Ugrade from XL to Ver 11 - Frustrations

[heinz-oz]

Heinz, If this last post about frightning someone was directed at me, relax. Nowhere in my message did I suggest anything like that.
I have gone thru the whole cleaning routine on two machines twice and reinstalled. I have dumped the whole works and downloaded at least 6 different times. I like the idea of the biggest bang for the bucks, but I'm still working on the first buck. I agree there is a problem with the download, the error message even refers me back to the vendor. I'm trying to find out what the problem is so I can correct it and get a working copy.
I'm not trying to threaten or frighten anyone. I'm trying to get good useful help from the experts.
May I ask what your system is - mine does meet or exceed all the requirement listed.

Lynn

Hi Lynn, my remarks were rather general, not aimed at anyone in particular. BTW, my system spec's can be found where they should be, in my profile. You can access that at the bottom of my posts, button: "System"

Something is interfering with your downloads. I have only downloaded versions of all my Ulead software and PI is installed on 3 different machines, running with no problems.

Apart from the machine mentioned in my profile, I have another P4 HT, 3.0 GHz with 512 MB of DDR400 RAM, running Office 2003, VET AntiVirus and ZoneAlarm Pro firewall, numerous different web browsers and NetObjectsFusion8 for web design. PI 11 runs on that machine with no problems, albeit a bit sluggish, not enough RAM.

The other machine is a laptop with a Centrino 1.7 GHz processor, 512MB DDR2 RAM and PCIe graphics card. The programs installed are similar, if not identical, to the ones running on the machine above. Again, PI 10 and PI 11 run trouble free on this.

My main machine is not connected to the internet and does not have any word processing or other office applications on it and no AV or firewall running. It's not networked either. I use that for my serious PI work and video editing.

[keenart]

lemerich

A CRC usually indicates that when a file is downloaded a byte is usually transferred empty, null, which means that a piece of the information is missing from the File. When the MS Installer opens and checks the contents of the file there should be a perfect match byte for byte, file for file. If that is not the case, then you get a warning about the CRC not matching. This is to prevent you from installing a damaged file, which may or may not run after install. It usually depends on the missing byte and how important it is to the File. In your case, it seems that the file is one that Combo.dll wants to open. Combo.dll is the, boot file, you might say for PI. Without it, PI will not open.

You can try to Run Checksum if you are running an NTFS partition, and see if it will fix the CRC, but in almost all cases, it will not. If you are running Fat32x then use Scandisc, the thorough version and see if it will fix the CRC. Otherwise I would advise deleting the file and downloading a new one.

[lemerich]

OK, here's the latest. This morning I had some work to do for my son. While there, I downloaded the trial version again. He is on another ISP and uses Comcast. Download went smoothly with no hic cups anywhere.
From there, I drove a few extra miles and did another download at my brothers hourse, which is on another cable modem - faster than comcast.
Cleaned both of my machines at home and did a re-install on both.
Same problem popped up on both machines.
At this point, it seems to me that the problem is not on my end. Two different machines, at least 8 or 10 downloads, 3 different isp's on different computers, and all have the same problem.
Unless someone here can suggest something I haven't tried, I think I'll check back in a week or two and try again.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

Lynn

[sjj1805]

Seems to me like you've tried just about everything.
Best suggestion I can give is obtain the Free Trial Download Disc

The Ulead Products Trial CD includes the following trial versions:
Ulead VideoStudio 10 trial
Ulead PhotoImpact 11 trial
Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5 trial
Ulead CD & DVD PictureShow 4 trial
Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8 trial

OK it will set you back a bit of loose change - but if you're pulling your hair out it might be worth it.

[lemerich]

OK, I blew the 10 bucks on the disc and hope for the best. Now I can get back to work. Thanks again. I may be back, but hopefully not with the same problem.

Lynn

[gsigso]

@gsigso
There is something wrong with your system.

Ok. I'm not sure why you've come to that conclusion, could you please offer an additional explanation.

@gsigso
Which version of DirectX are you using? Do you have your latest video drivers and patches for your display adapter loaded?

I have DirectX 9.0c installed. Video drivers, ....., well ugghhh, .... that's one I always forget about. Thanks for the reminder. I've installed the latest video drivers. I'm not sure what you're referring to with "patches".

I've downloaded and run Memtest86. With all this said. Same problem.

I must applogize that I got busy with the family and did not check on this thread. I have submitted a problem report with Ulead as a registered user. Their recommendation was to

"Try the clean reinstallation [re PI 11 Knowledge base] procedure for about 3 to 4 times. Sometimes it takes more than one try to get it to work."

This was useless. I did try 3 more times with the same result. I also was at home early one afternoon and called Ulead tech support directly. The person I talked to was quite interested in hearing about my problem and told me he'd get back with me after investigating further. No news and that's been over a week ago.

One of the other step that I have tried was to uninstall all my Ulead software (VS 8, 10+), DVDPS 3, PI (XL, 11), MS 3 SE, and Scrapbook 2. As a project I'm moving all my apps to a dedicated partition. I reinstalled VS 10+, DVDPS 3, Scrapbook 2, PI 11 and still no joy. Same problem. I've since added PI XL.

I'm still optimistic that someone will have the nugget that I'm looking for. Otherwise I guess it will have to rebuilt the software in my system which is something I guess I'll have to do as a very last resort.

I've read the comments that lemerich has provided. The error message he received is exactly the one I recieved when I attempted to use the trial version of PI 11. It seems very odd to me that the popular proposal is corrupted download, at least that's how I'm reading it. We both experience the same sympton. I would have thought that a corrupted download would manifest itself different on different machinces, the corruption being an arbitary event that strikes during the download. I'm wondering if he and I have a common "problem" in our machine or if the source file from Ulead is corrupted somehow...., just a thought.

[heinz-oz]

gsigso,

I still believe that your problems and lemmerich's are system related. After the additional info given by lemmerich, after downloading at different places and on different machines, the only thing that hasn't changed is the identity of the machines where the program was installed.

I know that this is little comfort right now but there is absolutely no point in blaming the innocent. At least in lemmerich's case, I'm sure, that it is not a dud download. That would be just too many coincidences.

My conviction is based on the years of participating in this forum and my own experiences. It does not have to be hardware related, it can also be the software mix which can create problems.

We did have users here who fixed problems with a different download. I personally fixed my initial problem with PI 11 by reformatting my system drive and installation of one program after the other. Turned out that MF3 was the culprit in my case, or so it would appear. PI 11 and PI 10 played up again after MF3 was installed and behaved normally when it was removed. Upgrade to MF4 fixed that.

[gsigso]

Heinz-oz,

Thanks for the feedback. At this point I don't think I'm blaming anything, I'm just trying to find the solution to the problem I'm experiencing. I appreciate the assistance of the experienced members of the forum. Based on my experience, which is admittedly limited in this area, it seems like source files with a problem is a possibility to be considered along with some type of configuration problem with my system and lemmerich's. I've purchased the full version of PI 11 so this aspect is no longer a concern for me other than maybe this is potentially an early sympton of the problem I'm experiencing with the upgrade version.

I no longer have MF 3 SE installed on my system. However, I've read that the uninstall program sometimes leaves remenants on a system. Did you try the uninstall portion of the clean installation MF 3 at the Ulead KB before reformatting your system drive? At this time I'm not planning to use MF and I'd just be happy to remove it entirely from my system if it's the culprit causing PI 11 not to work. I'll give it a try if you think it has a reasonable chance of working. Otherwise reformatting my system drive looks like it might be in my future.

[heinz-oz]

Nothing is more thorough than a total reformat.

Prior to taking this drastic step, I went through all the advice given. The problem I had at the time was that PI 10 stopped behaving in a way I was used to, after I installed PI 11. Naturally, I blamed PI 11 for it, especially since there were so many people having all sorts of problems with it.

It only transpired after I wiped the lot and did a clean install of everything, OS plus SP2, MoBo drivers etc., that in fact MF3 had something to do with it. Initially, I told everybody that after the reformat all was working well. It was weeks after, that I tried to burn a video disk and realised that I did not yet install MF3. It took me another couple of days at least, until I realised that now PI 10 and PI 11 were playing up again. Removing MF3 fixed that in an instant.

I had MF3 before I upgraded to PI 10 (from PI XL), I believe, and never suspected it. It must have been a shared dll or something of that nature, that caused my problems.

Edited by Heinz-Oz
After I posted the above I went back to your first post to refresh my memory concerning your problem. It only came back to me then that your initial problem was the CRC error. It all got a bit confused after lemmerich butted in also. A CRC error is caused by the installer comparing files against an internal checksum. It is a mechanism to prevent hacking among other things. This error, in a ligitimately downloaded file, is usually caused by some form of corruption during the download. It could, theoretically, also be a faulty upload from Ulead to the download server at Ulead. If 2 or 3 downloads result in the same error, or in lemmerich's case, downloads on different machines with different ISPs and different connection speeds, I would suspect the actual file. Did you try the different download locations or did you always download from the same server?

[keenart]

CRC errors usually come from a byte missing from a file. If everyone gets the same CRC at the same exact location then the file to download was bad before download.

However, there are occasions when your computer has contracted a virus, spyware, adware, and left a remnant that Scandisk or Checksum cannot remove. In other cases, a deleted folder or file that MS Explorer screwed up that has a bad byte. As a result, you might have a corrupt sector on the hard drive.

When you try to install a file the writes to a corrupt sector on a hard drive it causes a CRC. You can usually tell it is the hard drive when several people try to install the same file and the CRC occurs at a different location.

As heinz indicates formatting a hard drive a couple of times usually gets rid of corrupt sectors, but not always if the hard drive has seen its years. There is no guarantee this is the problem, but now you have information about CRC’s.

[lemerich]

I gave up trying to install the download and ordered the disk.
The fact that I downloaded this to 4 different drives and my desktop, and tried to install on two systems with different motherboards, bios's and video configurations, and cpu,s (same OS) would lead me to NOT suspect my computers. Last time I installed directly from the cd that I downloaded it to.
Not saying it's impossible, but highly unlikely. I also tried downloading using Netscape and Explorer. Errow shows up at exactly the same place each time.
I didn't have a choice as to which site I downloded from - only one site listed.
I will report back when the cd shows up.

Lynn

[heinz-oz]

I didn't understand at the time that you also installed the downloads at these different machines. I thought you just downloaded there.

If what you say is true, I don't daubt it, we are dealing with a damaged download file at the server.

There is also a user from Russia with a problematic download of PI 11 TBYB.

We'll have this checked.

[gsigso]

I'm pleased to report that I now have PI 11 running. My accomplishment required that I make my system drive C: and not F: as I previously had it. I'm still wondering if I had some other corruption/file incompatibility that reformatting the harddrive and changing to C: eliminated. Alas, I do have the knowledge or the time to get smarter on this topic. The problem was curious to me because F: was my system drive when I installed PI XL and all the other Ulead software that I own.

In my final configuration I have a C: partition which I'm attempting to limit to just Windows XP Home and drivers. I have a P: partition which I am installing all my software.

I want to thank the experienced members of the forum for your suggestions and reccommendations on how to fix my original problem. I'm a newbie here and have not contributed anything. I appreciate all of you offering your wisdom and experience. Hopefully at some time in the future I may be able to share something of value.

[sjj1805]

Over the years I have experimented with several different hard drive configurations including a few where I had the system drive on a drive letter other than "C"

In theory it should not make any difference. In practice I have found it is always wiser to have your system drive where nature intended it to be "C"

The reason for this is not the capabilities of the computers, but it is the failings of the computer programmers. These people are human and so make mistakes. One often overlooked mistake by some computer programmers is the fact that a user might not have installed his system and/or programs onto a "C" drive.

In the world of computing there are two types of 'addressing.'
Absolute addressing
Relative addressing.

Absolute addressing is where a fixed and specific address is given such as
"C:\Program Files\Ulead Systems\Ulead PhotoImpact 11\Iedit.exe"
Here the full path is given including the drive letter "C"

Relative addressing is where you take your current position and navigate to the target position. You sort of say "Go back two directory levels and then follow this path"

There's a lot more to it all than that and I am keeping this example simple, hopefully you can see the point I am making.