PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Hello all!

I'm a proud owner hmm..make that Was I'm a Frustrated owner of PulsarII Plus

A week ago I was going to change the way I work and head for the XTC Mode to leave the Scope interface behind.

Installed CubaseSX and Scope the way I usually do and checked that both was working ok, no problems so far. Went through the guide for making CubaseSX work with XTC found somewhere on this forum. Ok, all set!

Fired up Cubase and, during plugin initialization, was asked to enter the keys for Scope plugs. As far as I understand this happens to some people for some reason. At first it accepted the keys and went on to the next one but after a while it started to throw up those 'copy protection violation' messages. My thought was maybe it tried to load a few plugins that wasn't included in my package and there were no keys for them in the keyfile. Seemed somewhat logical at the time so I let it continue with a few more of those copy protection alerts to finally start up.

Once started, I made a few short tracks for testing and assigned some Scope plugs to them. At this point, I began to realise something went terribly wrong because I couldn't access the plugs. They Were listed but bringing up the interface to edit the plugins was no go.

Next thing was to reinstall Cubase. Double checked everything. Started up. Same thing. Messages about violation, some plugs were loaded, some were not. Once Cubase was running I still couldn't open any of them plug interfaces. Now I started to feel like I was wasting my time so I decided to Skip that XTC idea. Switched back to my normal setup and config. Tried to start Scope, wouldn't start *siGh* Any attempt at starting Scope gave me a 0001 error.

*do feel I'm getting mighty angry at this point but decides to reinstall Scope as well*

Uninstalled and Deleted ever little trace of Scope (including registry) and reboot the machine. Confident this was gonna do teh trick I ran the setup - Install drivers. Reboot. Continue with the installation. Chose installdir. Import keys.... hmm, import keys! Ehrmf, download a new copy of the keyfile, Import Keys?!?! Ok, let's try to enter manually - "Not a valid key for this board".

Just great. *decides to Reinstall the whole machine* Unplugged every PCI board I didn't need, ending up with an AGP graphics and a network adapter other than my PulsarII. I format the windows partition, installed windows, drivers, all windows updates, device drivers, everything the way I always do. Ran that Scope setup again. Reboot after the drivers were installed. Went on with installing Scope. Picked an installdir. Imported keys. ehm, or not. Import Another, backed up keyfile?! Noo! Ok, enter Manually again. and again.. and again.. double check, copy and paste it in case of a typo. Nope!

Have gone through reinstalling WinXP 4-5 times in a week. Even tried StandardPC mode, tried with only the AGP Gfx + PulsarII boards plugged in. Tried Every PCI port for the Pulsar board and nothing helps. Scope just Won't install anymore and Something happened when I tried to run it in XTC Mode.

Anyone else experienced this?! Looked around at some other forums too, can't find anything about it. Closest one I found was actually here on planetz, Vidi's SFP3.1c installation problem.

Sent several emails to CW about it (though most of them bounced, a few actually got through) but the one short answer I got was a 'try these keys' and a brand new allkeys file attached, identical to the ones I got already! *YiPPiE* :

Sent a few more emails explaining everything from scratch but have not heard anything yet.

Oh, and sorry for this lengthy, boring, bad english post but I'm totally starting to panic when there's Lots of music in teh works but Nothing that solves the problem :] So if any of you can help out that'd be like.. Love! honest ;D

/regards

Ok, some update on my problem with Scope. I managed to make a 'fake', manual install unpacking the files from the .zip file in to their respective directories just as the installer would put them. Scope still won't start but at least the activation step that includes the 'Request String' appeared which I've sent to CW, and that was one of the things I was kinda hoping for. Entering the keys manually at this stage gives me a 'not a valid key' message and when importing the keys it says 'imported successfully' followed by the message Scope couldn't start.. error 0001.

As for a regular install, keys are not imported, not even shown in the list. If entered manually, it shows in the list but the 'lightbulbs' are not lit and in both cases [next] button remains greyed out. All this, and all stuff in the previous post goes for both Scope 3.1, 3.1c and 4.0.

/regards

i'm suspecting the card itself.....

Sadly, in a way I do too but it doesn't really make sense : Weird thing is I was working with it and had Scope up running properly just seconds before trying to switch mode All I did was to close everything down and reconfigure for XTC mode. IF the card coinsidencely ceased to function during that switch I'd say I'm Mr Bad Luck of teh year :

I have a similar problem. I recently moved my Pulsar 2 card from a Mac into a PC runnong windows xp. I set the pc up to run V-Stack and use the XTC instruments without SFP. All worked fine for about a month, then one day i tried to boot up SFP with no luck. I un-install'd SFP but when i try to reinstall it i get a message saying....

Hardware cannot be setup properly:
System error: Waiting from aknowledgement from dsp 3.

I OK this message then i get another error message saying.....

Cannot start Creamware Installer (error code 0004.

I get no help from Creamware (the slack bastards) and am beginning to think that my card has just died.

Pretty damn annoying considering how expensive the things are, and it's only 2 yrs old.


Any ideas or has anyone else had this problem?

Cheers

Sam

time for service. get help from a good dealer or contact the distributor....

I found sometimes that using a can of Air dust to dust the PCI slots help.
Also cleaning the card's contacts on the board itself help. you may also try a differnt PCI slot and see.

Hi again!

In 2 weeks and with all that info I sent to CW I have now recieved a second email from them telling me:

- "You have to choose a software package before you see the modules in the install window. If you still are having problems you should copy the whole Installation CD or all installation files into a directory. Rename the allkeys.skf file to scope.rgy and copy it to the bin directory in the setup folder."

Chosing package,isn't that kind of Obvious? Pretty lame suggestion imo since I've Said I installed that board and Scope several times since I bought it. And, in at least Two of the mails I sent to them I clearly said Copying the Allkeys.skf as scope.rgy to it's directory (ScopeDir->App->Bin) Won't Work!! And that it Was running but.. just stopped when switching mode. And yet they incist on trying that : *ARGH*

Time passes and the distributor informed me that sending the board for repair takes a minimum of 4 weeks. Time that I don't have and since I get practically No Words from CW support (other than trying keyfiles), just like you sambo. The distributor also wanted me to pass all details to them and so far, they haven't heard anything from CW either.

Bottom line is, unless the board for some reason happens to function on another mobo I borrowed, I'm being forced to buy a new board to be able to work. All due to the lack of support from CW. That's $1.500 I would've spent on Other stuff if it turns out my current PulsarII could be fixed.

sambo: I never got those dsp errors but I find it very strange things start to happen after switching to XTC. If alot more people than the 2 of us are having these issues with XTC i doubt it's pure coinsidence :]

Cleaning the board, slots etc did Not help, at least not for me. sambo maybe had some luck with that?

/regards

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: dLuxe on 2004-06-25 20:20 ]</font>

yamaha service takes about 4 weeks as well. it's pretty straight forward. you send in the card and it gets fixed.

Hi, I had the same problem, went through same stuff. You can see my post in this section, "copy protection violation error". I think it's some probs with CW's files, maybe because the registration page and used-card transfers process is really hard to make bulletproof. I sent the transfer string to Ralf, he looked into it, and now it works.

To Sambo,

seems that your card is faulty.
Please contact you local dealer.
He will send the card to creamware germany for customer repair.

>>>Creamware (the slack bastards)<<<

Maybe you can avoid such things.
I'am not slag and I'am not a bastard (

ralf

On 2004-06-25 02:31, sambo wrote:
I have a similar problem. I recently moved my Pulsar 2 card from a Mac into a PC runnong windows xp. I set the pc up to run V-Stack and use the XTC instruments without SFP. All worked fine for about a month, then one day i tried to boot up SFP with no luck. I un-install'd SFP but when i try to reinstall it i get a message saying....

Hardware cannot be setup properly:
System error: Waiting from aknowledgement from dsp 3.

I OK this message then i get another error message saying.....

Cannot start Creamware Installer (error code 0004.

I get no help from Creamware (the slack bastards) and am beginning to think that my card has just died.

Pretty damn annoying considering how expensive the things are, and it's only 2 yrs old.


Any ideas or has anyone else had this problem?

Cheers

Sam

On 2004-06-28 04:58, Ralf wrote:
I'am not slag and I'am not a bastard

true.

I bet that's Ralf BACH.

( He IS NOT Ralf Brown )

Hi Ralf,

Thanks for your advice, I have got the card working, but only sometimes. It does seem that one of the chips is faulty and i doubt that its economical to send it to germany to be fixed.

Also i am sorry for calling creamware slack, as i have since recieved an email from them (although it didnt haveany helpfull info in it).

The card now gives me error messages when i boot up and when i load v-stack but it seems to work most of the time (in xtc mode but without any xtc instruments in the plugins folder), but only as a basic i/o audio card.

Thanks

sam

My second Pulsar II board was damaged twice in between 11 month in different PC. So I've my 3rd board installed. Hope it works now as long as my first board.
I also got DSP errors. Sometimes it's the connecting cable between the boards (STDM), but in my case a Sharc died.
Good luck!

To Sambo,

hello Sam,

i'am sure,that one of the DSP's ( 3 ) is damaged.
( Hardware cannot be setup properly:
System error: Waiting from aknowledgement from dsp 3.).
The only way to fis this is the shipment to Creamware Germany/Siegburg. Contact your dealer. He should contact me for a RMA-number and send the board to CWA. We'll do what is possible fix the board as soon as possible.

cheers
Ralf

On 2004-06-29 06:32, sambo wrote:
Hi Ralf,

Thanks for your advice, I have got the card working, but only sometimes. It does seem that one of the chips is faulty and i doubt that its economical to send it to germany to be fixed.

Also i am sorry for calling creamware slack, as i have since recieved an email from them (although it didnt haveany helpfull info in it).

The card now gives me error messages when i boot up and when i load v-stack but it seems to work most of the time (in xtc mode but without any xtc instruments in the plugins folder), but only as a basic i/o audio card.

Thanks

sam

It's baaaaack!

I'm having same kind of problem as dLuxe again, asks for activation keys and gives "copy protection violation" messages for my plug-ins, asks for the activation keys and rejects them. I wasn't using a software sequencer, and I have XTC disabled.

I uninstalled, re-registered/activated Scope 4 again for that card, downloaded new everything, pulled the 2 cards, restarted, installed the problem card in a new slot, restarted, and got the same problem when I tried to install Scope.

When I import the allkeys file now in Setup, it won't show the keys and allow me to go to the next step. It's like I don't own the software anymore. I did try renaming the allkeys file as Scope.rgy and putting it in Setup/Bin.

Ralf said something to me in email before, said maybe I had downloaded from an empty account. I'm not sure what he meant, but it does seem like that. It was working really solid for a while, I don't understand how the problem could have come back.

Hi Pete,

please send me an email with your hardwareserialnumber. I'll generate a new keyfile ( allkeys.skf ). Moreover . . If you got a requeststring, so please send it to me also.
Write Pete in the subject of your mail.

cheers
Ralf


i have seen your mail Posted: 2004-06-26 00:07 and think, i can fix your keyproblem with the requeststring.

On 2004-07-10 16:26, Pete wrote:
It's baaaaack!

I'm having same kind of problem as dLuxe again, asks for activation keys and gives "copy protection violation" messages for my plug-ins, asks for the activation keys and rejects them. I wasn't using a software sequencer, and I have XTC disabled.

I uninstalled, re-registered/activated Scope 4 again for that card, downloaded new everything, pulled the 2 cards, restarted, installed the problem card in a new slot, restarted, and got the same problem when I tried to install Scope.

When I import the allkeys file now in Setup, it won't show the keys and allow me to go to the next step. It's like I don't own the software anymore. I did try renaming the allkeys file as Scope.rgy and putting it in Setup/Bin.

Ralf said something to me in email before, said maybe I had downloaded from an empty account. I'm not sure what he meant, but it does seem like that. It was working really solid for a while, I don't understand how the problem could have come back.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ralf on 2004-07-12 15:51 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ralf on 2004-07-12 15:52 ]</font>