Help! Lost Installation CD Pulsar II

tim167 · Post by **tim167** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:07 pm

Hello,

It's been a while since I visited this forum, and also I haven't used my Pulsar for a while.
I want to reinstall it now, but I can't find my CD anywhere.
My allkeys.skf file doesn't work with the new Scope 4.0 installer.
Is it meant to be like that ?
Anyway, I had an installation of the pulsar (or was it already named Scope) software version 3, but the OS on that harddrive is broken.
This version isnt available on the creamware ftp anymore.
Would anyone be so kind as to put a copy of the old pulsar platform version 3 online for me, or, if that's possible, tell me how to install from the new download with my old keys ?

thanks!
Tim

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 3:44 pm

Email Ralf at

rb(at)creamware.de

with your hardware number and he'll send you a current all keys file that should work with SCOPE 4.0, you shouldn't need any earlier version.

tim167 · Post by **tim167** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:34 pm

that's good news, I sent a mail.
thanks!

tim167 · Post by **tim167** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 10:45 am

positive note :
I received my new Allkeys.skf from Ralf Bach today.
Installed Scope 4.0.
Up and running again,

Tim

Mr Arkadin · Post by **Mr Arkadin** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:14 am

Cool, now go grab some half-price goodies while you can.

tim167 · Post by **tim167** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 4:30 am

Was I too early to rejoice? :

Unexpected DSP overload

sample rate settings window:
all red leds on the left side are on, and sometimes briefly off.
I shake the pulsar board a little up and down in the slot, and the situation normalizes.
live gig in a week, I don't want this to happen...

tim

tim167 · Post by **tim167** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 4:42 am

wow, second time in less than an hour now.
no message this time, only crackling noise out of the speakers.
manually bent the board up and down in the slot,
back to normal again.

clean the contacts again ?

Post by **hubird** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:22 am

you could try to clean the slots itselves.
or try to make the card work in another computer.
be cautious with that card shaking...

Post by **hubird** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:23 am

you could try to clean the slots itselves.
or try to make the card work in another computer.
take care with that card shaking...

tim167 · Post by **tim167** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:45 am

ok, third crash, almost 2 hours later.
this time: one click in the speakers, 30 seconds nothing, then again crackle noise galore!
this time when I lever the pulsar board nothing happens.
I unplugged the luna box, plugged it back in, the noise has stopped but the master meters of the STM mixer keep going crazy.
In samplerate window the usual situation.
I set 'slave', then back to 'master' and everything works again.

tim167 · Post by **tim167** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:51 am

Hi Hubird, thanks for the reply, I just see it now...

>you could try to clean the slots itselves.
It's a new computer with practically unused slots

>or try to make the card work in another computer.
this is the 4th computer in which I have the same symptoms

>take care with that card shaking...
Yes, I do it carefully ofcourse. Done it quite often now, one gets handy with it...
Sometimes its more like simply pushing the card like when you put it in the slot.

Post by **irrelevance** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:44 pm

Please don't say your moving the card in the slot while the comps running

Surely a recipe for disaster!

So it's not a new card. Is it second hand? I ask because I purchased a second hand board quite recently actually and for some strange reason it WOULD NOT FIT into my motherboard correctly. It seemed that the back plate was somehow mis aligned but I couldn't tell if this was from manufacture or mabye the plate had been replaced but with another type. In the end I had to remove the back plate via the two screws and fit it onto the opposite side of the board in order for it to slot correctly.

The misalignment brought up alot of funny errors.

Is your card perfectly seated in the slot ie it doesn't rise slightly at one end? Does it run perfectly parallel to any other cards or slots?
Have you looked at the condition of the components on the board?
If you've already looked into this apologies, but these are the first things that come to mind other than dirty contacts.

Let us know.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:26 pm

valid point, though it's not very likely the effect remains on 4 different computers.
The 'positioning' trouble is usually caused by the bottom 'notch' of the backpanel connector not fitting into the respective hole of the case. It may need a little bending (just the lower half inch of it) to make it slip into position.

cheers, Tom

Post by **irrelevance** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 3:34 pm

astroman wrote:valid point, though it's not very likely the effect remains on 4 different computers.
The 'positioning' trouble is usually caused by the bottom 'notch' of the backpanel connector not fitting into the respective hole of the case. It may need a little bending (just the lower half inch of it) to make it slip into position.

cheers, Tom

I can only asume that the fault I had would have happened in another pc as I didn't have another chassis to test it in. But the mechanics of pci slot manufacture >should< follow some standard.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 4:13 pm

it does for sure - you'll hardly find a slot that's deviating from standard, as that's all highly automated production and the shape of parts doesn't have the slightest possibility in spatial tolerances.

the critical point is the connection to the backplate, as it depends on the relative position of the holes that take the mobo screws to the case surrounding, plus (on the bottom of at least some cases) cut-out rectangles to fix the afforementioned notch of the card's backpanel.
As those parts might be manufactured in several steps, there's a possibility for significant mechanical tolerances.

I've had it just a couple of days ago that a card which was removed for inspection, wouldn't fit in back in place afterwards - about 95% in the slot, slightly tilted (as you mention) and leaving about 4 mm of vertical space where you tighten the screw.
It was fairly irritating, as the card was perfectly seated before.
Since I knew about those 'hidden' holes below the mobo, it was easy to bend the metal of the card's backplate just a little bit to find it's place, but if you have no idea about the latter you just ask yourself '...wtf is this ??..

thinking about it twice, it might indeed be possible for someone to assume the card sits in the slot and the left-over metal is a production error - and either bend it into position or simply cut it off, oops

cheers, Tom