

Regards,

Ty Ford




-- Ty Ford's equipment reviews, audio samples, rates and other audiocentric
stuff are at www.tyford.com

In article p%qre.6284$2K4.2205@trnddc08 writes:

Sorry to be such a pain, Paul... I guess you can tell that I'm the kind of
guy that would have pitched a helluva' bitch or got my money refunded
right away. g

These days, a certain amount of incompatability, either with hardware
or the user, is pretty much expected. You really don't have to bitch
very much to get your money refunded, unless it's a pure software
product. Heck, I'm taking back my third Firewire external hard drive
case today, the one I bought yesterday.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message news:znr1118712585k@trad...

In article nNore.12570$gL4.12061@trnddc07 writes:

related to a temporary directory that can't be found. But the
lack of error messages makes troubleshooting difficult.

Is this your Win98SE box ??

Nope, on the Win2000 day-to-day computer. I fixed the temporary
directory path problem today by changing the environment setting to
something else, then changing it back to what it should be.

I'm guessing that this got changed in the registry. I wonder what else
got changed, and how long it will take me to find it.


In my 98SE systems, I use the System File Checker constantly.

I had some issues with the Microsoft security patches from March...
Security Update for Windows 98 (KB888113) and Security Update
for Windows 98 (KB891711) seemed to cause scripting errors when
surfing the web. Turns out that something happened to both my IE
preferences and to the manner in which Zone Alarm looked at web
sites.

I can't be real specific, most of this is a wee bit over my head.

Anyway, Zone Alarm expired at the end of March, and the stupid
web site refused to accept the passwords I had set up for upgrading
over the web, so I just went out and bought the newest version.

This new version has become bloated and invasive, something that I
used to praise ZA of *not* being. Even though I was upset that it
was writing things into boot reminders (DOS), I decided to go ahead
with the available on-line upgrade. It doubled those entries and added
even more BS that is totally unecessary... anti-virus monitoring ?!?!?
Holy smoke... now Zone Alarm is trying to tell me how to run my PC.
The actions that some of the settings used to take had totally changed,
and using my old settings, Zone Alarm was blocking even the most
simple little animated .gifs from fully loading. Finally, after much wasted
time, I managed to get stable surfing back in place.

Well... along come two more Microsoft updates in May.... Cumulative
Security Update for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 (KB890923),
and *another* copy of Security Update for Windows 98 (KB891711).
The latter of which installed itself in two different locations and if you
disable it in startup, or uninstall one copy (which is all that shows up
in add/remove), then the other copy, written into the boot, kicks in.

On the first re-boot after this, the blue screen of death greeted me
with great anger. Before it was over, windows was refusing to boot
in any manner other than 'safe' mode. I have no idea what the cause
of this was, but it's a symptom that apparently hundreds of people have
shared. I don't even know what I did to finally restore my system, and
it was a couple of hours in a solid state of shock and panic before I was
seeing signs of the system coming back to life and it would boot without
going in safe mode. Disabling Zone Alarm allowed me to start resetting
things like my screen resolution and other items that were affected.
Restarting with ZA let me reset it's security configurations slowly
but surely until everything seemed to return to what appreared to be
normal.

My best assumption, is that the last few security updates were more
than meets the eye. Both Microsoft and Zone Alarm had some odd
interpretations of security implementation, and they were in *serious*
conflict with one another.

As the days have passed, problems have again begun to rear their heads
with me changing nothing. Once again, ZA is not allowing simple .gifs
and a great deal of scripting to load from web pages. I've checked my
setting over and over again, and nothing is different from what I've done
for the past three years *except* these recent so-called security patches
and the new version of Zone Alarm.

Once I have everything backed up and can go to storage for my mother-
board drivers and a couple of pieces of software, I'm reloading Windows
for the first time in over 4 years... and I am going back to Version 3 of
Zone Alarm, and I do not plan on installing any updates from Microsoft
that were released after December of 2004.

Call me paranoid or delusional, but these patches seem to me to be
compromising security rather than fixing it. Zone Alarm no longer
reports to me when my IP address changes, and a few other little
anomalies that don't make any sense.

Lo and behold, today there are two more security patches for Win98...

I just have the oddest feeling that these are opening doors rather than
closing them. I hope the same upgrade & patch path is available and
the individual patches haven't been written into something cumulative.
I'd really like my computer to work again with the settings for security
that I have chosen in the past, without my web browser being more
or less compromised by these "fixes".

DM

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message news:znr1118712585k@trad...

In article nNore.12570$gL4.12061@trnddc07 writes:

related to a temporary directory that can't be found. But the
lack of error messages makes troubleshooting difficult.

Is this your Win98SE box ??

Nope, on the Win2000 day-to-day computer. I fixed the temporary
directory path problem today by changing the environment setting to
something else, then changing it back to what it should be.


By the way... the reason that this was on my mind, was that a friend
just brough me his old Win98 PC which crashed on his after these
latest updates from Microsoft, and he was using the freeware version
of ZoneAlarm.... no frills at all. So, I get to bring back to life another
PC that I'm very familiar with, over the next couple of days. I'll let
you know if I find anything obvious.

DM

In article RDFre.2630$kj5.2370@trnddc03 writes:

In my 98SE systems, I use the System File Checker constantly.

My recollection of SFC is that it works a little differently in Win98
than in 2000 or XP, at least it's more informative and tells you what
it's doing. I did run it on the Win2000 computer (that's how I found
the missing AUTOEXEC.NT file) and it just runs. It doesn't tell you
what it found out of whack, if anything.

In the case of the TMP environment variable, the problem wasn't a
missing system file. I'm guessing that something changed in the
registry, and I don't think SFC cares about that. The manager window
that lets you set the path for the TMP directory probalby writes
whatever you enter into the registry, but I suspect that it doesn't
read (for display) what's actually in the registry, but just remembers
what was last entered via that route. (all speculative on my part - I
don't have the schematic g) I didn't dig in with the registry editor
since my intuitive fix worked.

I had some issues with the Microsoft security patches from March...
Security Update for Windows 98 (KB888113) and Security Update
for Windows 98 (KB891711) seemed to cause scripting errors when
surfing the web. Turns out that something happened to both my IE
preferences and to the manner in which Zone Alarm looked at web
sites.

What does SFC do when you've installed a patch or update to the
operating system? It asks you to put in the original installation CD,
so it's possible that it would replace a missing updated file with the
old version. Is that what happens?

Anyway, Zone Alarm expired at the end of March, and the stupid
web site refused to accept the passwords I had set up for upgrading
over the web, so I just went out and bought the newest version.

This new version has become bloated and invasive, something that I
used to praise ZA of *not* being.

I'm just using the free version. I figured it was working but just for
kicks I went to the Gibson Research web site (grc.com) and played with
their Shields Up test. It trys to probe all the ports (or the first
1000 or so) and tells you if they're open, closed, or stealth (the
probe gets no response from your machine). With Zone Alarm turned on,
it showed stealth for all of my ports. So I shut down Zone Alarm, ran
the port probe test again, and it still showed them all as stealt. So
maybe my router is doing that, or my ISP is. I figure that if there's
really a problem, Gibson would want to show it in his test since he's
trying to sell stuff that seals up computers.

As the days have passed, problems have again begun to rear their heads
with me changing nothing. Once again, ZA is not allowing simple .gifs
and a great deal of scripting to load from web pages.

Honestly, I'd feel more comfortable if it blocked something now and
then. I do get pop-ups when some program or Windows service that I
have't put on the "good guy" list tried to access the Internet. Real
Player is one example. If I want to use it to play a non-downloadable
file, I'll anser the pop-up with "allow" but won't tell it to always
allow that program to access the internet. I want to know when it's
"phoning home" and then don't let it. But I've been disappointed. It
hasn't tried to access the Internet other than when I sent it there.

Call me paranoid or delusional, but these patches seem to me to be
compromising security rather than fixing it. Zone Alarm no longer
reports to me when my IP address changes, and a few other little
anomalies that don't make any sense.

I don't recall that I ever saw that (I'm sure it changed now and then
when I was on AOL dial-up) but then I've only been using the program
for less than two years. Maybe I never got an old enough veresion.

Lo and behold, today there are two more security patches for Win98...

Who says Microsoft doesn't support old versions. G


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message news:znr1118782896k@trad...

In article RDFre.2630$kj5.2370@trnddc03 writes:

My recollection of SFC is that it works a little differently in Win98
than in 2000 or XP, at least it's more informative and tells you what
it's doing. I did run it on the Win2000 computer (that's how I found
the missing AUTOEXEC.NT file) and it just runs. It doesn't tell you
what it found out of whack, if anything.

No advanced options for displaying the results or notifying along the way?

You're aware that the first time it runs it reports nothing, yes? The first
run is for building a data base; which is why folks should run it the minute
the OS install disc is first taken out, and then run after every update or
install of software so as to keep up with all changes that occur.

I had some issues with the Microsoft security patches from March...
Security Update for Windows 98 (KB888113) and Security Update
for Windows 98 (KB891711) seemed to cause scripting errors when
surfing the web. Turns out that something happened to both my IE
preferences and to the manner in which Zone Alarm looked at web
sites.

What does SFC do when you've installed a patch or update to the
operating system? It asks you to put in the original installation CD,
so it's possible that it would replace a missing updated file with the
old version. Is that what happens?

I run it so often, that the only time it asks me for the install disc is in
the event of a corrupted file. I created a directory for backing up all
files that get booted, and directed SFC to backup any files it was
replacing (98SE). But yes, it would be easy to replace a newer
version of a file with an older version if one wasn't careful or simply
wanted to go backward for some reason. The newest file would be
backed up as well before the old one would go in it's place.

This new version has become bloated and invasive, something that I
used to praise ZA of *not* being.

I'm just using the free version. I figured it was working but just for
kicks I went to the Gibson Research web site (grc.com) and played with
their Shields Up test. It trys to probe all the ports (or the first
1000 or so) and tells you if they're open, closed, or stealth (the
probe gets no response from your machine). With Zone Alarm turned on,
it showed stealth for all of my ports. So I shut down Zone Alarm, ran
the port probe test again, and it still showed them all as stealt. So
maybe my router is doing that, or my ISP is. I figure that if there's
really a problem, Gibson would want to show it in his test since he's
trying to sell stuff that seals up computers.

I'm not so sure any more. Version 5.xx (pro) is simply not acting right.
Active program icons never dissappear from it's display even though
they've been shut down for hours.... many more funny anomalies, too.

The computer my friend brought over was running the free version of
ZA, and it has locked up tighter that a drum after getting 4 of the 6
updates (the last two only came out a week or so back, and he was
already dead in the water.

As the days have passed, problems have again begun to rear their heads
with me changing nothing. Once again, ZA is not allowing simple .gifs
and a great deal of scripting to load from web pages.

Honestly, I'd feel more comfortable if it blocked something now and
then. I do get pop-ups when some program or Windows service that I
have't put on the "good guy" list tried to access the Internet. Real
Player is one example. If I want to use it to play a non-downloadable
file, I'll anser the pop-up with "allow" but won't tell it to always
allow that program to access the internet. I want to know when it's
"phoning home" and then don't let it.

Same here. I don't even use an exceptions list. I tell it to ask me
for approval on every piece of software, even those I access the
net with quite often (FTP, AdAware, etc) except IE and OE.

But I've been disappointed. It
hasn't tried to access the Internet other than when I sent it there.

Do you use Real JukeBox? It tries every time it's opened, just like
Windows Media Player.exe and Setupwmp.exe do when you launch
the MS media player.

Call me paranoid or delusional, but these patches seem to me to be
compromising security rather than fixing it. Zone Alarm no longer
reports to me when my IP address changes, and a few other little
anomalies that don't make any sense.

I don't recall that I ever saw that (I'm sure it changed now and then
when I was on AOL dial-up) but then I've only been using the program
for less than two years. Maybe I never got an old enough veresion.

I don't think the free version has that warning, and even in the Pro version
it's fairly peculiar to just DSL/cable dynamic (changing) IP addresses.

Lo and behold, today there are two more security patches for Win98...

Who says Microsoft doesn't support old versions. G

My point exactly. Two years ago Microsoft Windows Update site claimed
that support for 98 & 98SE would only be available for a few more weeks.
I think it was discussed here as a reason to move on to newer OSes.

However, now here we are in 2005 and MS has offered 6 new "patches"
since Christmas. Since I got them two at a time, I can't tell you which
ones caused the problem; but each time, they caused my formerly reliable
firewall to crash wildly. Why should Windows patches for an 8 year old
operating system be alienating a stable and reliable firewall?

So now, I'm thinking both MS *and* ZLabs are digging too deep.

Anyway, I only mentioned this because your temporary problem sounded
a little like a couple I'm privy to.

Your conspiracy-minded acquaintance,

DM

In article Gx9se.13357$9a1.1787@trnddc01 writes:

My recollection of SFC is that it works a little differently in Win98
than in 2000 or XP, at least it's more informative and tells you what
it's doing.

No advanced options for displaying the results or notifying along the way?

There are a number of switches, but I haven't tried them all to see
what they do. I suppose that somewhere in the Microsoft knowledge base
there's complete documentation for it, but I haven't looked.

You're aware that the first time it runs it reports nothing, yes?

No, I wasn't. I assumed that it used the source disk as the reference.
That would be the way to get back to "ground zero" but that's likely
to put you back to pre-service pack installation. I wasn't aware that
the "gold standard" was on the computer's own disk. Sounds kind of
risky to me.

The first
run is for building a data base; which is why folks should run it the minute
the OS install disc is first taken out, and then run after every update or
install of software so as to keep up with all changes that occur.

This seems like something that should be automatic with every
installer, including service packs. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Maybe
it is, someties.

Same here. I don't even use an exceptions list. I tell it to ask me
for approval on every piece of software, even those I access the
net with quite often (FTP, AdAware, etc) except IE and OE.

I don't use Outlook Express, but I do have it installed and there's a
mailing list. I initially had that on the Zone Alarm "allow" list, but
have taken it off. I keep hearing tales of worms that take control of
OE and send out spam on their own. If that's what it actually does,
then Outlook Express should pop up and aske if I want to allow it
access to the Internet, warning me that it was being called by
something other than me. But so far that hasn't happened.

Do you use Real JukeBox? It tries every time it's opened, just like
Windows Media Player.exe and Setupwmp.exe do when you launch
the MS media player.

I don't use Real Jukebox, but I use Media Player. When Zone Alarm asks
me if I want to allow access to setupwmp.exe, I tell it no and what I
want to play on line plays anyway.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

On 13 Jun 2005 10:13:47 -0400, (Mike Rivers)
wrote:

I've found that to be the case with many (maybe all) USB devices. I
have a scanner, flash card reader, Jukebox 3 and portable disk drive
that I plug in as needed. The scanner (the oldest one of the devices)
seems to be happy plugged into either port, but if I plug the other
devices into the "wrong" port, sometimes Windows tries to re-install
the device. This doesn't seem to do any harm, but life shouldn't be
like that.

It's enough to make a Unix user out of me (but I'm not sure I have
that long to live).

WIN XP will automagically load and install a USB device that is
supported natively in the OS (such as flash drives, common printers,
card readers, etc). Thus, when you start playing musical USB ports
with the device, Windows happily re-loads the device for you. The
downside? Each time you re-load these native devices, Windows keeps
the previous "install" as a "Nonpresent Device". You cannot see these
Nonpresent Devices in Device Manager; you need to reboot in Safe Mode
and go to ViewShow Hidden Devices in Device Manager. You can now
laboriously uninstall each redundant instance of these Nonpresent
Devices (they appear as transluscent icons). This a Good Thing To Do,
as Windows will reach a limit (usually ten devices on any one port)
and then no longer let you add any more devices!

Most vendor-driver USB devices (such as your fancy-shmancy USB and
Firewire audio interfaces/controllers) are not supported natively in
Windows. Thus, when you plug the device into a different USB port,
Windows queries you to install the drivers all over again. Don't do
it. Just plug the device back into its original USB port. The device
will be recognized and loaded. If you continue to play musical USB
ports with your audio interface, you will eventually get chock full of
Nonpresent Devices. Windows will load the device again, but won't make
it available in software. Now you have to do the Safe ModeDevice
ManagerViewShow Hidden Devices and delete all those ghosted-out
Nonpresent Devices. After rebooting normally, you can re-install your
vendor drivers and get your ass back to work.

The bottom line: when you install a vendor USB audio interface, select
a USB port on your computer that you will always dedicate to this
interface. No more musical USB ports! On my rig, I actually labelled
my USB ports: printer, MIDI controller, audio interface, scanner,
flash drive, etc. I highly recommend this practice.

- TR
BTW: I'm new to this NG. I like it! You guys are the shizzle.

In article writes:

WIN XP will automagically load and install a USB device that is
supported natively in the OS (such as flash drives, common printers,
card readers, etc). Thus, when you start playing musical USB ports
with the device, Windows happily re-loads the device for you. The
downside? Each time you re-load these native devices, Windows keeps
the previous "install" as a "Nonpresent Device". You cannot see these
Nonpresent Devices in Device Manager; you need to reboot in Safe Mode
and go to ViewShow Hidden Devices in Device Manager. You can now
laboriously uninstall each redundant instance of these Nonpresent
Devices (they appear as transluscent icons).

That's interesting. I'm sure this adds to the "gook load" of the
computer, eventually slowing something down.

I avoid using safe mode as much as possible because it runs at a lower
resolution than what I nomrmally use (640 x 480?) and all the desktop
icons get re-arranged. When I go back to normal operation, I have to
arrange the desktop all over again so that I can aim the mouse to
where I'm used to aiming it. Is there any way to either make that not
happen? Maybe an option to run safe mode in my normal resolution, or
some way to save the desktop arrangement someplace where it will be
safe from re-arrangement (like maybe to a floppy)? I see desktop.ini
in many places, but given Windows' strange ways, it may have nothing
to do with the desktop.

I took a peek (in normal Windows mode) at the Device Manager and
saw the "Show hidden devices" option that I had never noticed before.
I didn't see anything change, even when expanding the USB and disk
drive devices. Will this be different in Safe mode?

Most vendor-driver USB devices (such as your fancy-shmancy USB and
Firewire audio interfaces/controllers) are not supported natively in
Windows. Thus, when you plug the device into a different USB port,
Windows queries you to install the drivers all over again. Don't do
it. Just plug the device back into its original USB port.

That's usually what I do, and it usually works.

The bottom line: when you install a vendor USB audio interface, select
a USB port on your computer that you will always dedicate to this
interface.

It's only on the laptop that I have this problem since I use it both
as a desktop and portable. With two USB ports and 4 USB devices, I
occasionally do swap things around without thinking about it. On the
studio computer, I regularly use only one USB device, a MIDI
interface, so that stays plugged in all the time. And on the regular
working under-the-desktop computer, I don't use the USB ports (though
I do have a hub that I've stuck to the top of the computer so that I
can bring in a visitor now and then.

An, by the way, for anyone remembering my frustrations over the past
couple of weeks trying to use Norton Ghost with my laptop computer.
The final disposition (which I was beginning to suspect but it took a
long time to get a difinitive answer from either Symantec or Adaptec)
is that Ghost doesn't work through a PCMCIA card, which is my Firewire
adapter on this computer. However, thorough the process I did learn
which Firewire drive cases work with the Adaptec PCMCIA-Firewire
adapter and which ones don't. Seems that the traditional Oxford 911
chipset is the key. Good to know should I find another need for an
external drive under Windows on this computer. But for the moment,
there's no need to keep the $65 case that's the only one I found that
works.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

On 20 Jun 2005 11:07:32 -0400, (Mike Rivers)
wrote:


I avoid using safe mode as much as possible because it runs at a lower
resolution than what I nomrmally use (640 x 480?) and all the desktop
icons get re-arranged. When I go back to normal operation, I have to
arrange the desktop all over again so that I can aim the mouse to
where I'm used to aiming it. Is there any way to either make that not
happen?

Yes, there is.

StartRun.
Type in "cmd" and hit Enter.
A command prompt appears. At the command prompt, type this:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
(hit Enter, then type
start devmgmt.msc

This will bring up the Device Manager. Now go ViewShow Hidden
Devices.

Now all those damn ghosted-out nonpresent devices will show. Pay
particular attention to:

Disk Drives
Storage Volumes
USB Controllers

Also check Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Uninstall any ghosted
devices *except* Microsoft devices.

Look around at other stuff: keyboard, mice and Human Interface
Devices. You likely have redundant devices there, too. Do not
uninstall anything in Network, System, Ports or Computer. Do not
uninstall any device that you're not sure about uninstalling.

I had to do this twice today for people. In each case, it solved the
driver problem and gave them peace of mind.

- TR

In article writes:

StartRun.
Type in "cmd" and hit Enter.
A command prompt appears. At the command prompt, type this:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
(hit Enter, then type
start devmgmt.msc

This will bring up the Device Manager. Now go ViewShow Hidden
Devices.

Now all those damn ghosted-out nonpresent devices will show. Pay
particular attention to:

Disk Drives
Storage Volumes
USB Controllers

Also check Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Uninstall any ghosted
devices *except* Microsoft devices.

Hey! Cools stuff! I do recognize a lot of what's grayed-out there,
most is fairly recent - various disk drives that I've tried connecting
via the USB port, and there's the TASCAM US-122 that I had for review
and couldn't fully un-install. I'm guessing that it's safe to remove
anything that looks suspicious and is grayed-out - if it's really
needed, it'll just re-install itself next time I plug in that device.
But I think I'll wait until I have my wits about me before I get too
reckless. I'm not sure that there will be much improvement because
there isn't a lot of junk (and most of it is recent additions), but it
doesn't hurt to get rid of stuff that's not needed.

Thanks.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo