don't buy this crap

tim167 · Post by **tim167** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:41 pm

card: pulsar II 6 dsp's
works for a few days then stops working, have to install software again, over and over to make it work again.
cleaned contacts, done that no solution.
restart computer no solution.
this is already going on for months and now and then I start trying to put it to use again, naïvely thinking it wil be solved this time...
NOT! again the same thing...
try to install sfp 4.0
CANNOT IMPORT KEYFILE !
try to download it from creamware.de -> mypage
click on allkeys.sfk
i get:
"""
Serverobjekt-Fehler 'ASP 0177 : 800706ba'

Server.CreateObject-Fehler

/shop2000/de/shop/asp.pro/Profile/downloadKeyfile.asp, Zeile 4

Der RPC-Server ist nicht verfügbar.
"""

what the .. is this ?
cw is toys for kids, not for professional musicians,
painful conclusion, took me years to come to it but now I´m sure... never let them trick you into buying this, its not worth it.
sorry...

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 2:01 pm

Have you tried their support?
For the email adress, check post in Announcements from Ralf.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 2:10 pm

well, what did you expect from a Micro$oft webserver ?

Music Manic · Post by **Music Manic** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 3:50 pm

I think that Scope Version for has a bad bug that stops you from seeing keyfile.
Happens to me all the time and I think it's because I have 2 drives and SFP partitions are not on C drive.

If you set to see hidden files there are some files written on C drive.Delete them then run setup.
Be careful not to clear system files

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 4:41 pm

"cw is toys for kids, not for professional musicians"

Give me a break. It's us "kids" who struggle with it. But true, it is a studio, not just an instrument.

If you can't solve the problem, just ask for help here or from Creamware.

_________________
Keep swimming.....

[ This Message was edited by: emzee on 2005-07-12 23:25 ]

cream · Post by **cream** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:16 pm

I know what you mean as I had problem after problem with these cards. Just make sure you really did everything to solve this problem.If you don't, you'll regret it for sure.
Your problems look like mine so if you have any questions, just ask.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 2:10 am

On 2005-07-11 14:41, tim167 wrote:
card: pulsar II 6 dsp's
works for a few days then stops working, have to install software again, over and over to make it work again.
...
try to install sfp 4.0
CANNOT IMPORT KEYFILE !
try to download it from creamware.de -> mypage
click on allkeys.sfk
i get:
"""
Serverobjekt-Fehler 'ASP 0177 : 800706ba'
...

this is an entirely Windows OS issue - looks like the system is deliberately messing file access rights.
SFP probably stops working because the OS blocks file access, but (SFP) doesn't make a detailed error report (even if it did, that wouldn't change anything).

'Cannot import keyfile' could refer to the empty keyfile from installation - in that case you can manually direct it vis file selection dialog to a copy of your allkeys file.
On the other hand it could mean the file is blocked by the OS for same obscure reasons as written above.

You can use any fresh copy of that file, there's no reason to constantly download it

Once you have registered all your software keep a copy of the downloaded keyfile at a safe place, but accessible (CD, USB stick, your digicam or whatever) - it's nothing but a stupid textfile listing the device names and a registration code.

btw (the reason I write this) I've had almost the same yesterday on a fairly new Win2k server installation. I wasn't able to copy a bunch of files due to the OS bitching 'Access denied'.
Needless to mention there's not even a single bit of SFP on the machine

such stuff could also refer to an 'unreliable' harddisk (they are all suspect by default today), memory, heat, etc.

cheers, Tom

valis · Post by **valis** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:40 am

If it is a permissions issue then using Fat32 instead of NTFS will resolve that, outside of the blocksize issues Fat32 has.

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:09 am

Sorry that you have troubles with your PC, but common, try to write something more coherent, perhaps you are a 10 years old boy trying to work with daddy’s PC?

Please, make sense of your writing and then come here so to receive assistance… Honestly, what you say in your post is ridiculous: you have been chinning contacts and restarting your PC for months, now and then installing SFP 4.0, then your board works suddenly for a few days and in the same way stops working… that sounds bizarre to me…

We are not idiots, we USE our cards every single day, and have been doing it for many years, and have build SEVERAL PCs to fit it into them, have done endless recordings, have produces endless amounts of music and the ONLY thing we are still doing is looking forward for more to come…

okantah · Post by **okantah** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:25 am

True true.......people Oohoooo people.
cheers

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:05 pm

I have to say that I'm happy with what the Creamware cards do but they bomb more than any other application I own. After years I got to the point where I can work for a couple of hours without it bombing. Now I am told the reason is because 2 of my 3 cards are type 1 cards. After spending all this money I have to ditch them and buy new ones? Still I like what it does and the unique qualities that we all are aware of.

emzee · Post by **emzee** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:29 pm

Yeah, wasn't that partly why Creamware were going to charge for backup ......... a lot of the problems were old cards on new systems?

I'd be pissed too if my system went down that often. But my system runs quite cleanly. If I mess with samplerate settings on my sequencer I have to exit and restart but that's about it.

Post by **garyb** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:35 pm

pulsar1, pulsar1 srb and power pulsar here, rock solid. NEVER bombs.

symbiote · Post by **symbiote** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:27 am

Re original post: TROLL

As for bombing, none here either, SFP has always been the most stable part of the 3 systems I've ran my cards on. I can leave it running for a week without problems.

tim167 · Post by **tim167** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 7:25 am

wow, I came back here after a few days.
Didn't expect so many replies.
thanks for your concern guys.(If thats your motivation anyways

)
I'll try to add in just a few quick things, as I should be doing something else at this moment and I didn't read everything yet.

First off all, I admit It was not really in a constructive mood when starting this thread, but It just got to me after yet another session being interrupted by technical issues.
I do have a copy of my keyfile, but the installer didn't accept it so I thought maybe I needed a new one for SFP 4.0, so I tried to download it...
Show hidden files is activated.
Do I really have to reformat my drives to NTFS ? I'm a musician in the first place, maybe I should get something more plug n play, and no I'm not 10 years old...

What i wrote about reinstalling SFP and Pulsar card is true. It's been going on for more than a year. Install the card into brand new PC, it works, after a few days/weeks all of a sudden sound dies, nothing, I reinstall SFP and it works again.
Apart from that (see some of my previous messages) the card sometimes starts to make "horrible digital noise". I cleaned the contacts...got 2 new pc's since then, still sometimes it happens.
This is the third PC that holds my Pulsar II, I had hoped now it would be stable enough for use on stage...
Don't get me wrong, I also like what Pulsar does, I can do neat realtime audio processing stuff, but I also want to be able to trust it fully on crucial moments.
By the way, I've been working on it again (old SFP, installed again) for a few days now, no problems...yet.
One other question: Are these problems that could be solved by installing SFP4.0 or does that have nothing to do with it?
thanks

[ This Message was edited by: tim167 on 2005-07-13 08:35 ]

[ This Message was edited by: tim167 on 2005-07-13 08:36 ]

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:06 am

I suggest you contact Creamware support.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 11:25 am

first of all (imho) there is nothing fundamental that version 4 fixes.
the drivers and low level interfaces into the OS seem exactly the same as in version 3.1c (at least that was my impression - please correct me if I'm wrong)
So the card is supposed to run in any version.

the symptoms are indeed pretty wiered and there's a bunch of possibilities:

the most simple is the card's broken

#2 the card might be sensitive to overheating, possibly (a particularily unpleasent case) it changes it's specs under heat conditions, so it's not really damaged and not really working...

#3 something with ACPI is wrong - we've read in many posts (some just recently) that ACPI can have a significant influence on system stability.
Unfortunately there's no unique pattern - it seems to depend on a combination of OS, BIOS and Mobo.

if you have installed it with ACPI on, a reinstall with ACPI off might do the trick

imho the only way to check the card's hardware functinality is to install it under Win98 on BX or 815 chipset on a Pentium III or Celeron machine, preferably with a small (5200rpm) harddisk.
Such a machine generates almost no heat and is known to work reliably.

it's not meant as a permanent solution, just for a diagnostic phase.
if it sustains for a couple of days you can be sure that the hardware is ok - if the same errors repeat then it's almost certain that the card itself is the problem.

imho high powered P4 and Win2K/XP system introduce just too much error potential on their own.
at least this is more convenient than to send the card to CWA.

good luck, Tom

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:12 pm

I hope your music is more original than your insults.

On 2005-07-13 07:27, symbiote wrote:
Re original post: TROLL

As for bombing, none here either, SFP has always been the most stable part of the 3 systems I've ran my cards on. I can leave it running for a week without problems.

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 7:01 am

On 2005-07-12 20:05, braincell wrote:
I have to say that I'm happy with what the Creamware cards do but they bomb more than any other application I own. After years I got to the point where I can work for a couple of hours without it bombing. Now I am told the reason is because 2 of my 3 cards are type 1 cards. After spending all this money I have to ditch them and buy new ones? Still I like what it does and the unique qualities that we all are aware of.

what do you mean by "bombing"? Crashes? BSODS? I use a type 1 and a type 2 card with no real problems other than the occasional PCI problems which are probably due to the type 1 card but it's not like it crashes or anything. I just can't really work with lots of reverbs. Sometimes the audio messes up but I can just do a samplerate switch back and forth to get it back. Again, the software never crashes really. Usually it works pretty much flawlessly.

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:01 am

I'm going to try the AMD64 before I switch to an all type II configuration. I probably should wait for CW 64 bit drivers which looks like will be a very long wait. I already have plenty of DSP power.